On New Year's Eve 1958 The Godfather II Hyman Roth not only celebrated his birthday, he also celebrated the successful expansion of the Corleone family into Cuba. But the celebrations did not last long when suddenly "la revolucion" started and all hell breaks loose. Michael and Hyman manage to escape with most of the other family members but Aldo Trapani gets killed - just in time for five new families to threaten the Corleone family's control over New York, Florida and Las Vegas. As one of Aldo Trapani's closest soldiers, the player jumps into the role of Dominic to help Michael and the Corleone family win the war as well as to build a family of his now.
Looking over Dominic's shoulder, the player moves freely through three cities depicting a New York, Florida and Cuba from the late '50s/early '60s traveling between them by airplane. Connected by the main storyline, the main goal of Dominic is to grow his family and destroy the other five families. This is done in two main steps: Taking over businesses and killing so-called "Made Man". Taking over a business is done the same way as in the predecessor: Enter the shop/joint/factory/construction site, fight through the enemy guards and find the person with the Godfather-sign over his head.
Each business owner has his own weak spot as well as a breaking point. A weak spot ranges from destroying inventory to punching him or her in the face, and gives a 25% bonus on the monetary outcome. But if the player pressures the owner too much, he either dies from the torture or reaches his breaking point. Then he gets aggressive, cannot be intimidated anymore and attacks without mercy.
The player can intimidate an owner successfully however, and get a one-time cash advance and gains money from the joint every day. In addition there are several rackets combined in a crime ring. Once all made men of a family have been eliminated forever, the player can deal the final blow to the rival family: killing their Don and blowing up their compound.
The game also features a multiplayer mode that ties in with the single player campaign. Upon entering the multiplayer mode, the player chooses one of his family members he has hired in single-player and takes on his role. During his participation in the four game modes Team Deathmatch, Demolition Assault (blow up three objects in enemy territory), FireStarter (torch barrels, gas and propane tanks to rack up scoring multiplicators), Safecracker (bust a safe and hold the position for more points), the player then earns honor points for his family member.