Tattaglias compound
When you think you are ready for the challenge, take on a compound. The Tattaglias in northeast Brooklyn might be the weakest family in New York, but that does not mean they are going to let you walk right in. Bring some bombs along and blow up the support pillars in the basements. You may start a mob war, but if you are successful you will have a new safe house with a group of guards.
"The Alley" mission: Free pistol
After you beat up the men and are told to locate your safehouse, follow the Don's enforcer out of the alley and turn left. Walk down a short distance to the next alley on your left. There will be a thug standing there, staring at you. He will not attack, but if you beat him up he will drop a pistol, which is good for a first gun. You can now select this as a weapon by using the D-Pad and shoot people to get through the next few missions with ease (before you are given a gun by the mob, and it is more powerful).
"The Alley" mission: Easy money
After completing the mission getting the your first gun down the alley to your left, go back to the alley you beat the thugs up at. Shoot the crate. It will have $1,000 inside.
"Death To The Traitor" mission: Hidden money
After placing the bomb in the upstairs of the bar, a single enemy will suddenly open up the previously locked door at the top of the stairs. Quickly run into the hallway he reveals to collect a massive stash of money bags. Do this quickly by sprinting, as you will not have much time to run downstairs and leave before the bomb explodes. Do not bother trying to open the second door in the hallway, because it is locked.
"The Don Is Dead" mission
Break the windows in the barber shop before start the mission. This will allow for easy shooting once the Don is shot. The recommended gun for this and any other close range shooting mission is the magnum.
Extorting businesses
When you are having trouble extorting business owners, try destroying some of their property and/or hold a gun to their face. For example, when you are trying to take over Good Eats in Brooklyn. you can hold the gun to the man's face then reholster the gun and extort. He will refuse. Simply draw your gun again, lock on, and hold it. Keep doing this until he caves in. Do not forget to reholster your gun to avoid accidentally shooting him. In another example, when you are trying to extort money from the hotel owner in Brooklyn, hold a gun to him twice, break the downstairs cupboard, then finally blow his safe before you beat him into submission. Always buy available rackets first. Take a trip around to either buy another racket or go around the block. Do not attack until you visit again, and instead of enemy soldiers you will find all your soldiers. By doing this you do not have to fight a bunch of enemies and get your vendetta up.
If you have not taken over all the businesses and rackets, wait until you have reached the "Don of New York" rank. You will be able to take over anything without having to smash anything up or "convince" the person that it is a good idea. They will say "Yes" immediately.
Robbing banks
The type of bank will determine the easiest way it can be robbed. The type with the three guards and one room is by far the easiest, and should be robbed as often as possible. Use the following trick to rob it without being chased or even getting past two shields. First, bribe the cop outside. Then, go into the bank and choke the first guard by the door. Next, go into the vault area and start strangling the guard on the left. The other guard will come and attack you, but he will not shoot. He will only hit you with his billy club. Remember to strangle the man on the left first because he tends to start shooting with his shotgun if you attack the other guard. If you are robbing the big bank, start the same way by bribing the cop outside. Then, go in and immediately strangle the guards in the main room. Hurry down to the vault and strangle the two guards there. Open the door and blow the vault. Ready your Tommy gun for action. Three or four guards will attack you as you flee the vault. Get close to them as you are shooting them and you will perform an instant execution. After you shoot them, run up the stairs and move to the right. Then, take an immediate right to leave the building where the car is always parked. Get in the car quickly because you will be shot at when outside. Take off and you should not be chased after you hit the streets. After any bank robbery you must go to your hangout to get the money. The best bank to rob is the midtown bank, close to the apartment that the Corleone's give you after you save Michael. You wll get $50,000 there.
Taking over compounds
To take over a compound, equip your self with ammunition for all your guns, or you can use one powerful gun to kill other gangsters and take their gun. You must have cover at any time possible. Note: When behind the bushes to the left of the entrance they can shoot you through the bushes. Once inside, do the same thing and always have cover. Then, run downstairs. In the back house there are two men. One is behind a box and there is another behind a pilaer. After those two are dead, set the time bomb (not dynamite). If needed, stay in the basement and die, then drive back and repeat on the other house.
When the time to destroy the rival family compounds, the easiest way is to blow up one building at a time. Make sure you have all weapons with full ammnition.
The best way to take over a compound is to kill everyone from afar then work your way in. The enemies will not respawn as long as you do not leave the area (about one city block). Simply hide behind things by crouching, then shoot around corners to get kills. It is also recommended that you upgrade at least two of the pistols (preferably the pistol or sawn off magnum, for speed of shooting).
