He was born in Sicily in 1925 to a poor family. He was with his father, his mother and his older sister Francesca. His father decides that it is time to move away, and he arranges for his family immigrates to the fictional Empire Bay in America,
where they arrive in the spring of 1931. They are no better off there than they were in Sicily, and is in fact worse in the Little Italy, and his father gets a small-time job at the dockyards, eventually turning to alcohol. As he gets older, Vito gets involved with a local criminal named Joe Barbaro, who becomes his best friend. They form a partnership. In 1943, his father drowns on the dockyards during his shift, and left family struggling for money. Francesca gets a job, but Vito, with Joe in the aid, turns to the criminal side. One night, Joe and Vito are robbing a
jewelry store.
A patrolman accidentally sees them and they try to escape. Joe hides with the stolen goods, but Vito is arrested at gunpoint. Since it was World War II and the U.S Army was then in the Italian theater of operations, was looking for the men who could speak Italian language, he was given a choice: Go to prison or join the army.
After Vito chooses the army, he ends up in the 504th Parachute Infantry as a paratrooper. He is dispatched to Sicily in July 1943, and helps liberate citizens in a small village rebelling against the fascists, but the rest of his squad are killed in the process. He defends the town square from several Italian soldiers with an MG-42 on the balcony, but a tank almost kills him. Just then, Don Calogero Vizzini, head of the Sicilian Mafia, arrives with the US Army, forcing the rest of the soldiers to surrender. Vito continues fighting during the war, but later he is shot by German troops. He is sent to hospital, and is discharged with two months leave.
Vito returns to Empire Bay in February 1945, where Joe awaits him. He takes him for a drink at Freddy's Bar and hears about his situation, makes a call and tells him to stop by tomorrow. At home, his mother and Francesca await him. Next morning, he leaves for Joe's apartment, but a thug threatens Francesca on the street. Vito knocks him off, but he tells him to watch his back. Francesca explains him that before he died, his father borrowed $2000 from a local loan shark, and the thug arrived to collect the debt. He meets Joe, who takes him to Giusseppe, a local shop owner, who gives him discharge papers so he can stay permanently. Joe also introduces him to Mike Bruski, a junkyard owner. After couple of small-time jobs, Vito and Joe start making serious money. In the same time, Vito's mother tells him to work at the docks, where he becomes a loan sharkfor Derek Pappalardo, a corrupt mafioso and the dock owner, along with Steve Coyne, his personal henchmen.
Serious jobs start with Joe introducing Vito to Henry Tomassino, a made man for a local crime boss, Don Alberto Clemente. Henry instructs Vito to steal precious gas stamps from OPA (Office of Price Administration) and bring them back to him. Although Vito is successful, Henry realizes that the gas stamps expire tomorrow, and orders Vito to resell them all to the gas stations. Vito succeeds in this, and gets a large sum of cash for the job. Vito and Joe also rob a jewelry store, where they are ambushed by the O'Neil Gang, an Irish mob family led by Brian O'Neil, but they manage to escape from him and the police, while Brian and his crew are arrested and sentenced.
After the job, Luca Gurino, Clemente's Capo, orders Henry to assassinate Sidney "Fat Man" Pen, a local loan shark who took large sum of money from Clemente to start his own business, but he didn't return the money and managed to evade Clemente's assassins, and after that, they could become the part of the family, but only if they pay $5000 fee to enter the family, which they reluctantly accept. On the job, Vito is instructed to go to Harry, a black market arms dealer, to get an MG-42 from him. He takes the gun to a rented apartment next to Fat Man's warehouse. They find him and blaze his men with the 'Hitler's Buzzsaw', but are forced to go after him as they are discovered on the scene. They manage to find him, but he shoots Henry in the leg just as he is prepared to shoot him, and Vito and Joe take him to El Greco, a local doctor who treats injured mobsters. At his place, Henry gives Vito $2000 for the successful job, and he takes it to Francesca to repay his father's debt, but the next day, Vito is cornered by the police, and he is arrested for stealing gas stamps from the OPA. As he sold worthless gas stamps to the station, one of the workers sold Vito to the police. Vito is placed on trial, and three months later, he is sentenced for ten years in prison for stealing and reselling gas stamps. Clemente gave him a lawyer, but he was only here to make sure Vito wouldn't sold out Clemente's business to the judge. Meanwhile, Joe is ordered by Clemente to chase down the gas attendant, and beat in up so severely he would be in a wheelchair. Joe interrogates the gas attendant, who tells Joe that one of his colleagues, Stan, was the one who ratted Vito out. When Joe chases Stan to the railway station, Stans explains that the Clemente family has a rat called Richie Mazzeo. Joe goes after Richie and kills him by shoving him into an icy lake.
