In 1943, Sicilian immigrant Vito Scaletta is arrested during a robbery and chooses to enlist in the United States Army rather than serve prison time. After returning home on leave to Empire Bay in 1945, he reunites with childhood friend Joe Barbaro, who has become involved with the city's organized crime families. When Vito learns his late father left the family deeply in debt to a loan shark, he turns to the criminal underworld for work, taking on jobs with Joe and various mob contacts to settle what is owed. After a stint in prison, Vito emerges in 1951 and rises quickly through the ranks of the Falcone crime family alongside Joe, securing the lifestyle he has always wanted. But as tensions mount between the city's rival factions, Vito finds his loyalties tested and his ambitions threatened by forces he cannot control.