When trying to take over a compound, use your car to run people over. Then, hop off and use it as a shield. Once you are in the yard mow down any enemies. Then if you have a lot of ammunition, take one step into the house and shoot at the floor or person. The enemies should step out as you hide. Shoot them, then continue into the room with the couches. Someone could be hiding behind the couch. Run to the basement being careful to clear it. Plant a bomb. Do the same in the other house.
Assaulting warehouses
Before going on a warehouse assault have these items: pistol (full ammo), Tommy gun(full ammo), shotgun (full ammo), Magnum (full ammo), Molotovs (6), and about $25,000. When going to a warehouse, try to blow up the roadblocks. After that, stand there and shoot at oncoming gangsters with your pistol (headshots are essential). Then, go in to the warehouse area. Stand behind boxes and shoot your enigmas with the pistol or Magnum (again with headshots). When you actually enter the warehouse, have either your shotgun or Tommy gun ready. Most enmeshes will have shotguns and Tommy guns. When you kill them, search for the owner. He will have puppeteer hands. Buy him out. Do not hit or injure him or you will not be able to buy him out and will have to use pressure. On the way you will have almost certainly started a mob war. Do not bother looking for bombing business. Instead, check the map for the nearest FBI agent and bribe him. You may lose $3,000, but it is less risky. You will now have a warehouse and won a mob war at the same time.
To take a warehouse, just drive a car into the blockades and keep running over people. If it catches on fire, turn your door side away from the enemies, then get out and find a new car.
Barricades
Use the following trick when you go to a hub, warehouse, or compound with people and cars blocking your way. Get a truck and run into the cars and people until it catches on fire. Then, finish off the other people that are still alive.
When destroying barricades, stand close enough that you can lock on to a person. Take either dynamite or a Molotov cocktail and throw it. It will blow up the cars next to the people. Continue doing this until you have reached the warehouse, compound or Hub.
Safes
You must blow all safes to become Don Of New York. Blow all the safes when you are taking over businesses that have one. By doing this you will not have to search for safes after you completed most of the missions. Also, you will get an amount of money, 1,000 respect and dynamite by blowing them up.
Car chases
When you are being pursued by enemies in a car, let them drive up on your side. Usually they will come up near your rear on your left or right. Then, look ahead and lure them into an accident. Usually they will smash into something like oncoming traffic or a wall if you time it correctly. They will eventually come back and catch up to you, but if you keep doing this you can get them to blow themselves up (because you cannot shoot out your car at them).
Losing police quickly
If you commit a lot of damage and kill a lot of people, you will get wanted stars. If you get enough stars, the police will chase and shoot you. To lose them, just move to a different area. All of your stars will immediately go away.
Avoid getting shot
When you are getting shot by another family or cop, grab someone nearby and use them as a shield. By doing this, you will not get hurt while being shot.
Easy money
Visit the sewer system. The entrance is directly south of the westernmost Tattaglia warehouse on the Hell's Kitchen Loop. Prepare for a battle. The crate containing the money you are after is guarded by a group of heavily armed bell-boys.
To get more money, take over as many businesses, warehouses, and rackets as possible before completing missions. By doing this you will get much more on payday, and money for important weapon upgrades.
Use the following trick if you do not like seeing your hard earned money going into some racket that will not pay off later. Get the pressure up on the person you would normally buy out. Instead, he will pay you.
On missions where you raid an enemy gang's operation (like a supplier or storefront racket), search the interior after completing the main objective for hidden stashes of ammunition and cash. Most back rooms, closets, and rooftops contain hidden moneybags or weapon stashes.
To get free money and respect, go to the Molotov cocktail seller in Midtown. There will be some hobos walking around. If you see any , shoot them. You will receive no heat, but either +750 respect and $3000 or +900 respect and $100.
Different families have different incomes. The richest family is the Barzini (green) family followed by the Cuneo (red) family. The businesses that you take from these families pay out a lot more than the other two. Also, when you are taking over their business, do not forget to pick up the money they drop. When a Barzini (green) family member is killed, you can pick up at least $200 per person. However, when you take money from a Tattaglia (brown) family member, you will only get $15.
To get cash $2,000 or more, get on the freeway. About every 10 seconds of driving a warehouse truck will appear. Stop your car in front of it, hop out, cause some damage, kill the bagmen, take the loot, and keep driving. You can accumulate lots of money quickly. Then, return to your safe house and deposit the money
Easy special kills
On missions where you have to kill an important figure in a certain way (such as pushing them off a roof or into a furnace), you can do this easier by luring your opponent over the hazard you must use to kill them before fighting with them. Just avoid them and run over to the hazard. They will come over to you. Beat them up a bit but do not kill them completely. Then, grab them by holding [L1]+[R1], and swing them so they have their back to the hazard. Then, push forward with the [Analog-sticks] to shove them to their death.