Inside the prison, Vito has an unpleasant surprise when he finds Brian O'Neil, who tries to beat him up to revenge him for sending him to prison. Although Vito manages to defend himself a little bit, he is placed in a solitary confinement, but he catches attention of Leo Galante, local mafioso. He takes Vito to his gym, where he learns to fight and beats up couple good fighters around. Leo's fighter, Pepe, is also injured by the thugs while he was scheduled to fight with O'Neil, so he is instructed to beat him up and break couple of his bones while he is alone in the gym, but he is forced to kill him after he pulls a knife. Vito is relocated to Galante's cell, where he explains that besides Clemente, there are also two families in the Empire Bay; Falcone and Vinci crime Family. Leo himself is consigliere for Frank Vinci, Don of the Vinci Family, while there is also Carlo Falcone, Don of the Falcone Family. Vito tells him about Luca's fee, and Leo tells him that Clemente and Luca will have to speak in front of the Commission, which monitors the Three Families, about this. Under Leo's wing, Vito's sentence is shortened to 4 years. Vito also hears that Francesca is getting married and also hears that his mother is ill, and that she won't last long. Although Vito leaves his money to get his mother a good doctor and the rest as a wedding gift, all of the money instead goes on her funeral, as she dies while Francesca is visiting Vito.
Vito returns in April 1951. Once out, Vito meets up with Joe, who now works for Eddie Scarpa, Falcone's underboss, and he is welcomed by them, who take him to Scarpa's cathouse, and have a wild night of fun. After that, Scarpa remembers that he needs to drop the body of Frankie Pots, that is in the trunk of his car, and Vito is assigned to bury him, ruining his evening. He also goes with Joe to sell cigarettes on Eddie's orders, and they manage to earn plenty of cash, but the truck and the loads are stolen by The Greasers, a local hot rod racing gang, and Joe kills their leader, but Eddie is furious and wants his $2000 back for the truck. Joe and Vito arrive with Steve and Joe's 17-year old neighbour Marty to their hangout and kill the rest of the gang, and Joe and Vito sell their hot rods to Derek and manage to get the cash back to Eddie.
Eddie informs Vito that Harvey "Beans" Epstein, Falcone's accountant, and Antonio "Tony Balls" Balsamo, his bodyguard, have been kidnapped, and they suspect Luca Gurino. Vito goes to Freddy's and finds Luca, he follows him to Clemente's slaughterhouse. Vito manages to get in through the sewers, and he battles through Luca's henchmen and rescues Tony and Beans. Tony helps Vito through the rest of Luca's men and they abduct Luca. Vito leaves, while Tony and Beans kill Luca. The same day, Vito arrives at the Maltese Falcon restaurant to meet Eddie, and he and Joe meet Carlo Falcone, with Frank Vinci, who is here with Galante. Joe and Vito take a bit of their blood and swear the oath, holding the picture of a burning saint, becoming made men for Falcone. Galante is happy because of Vito, but he is disappointed that Vito didn't became a member of the Vinci Family.
Vito, arriving in the family and finally becoming somebody, becomes a wealthy mafioso along with Joe, taking jobs and making money. They frequently arrive at Scarpa's cathouse and buy new clothes, cars and hook up with girls. Vito also manages to get his own house in a wealthy neighbourhood, feeling happy about his new position along with Joe.
