u/1Lucky_Luke_1

Just finished the game for the second time and I still didn't catch the part where their position is clearly specified within the organization.

My first intuition would be that by the end of the game they had already been Lieutenants as they had their own rackets as Tom mentions during the chat with Norman (in one scene you can see him bringing the money him and the boys had to kick up to Salieri) and they were occasionally ordering people around.

So they were definitely not stuck as Soldati but I don't see them being Capo's either as they were still being sent on dangerous missions and had to put in dirty work. In the Mafia 2 loading screen you can see several quotes depicting Tommy's legal confessions and one of them says how him and Paulie (Sam not mentioned) were carrying out risky hits while the bigger guys from the organization were staying hidden in the shadows.

This is also why I have the impression that after Frank and Morello's deaths Sam was a rank or two higher than Tom and Paulie as he does the best out of them within the Family (secretly plans with Salieri to steal dope, has his own nightclub and in the final mission at the Art Gallery he commands an entire squad of goons), so he might've actually been a Capo.

Question about one aspect that I couldn't quite understand, I might've overlooked or it's a plot hole: how did Tommy manage to get his hands on the Family's account books that he was willing to trade with detective Norman for his safety?

I do know that he got them from Frank in order to return them to Salieri but after that I'd imagine the Don would've been a lot more careful with where he stashes those after his Consigliere and best friend's betrayal.

It's clear that after the respective mission Tom wasn't in the books' possession anymore and they would sit either with a new Consigliere, Sam (that became very close to the Don after Frank's death) or Salieri himself.

I think that Tommy could've told Salieri he burned the books alongside Frank's house and keep them for himself but that sounds like a bs excuse, first of all he knew Tom was smart and wouldn't do something dumb like this, especially when he told him specifically to bring the books back to him, not destroy them, and second of all, Tommy had no reasons to betray the Family back then, he was loyal and would've absolutely brought the books back.

So I'm very sure Tom got them again off-screen after seeing the Family was after him but I wouldn't imagine how he got access or time to steal them because in-between killing Sam and meeting Norman the clock was ticking very fast for him, he was hunted by the most powerful crime syndicate within the city and I imagine it would've been almost impossible for him to steal them. I don't even know how he'd make it to the cafe to be honest or where he'd hide his family with Salieri tearing the city apart looking for him.