Shooting enemies behind cover
When you are locked onto an enemy who is hiding behind a crate or low object, keep locking on but use the [Right Analog-stick] to move the crosshair to a part of their body that is sometimes sticking out, like their head or arm. This will help you kill them easier.
Losing heat
When you have heat, go to another neighborhood. The heat level will go back to zero. However if you have cops tailing you they will continue to do so.
Ammunition
All the safe houses that you pay for have ammo caches. When low on ammunition or health, you can go into these houses and restock. They are the orange houses on the map, and most are in hotels.
Recommended weapons
Do not waste money on safe houses. You can make it fine with just the ones you get in the story. Instead, save money for clothing and weapons. All the best weapons cost a lot but are well worth it. The Saturday Night Special is a better revolver and it will cost $75,000. The Assassin's Pistol is better gun and costs about $200,000. The Python a better magnum will cost $250,000. The Dillinger is a machine gun that costs $450,000. Finally, the Street Sweeper, which works like a shotgun, sells for $500,000 and will kill most people in one shot.
The pistol at level 3 works like a semi-automatic gun. It carries fourteen bullets and has more firepower. This is perfect for taking over businesses. The shotgun at level 3 has more ammunition, more firepower, and is perfect for taking over warehouses, etc. Prioritize weapons upgrades before safehouse buying. One house in each city will suffice in the start. However, you will have to buy them all in the end.
Upgrade priority
Health: The more health, the better.
Streetsmarts: Prolong the victims breaking point (and by doing so, increasing your weekly income earnings). Remember to always try to buy them out first.
Fighting: increase you negotiation pressure by 10% for each upgrade.
Speed: Not so essential. Only faster reloading is interesting here.
Shooting: For better aiming speed and precision but not essential for taking over businesses.
Easier driving
While driving down the street, honk your horn constantly by clicking the [Left Analog-stick]. This will send other cars to the side of the road.
Go to a police station and bribe the police chief. You can then steal the police car without any trouble. Click the [Left Analog-stick] to turn on the siren. Cars will now move out of your way.
Gun names
All the guns in the game are based on real-life firearms. Here is their real-life equivalents:
.38 Snub-Nose: Colt Detective .38 Special/Smith & Wesson M & P 2in revolver
Pistol: Colt M1911A1 semi-auto .45 pistol
Magnum: Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver in .357
Long-barrel Shotgun: Remington 870 pump-action shotgun
Tommy Gun: Thompson M1921/1928 sub-machine gun in .45
Movies
Complete the indicated mission or number of film reels to unlock the corresponding movie.
Regarding Sollozzo: "The Alley" mission
Mr. Bonasera: "The Enforcer" mission
Meeting With Sollozzo: "A Grave Situation" mission
Sicilian Sign: "Sleeping With The Fishes" mission
Five Shots: "The Don Is Dead" mission
Sonny And Tom Disagree: "Intensive Care" mission
Sonny And Tom Argue Again: "Fireworks" mission
Mr. Woltz: "Death To The Traitor " mission
Trigger Too Tight: "Horseplay" mission
Mattresses Montage: "A Recipe For Revenge" mission
Where's Michael?: "Now it's Personal" mission
Spoiled Guinea Brat: "The Silent Witness" mission
Carlo Learns A Lesson: "Sonny's War" mission
Are You Ready To Do Me This Favor?: "Change Of Plans" mission
The Don's Demise: "Order To Kill" mission
Carlo Goes For A Ride: "It's Only Business" mission
The Baptism: "Baptism By Fire" mission
Johnny Fontane: Collect 10 film reels
Don Sends Luca On An Errand: Collect 20 film reels
Luca's Demise: Collect 30 film reels
The Don Is Dead: Collect 40 film reels
Whack Paulie: Collect 55 film reels
Good Morning Mr. Woltz: Collect 70 film reels
Sonny At The Tollbooth: Collect 85 film reels
Sorry Sally: Collect 100 film reels
Marlon Brando's last appearance
Play the mission when you go to the hospital to protect the Don. After you kill the first assassin and Michael Corleone tells you to go to the basement, go foward and make a left. You should see a door with Michael Corleone talking to Vito Corleone while he is in the hospital bed. Listen to the conversation carefully. This is the real Marlo Brando talking, recorded while he was hospitalized.
Pop culture references references
When in Little Italy it is possible to find a man with red hair a mustache and a fedora hat who is named Edward Rooney from Ferris Buellers Day Off.
There is a blonde woman walking around in a black dress named Pamela Anderson in Midtown.
There is a man with black-gray hair named Mike Brady (from The Brady Bunch) in Midtown.
Go to New Jersey and find the New Jersey National Bank. It is the only bank in the area. Go into the manager's room on the top floor of the building. His name is "Jean Bongiovi", clearly referencing to New Jersey's own "Jon Bon Jovi" the lead in the band Bon Jovi.