As an official member of Falcone Family, Vito's biggest job comes when he is sent to kill Clemente, who has participated in the drug trade, against the commission's wishes. Vito and Joe then head to the Empire Bay hotel with Marty. At the hotel, Joe tells Marty to stay in the car inside the parking lot to be their getaway driver, while Vito and Joe head into the hotel disguised as a hotel staff, where they find Henry leaving the building. They head into the conference room where Clemente and his men are having a meeting and sets a bomb in the room. The bomb then goes off and the conference room explodes killing everybody inside. Vito and Joe then find out that Clemente was in the bathroom and didn't get killed in the explosion. After shooting many of Clemente's men in the hotel, they then head to the garage and find Marty dead. An angry Joe then chases Clemente in a car chase with Vito. Once Clemente's car is wrecked, Joe then kills him and leaves his body in the car.
Soon after, Vito is approached by Henry, who wants to defect to Falcone's crew. Vito recommends Henry himself to Eddie, and Henry is ordered by Eddie to kill Galante. Vito, overcome with emotions, races to Galante's mansion and convinces Henry to let Galante simply disappear. Vito drives Galante to the train station, and he escapes to Lost Heaven. After Vito returns home, he finds Francesca there, crying. She explains that her husband, Eric Reilly, is constantly beating her up. Vito goes to an apartment of Eric's friend, beats him up and forces him to be a good husband to Francesca, or he will kill him. Francesca calls him, and Vito tells her that he will kill Eric if he touches her again. Francesca, horrified, tells Vito to stay away from her and Eric. Vito, depressed, goes to sleep.
During the night, O'Neil gang arrives with their new leader, Mickey Desmond, and burns his house to the ground. Left with no money, clothes and house, he turns to Joe who helps him get revenge. They both head to a bar take out most of the gang members, thought Mickey tries to escape in his car, Vito kills him. Joe then gives Vito the key to Marty's apartment.
Henry hears about Vito's situation, and the trio meet at the Lincoln Park, where Henry and tells Vito and Joe that Clemente was in the drug business, and Falcone is also going in, which is against the rules of the Commission. Henry suggests that he can arrange a deal with one family which is out of the Commission and supplies the drugs, The Triads. Vito is initially hesitant because, "drugs kill people", but he agrees to the proposition. They first arrive to Bruno Levine, the biggest loan shark in town, and they loan $35 000 from him in the orders of returning $55 000 till the end of the week. Henry, Joe, and Vito depart for Chinatown, where they buy the merchandise from Mr. Wong, the local Triad leader gang called The Tongs. Soon after, they are ambushed by the cops, but Henry deduces that they are not the real cops, and they battle their way, escaping with the merchandise. They sell small portion of the drugs to the local gangs, such as the Bombers, and they manage to get the money.
Next day, Henry calls Vito, telling him that Falcone has found out about the deal, and Eddie took $60,000 as a cut, but Henry didn't sell Vito nor Joe out. Vito and Joe head to Lincoln Park to find Henry brutally mauled with meat grinders by The Tong's men. They are shocked by this, and they follow Mr. Wong to his base at a Chinese restaurant, which they raid and totally demolish, killing all of his men and also witnesses. They arrive at Mr. Wong's office, where they force him to tell them why he killed Henry and who were the cops outside. Mr. Wong denies that he took the henchmen to dress as cops, as he would never destroy his factory, but he tells him that he killed Henry because he is actually a "rat"; an informant for the Bureau Of Narcotics, but neither Vito nor Joe believe him, and force him to tell him where he stashed the money. Mr. Wong refuses to tell him the location, telling that "he is already dead", and Joe shoots him. Vito and Joe flee the scene, barely escaping from the police.
