Thomas McAffee

## Character Description

Gang leader Thomas McAffee is a prominent New York crime lord whose latest endevor is selling illegal alcohol. With the police under his thumb the only thing he has to worry about is an old friend turned rival.

## Biography

Thomas McAffee was born on September 1st, 1882 in West Point, Virginia. He spent most of his childhood away from his house with his group of friends. As he grew older his contempt for school grew to a point where he left for Richmond. Without a completed eductaion, Thomas had no real way to support himself. On his first night he got into a fight that would put him in jail for assault. This would get him noticed by and taken into a small opiate operation. He acted as a body guard and a drug runner. After months of being closely involved with the drug trade Thomas began to take notice of how much money was going to those above him for his work. As a determined man, he took in eveything he could and began to rise above just another body to do physical work into a business man.

Thomas was a very stern superior but at times was violent with discipline. As he rose through the ranks, he started to form an inner circle at the very top of the chain of command. Here, Thomas and Arthur Kelfone became close associates. Their similar ruthless nature always brought with it an oppressive tone to those around them. In 1904, Thomas ran the opiate operation. He had expanded out of state and had amassed a small fortune.

After growing tired of what he had been doing for the past 6 years, Thomas moved to New York. There he started a new business, a one man hitman company. He would take any job offered to him for the right price. The confidentiality McAffee offered made it so he would get jobs from politicians, other crime bosses, and even average citizens. He had always prefered to use knives and his hands to do his job, never really familiarizing himself with guns. In the news, his work was attributed to a team of hitmen whose stories and rumors became an urban legend. Norrowly evading the law, Thomas completed over 128 hits in the span of 6 years. McAffee had silently joined the upper class as one of the wealthiest men in New York. Wanting to leave behind his past, he went about hiring six small criminals under the guise of an expanded hitman company. The next night McAffee framed those six as the hitmen talked about in the press. With Thomas's order for the six to stay put and the location he gave the police force, the six new hires were killed in a shootout. Word spread that the hitmen squad that terrorized the city were no longer actice and Thomas was able to start anew.

Thomas joined in the social class activities of the other super rich in New York. He had become clean after leaving his hitman business and enjoyed a calm life of luxury. During this time, unbeknownst to him, Martha Avast had his child and raised him alone.

Like Thomas usually did, he became bored with what he was doing in life. He didn't do anything about it until 1917 when prohibition started in the United States. He knew instantly that he could profit on selling alcohol to people who weren't ready to give up on drinking. He left for Canada and solely set up a crew of emplyees that would provide and ship the alcohol to his future speakeasy in the center of New York. McAffee spared no expense in the creation of the speakeasy and his employees. He scouted out Antonio, Jimmy, and Drew to be his gangsters, not unlike what he would do early on in Richmond. Along with the alcohol smuggling, McAffee also started up some side projects such as money laundering, unofficial loans, as well as larceny.

In 1920, Thomas McAffee's speakeasy was among the most popular which forced McAffee to bribe the police to turn a blind eye. This ended up inadvertently helping out the bar, as policemen started coming and normal customers felt more secure in an illegal bar without the law being a looming threat. When a spy is found working as a bartender, McAffee puts the pieces together and realizes Kelfone has been attacking gangs all over the city, and has been spying on the speakeasy. Thomas confronts Arthur in a local restaurant, trying to pursuade Arthur to co-exist in New York City. Athur gets enraged at Thomas and shoots him in his seat on December 20th, 1920.

## Quotes

"Maybe I can convince him to speak the truth."