Joe Barbaro

"And I suggest you get lost before the cops show up."

- Joe Barbaro to Brian O'Neil

Joe Barbaro is a major character in the 2010 video game Mafia II, in which he appears as the deuteragonist.

Joe is the best friend of protagonist and player character Vito Scaletta and during the course of the storyline the pair plan to rise in the ranks of the mafia and make a lot of money and become successful. Unlike Vito though Joe isn't very subtle in his methods and is a lot more chaotic which causes them to land into trouble during the campaign.

He also appears as a player character and the main protagonist in the DLC Joe's Adventures, which bridges of the gap during Vito's imprisonment in the main campaign chapter "Time Well Spent".

He is voiced by Robert Costanzo, who voices another character in the game Derek Pappalardo.

Background
Joe Barbaro and Vito Scaletta grew up on the same neighbourhood together. Due to being from a poor area, the pair of them would commit petty crimes in order to make ends meet. This normally involved stealing.

1943
In 1943 while smashing a window of a shop and stealing the contents, Joe and Vito were spotted by a patrolling cop. The cop gave chase and although Joe managed to escape, Vito got arrested. Vito joined the army instead of going to prison and was sent to Sicily. During Vito's time away, Joe became involved with the Clemente crime family and also got to know other criminals operating in Empire Bay.

Two years after Vito's arrest, Vito got shot while on the line of duty and given a leave of absence. Joe greeted Vito at the train station and welcomed him back, and the pair shared a drink. Vito returned home to meet his mother and sister, and the next morning went to see Joe. As Vito's family was in debt due to his now-deceased father owing money, Joe offers to help Vito back on his feet as regular honest work wouldn't cut it. During that day Joe shows Vito how to picklock a car and to use many of the body spray shops around the city, and later introduces him to junkyard owner Mike Bruski who gets Vito to steal him a car.

The following day Vito heads to the port on his mother's insistence to speak to the union boss Derek Pappalardo about getting a job. Vito gets bored of the hard labour, and when he mentions his involvement with Joe, Derek decides to give him a better paid job instead of back-breaking work. Derek first calls Joe to make sure what Vito claimed is due, which Joe confirms it is. While Vito collects some money owed to Derek, Joe calls Derek to inform Vito to meet him at a bar named Freddy's.

Once doing the work for Derek, Vito heads over to the bar where he is introduced to Henry Tomasino by Joe - a member of the Clemente crime family. Henry tasks Vito with stealing gas stamps from a federal government building. While Vito does that job, Joe is sent to do another task for Henry.

The next pair the pair of them rob a jewellery store as the owner owes the Clemente family money. During the heist they come into conflict with Brian O'Neill - the leader of an Irish gang. The cops arrive and a shootout ensues, but Joe and Vito manage to escape and much to their delight witness Brian getting arrested.

Joe, Vito and Henry take part in a job to kill a mobster known as the Fatman. They attack his brewery where the Fatman ends up shooting Henry in the leg and fatally wounding him. Joe and Vito kill the Fatman and get Henry to a private doctor to heal him up.

Vito is later arrested for selling the stolen gas stamps. Joe tracks down the witness and threatens him not to testify, but learns there is a bigger thread in the form of a soldier of the Clemente family. Joe tracks down the witness at a shack by the frozen lake outside the city and chases him down and kills him. Despite his best efforts though, Vito is still found guilty of his crime and is sentenced to ten years in prison. An angry Joe confronts Clemente capo Luca Gurino over it. Enraged, Luca puts a hit out on Joe. Henry phones Joe and warns him about the hit. Joe subsequently leaves Empire Bay and heads South to go into hiding.

Trivia

 * Joe and Vito originally appeared in the Epilogue chapter of the first game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven as unnamed mobsters who assassinate the protagonist Tommy Angelo. This connection isn't given until the chapter of Mafia II - "Stairway to Heaven". In an error, "Joe" in the first game is seen wearing a suit and fedora hat, wheres in the Mafia II campaign chapter he wears his signature leather jacket and Hawaiian shirt.
 * In cut dialogue it is revealed that Joe was taken to see Mr. Chu at the end of the game.
 * His fate will be disclosed in the sequel Mafia III. Developers also revealed that Vito didn't truly know what happened to Joe after he was taken away, as Vito was exiled from Empire Bay for his own protection.