Vito and Joe then realize that they are now in bigger trouble than ever before; the incident with the Chinese has caused too much tension between Falcone and Vinci, as both believe the other did it, and also Chinese think both Falcone and Vinci as the suspects behind the attack on the restaurant, and that they would end up dead if either Falcone and Vinci found out about their involvement with Henry, who was also a rat and they would also die if Eddie or Falcone ever find out that he was informant, and they have to pay back $55 000 to Bruno till the end of the day, which they don't have. They calm down and Vito suggests that they should pay up Bruno first.
Vito and Joe eventually manage to get the money back; in the process, they kill Thomas "Tommy" Angelo, the protagonist of the first Mafia game on Eddie's orders, and Vito finds out that his father's boss Derek and his right hand man Steve killed his father leaving Vito to kill them both, and Vito takes over $25 000 of Derek's retiring fund, and Vito and Joe take up several jobs around the city, eventually earning enough money to pay up Bruno, but Vito founds out that Joe is missing. He checks over at Maltese Falcon, where he lies to Eddie about his involvement with Henry and pretends to be shocked over his death, and then goes at Giusseppe's place, where he learns that Vinci's men took Joe. He goes to Vinci's bar, the Mona Lisa, where he is cornered by Vinci's men. They tell him that Joe only went here to talk with Vinci about the incident, and that he could join Joe in the talk, but as he goes, they knock him out.
Vito wakes up on a construction site for a new hotel, tied up on the pipe next to badly beaten Joe. Frank Vinci himself is in front of them, who demands to know who was behind the attack on The Triads. Joe swears that he doesn't know, and Vinci's men start to repeatedly hit both Vito and Joe. Vinci leaves the site, and Vito and Joe manage to escape the site, but Joe is badly injured and Vito takes him to El Greco's place, where Joe gives Vito the money he earned, leaving enough to pay back the debt. Vito visits Bruno and pays back, and Bruno asks for Vito's name, and he tells him that he is Vito Scaletta, which reminds Bruno on an other Scaletta who borrowed $2000 from him, and Vito realizes that Bruno is the loan shark who loaned his father the money. He leaves Bruno's office in anger, and goes home.
The next day, Eddie calls Vito, who tells him that Falcone wants to meet Vito at the observatory just outside town. Vito leaves on foot, but just then, a limo arrives with Leo inside, who tells Vito to get inside. Vito is happy to see Leo, but Leo is angry because of his actions, and introduces him to Mr. Wu, a head of The Triad organization. He tells Vito that both the Commission, The Triads, and even Falcone wants Vito dead, and Leo tells him that if there wasn't for him, he would be already dead. He offers Vito a last chance to spare his life;to kill Carlo Falcone. Vito leaves the limo and goes to the observatory.
As Leo assumed, Falcone really wants Vito dead; Falcone's henchmen order Vito to discharge his guns, but he manages to fight them off and forces his way in the observatory, killing loads of Falcone's men before he finally reaches the main observation room, where Carlo awaits. Carlo tells him that it is an insult that he was sent to kill him, and tells him that there is no friendships in the mob, revealing Joe, who puts his gun to Vito's forehead. Carlo orders Joe to kill Vito, but Joe hints Vito to shoot, and they battle last of his henchmen. After killing all of his men, Vito steps out to Carlo, who is crawling around the floor. Vito proceeds to shoot him, telling him; "You know something, Carlo? For the last ten years of my life all what I ever done was kill. I killed for my country. I killed for my family. I killed anyone who stand in my way. But this one, this one is for me.". He finally shoots Carlo in the head, killing him.
Vito goes away with Joe, questioning him why he was here with Falcone. Joe explains him that promised to make him very wealthy and give him his own crew, something that he always wanted, but he couldn't go over his friendship. As they leave outside, Leo Galante awaits them with his men, and they go out to celebrate, but Leo insists that Vito should come with him to talk. Joe departs in the second car. Vito asks what is it about, and he sees Joe being taken away. As he is angrily questioning, Leo responds; "Sorry, kid. Joe wasn't the part of our deal.", indicating that Joe is going to be killed. Vito angrily looks at Leo and his men, realizing that Joe was the price that he paid for his path, the path of Mafia, as the camera rises showing panoramic view of Empire Bay.
