Sam offers to help Tommy escape, and tells Tommy to meet him at the city gallery. When Tommy arrives, however, the whole thing turns out to be a massive double-cross - Sam, the money and some armed hitmen are waiting. Not only has Sam sold Tommy out, but he ratted out Paulie as well - and it wasn't just because of the bank job, either. It turns out that Sam and the Don are well aware of Tommy's failure to kill Michelle and Frank, and after the robbery they've decided that Tommy's nothing but a liability.

As Sam's new friends move in to execute Tommy, he takes cover, and a shootout ensues - one that ends with everyone dead except Tommy and Sam. As the two trade shots, Tommy asks Sam how he found out about the people he's allowed to live. Sam replies that Michelle was stupid enough to come back to Lost Heaven (remember what we said about mercy biting mobsters in the ass?), and as soon as the mob discovered her, Sam was dispatched to finish the job. And once Salieri realized that Tommy was an unreliable killer, it didn't take long for him to find Frank, either.

During the shootout, Sam's gun jams at a critical moment - but, once again, Tommy can't bring himself to pull the trigger on a friend. Laughing at Tommy's weakness, Sam staggers away - but as he's escaping, Tommy has a change of heart and shoots him in the back. As Sam lies dying, he tells Tommy that Salieri's men found and executed Frank, and that one way or another, Tommy will suffer the same fate. Tommy then fills Sam full of lead and flees.

Following Sam's death, Tommy takes Sarah and their daughter and flees to Europe - but he realizes that if Salieri could find Frank, he'll find them, too. Tommy then decides to return stateside and testify against Salieri - at which point he meets up with Detective Norman and begins the conversation that the entire game has been part of.

Thanks to Tommy's testimony, Salieri is sent to prison for life, some of his men are handed death sentences and the gang is completely dismantled. Tommy, Sarah and their daughter are taken into the witness protection program and relocated to the West Coast, where Tommy gets a job working for a "respectable" company.

Years later, in 1957, a much older Tommy is watering plants in his suburban front yard. A car pulls up and two men step out, addressing him as "Mr. Angelo." When Tommy responds, their words - "Mr. Salieri sends his regards" - are immediately followed by a point-blank blast from a sawed-off shotgun. As Tommy lies dying, we hear his final thoughts, in which he once again muses that the simple ambition for a better life was his undoing, and the undoing of all his friends. The end.

Apr 10, 2008