James "Jimmy" Edwardo Pegorino (13 May 1957 - 29 June 2008) was the boss of the Pegorino crime family of the American Mafia from the 1980s to the 2000s. Pegorino led one of the most influential families in the New York City metropolitan area during the 2000s, and his family became known as the "New Jersey Mob" due to its stronghold being North Jersey. However, the family never got enough respect to join The Commission, and Pegorino was murdered by Niko Bellic in 2008 after an insane Pegorino attempted to kill Bellic in a drive-by at his cousin's wedding.
Biography[]
Pegorino with his bodyguards Marco Bonnaro and Peter Marchetti
James Pegorino was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1957 to a family of Italian descent. His father was the first boss of the Pegorino crime family of the American Mafia, and Jimmy Pegorino became involved with organized crime as a young man. In 1973, at the young age of sixteen, he was arrested for grand theft auto, and he was arrested in 1974 for possession of stolen property, in 1976 for armed robbery, in 1979 for grand larceny, in 1981 for promoting gambling, in 1985 for hijacking, in 1988 for manslaughter, and in 2005 for racketeering.
Pegorino don[]
Pegorino at the Honkers strip club
Pegorino took over the family after his father died, and he would become a very wealthy man, buying a mansion in Weehawken and settling down there with his wife Angie. When Pegorino's son killed himself, he adopted Anthony Corrado, who became his personal bodyguard. Pegorino surrounded himself with young talent such as Phil Bell and Ray Boccino during the 1990s and 2000s, but he would make poor choices as the leader of the Jersey Mob, as he hired "wannabe wiseguys" off the streets to serve as enforcers. The fact that consigliere Phil Bell was 90% Irish and that the family hired dumb muscle led to the Pegorinos lacking the respect required for members of the Commission, and Pegorino made it his goal to become a Commission boss.
Rise to power[]
A wounded Pegorino in 2008
In 2008, Pegorino decided to "go to the mattresses" with the weak Ancelotti crime family of New York in order to steal its seat on the Commission, hiring the Irish Mob in Queens to weaken the Ancelottis through several murders and thefts. He also attempted to bribe the Pavano crime family with some tribute, but the sitdown was ambushed by Pavano gunmen in the Kearny chemical plant shootout. Pegorino's bodyguards Marco Bonnaro and Peter Marchetti were killed, but he was saved by hired muscle Niko Bellic, who came to work for him regularly. Pegorino had him wipe out a whole crew of Pavanos in the Auto Eroticar shootout before killing Anthony Corrado (after he decided to turn states) and Ray Boccino (under the suspicion that Boccino was also a rat).
Betrayal of Bellic[]
Pegorino during the wedding drive-by
Pegorino decided to hire Bellic for one final task, offering to give him $250,000 if he were to oversee a major heroin deal with Russian Mafia boss Dimitri Rascalov, who was based out of a Red Hook cargo ship. Pegorino believed that the deal could lead to the Pegorinos gaining enough respect to gain a seat on the Commission, but Bellic was reluctant to accept the offer, as he had some bad history with Rascalov. Ultimately, Bellic decided to go to the cargo ship alone, where he killed Rascalov and wiped out the Faustin crime family after a massive shootout. Pegorino, now without a chance of becoming a Commission boss, decided to kill Bellic, accusing him of double-crossing him. He had Zac Savarese drive him to SoHo, where Bellic was attending the wedding of his cousin Roman Bellic to Mallorie Bardas, and Pegorino fired on the funeral procession with an AK-47 assault rifle with the goal of killing Bellic. However, he instead killed Bellic's girlfriend Kate McReary, and the wedding was ruined. Bellic decided to hunt Pegorino down and avenge Kate, and Niko, his cousin Roman, and their friend Little Jacob managed to track down some of Pegorino's men to the old casino in the Palisades. In the ensuing Palisades casino shootout, Bellic wiped out most of the Pegorino family, and Pegorino himself decided to flee.
Death[]
Pegorino after being killed
Pegorino attempted to flee from the casino on a speedboat, so Bellic chased him along the shoreline on a motorcycle before jumping from the bike onto a helicopter flown by Little Jacob. Pegorino sped off towards Liberty Island, and he fired an RPG-7 at the helicopter, forcing it to crash-land on the island. Pegorino's boat caught fire as well, and Pegorino fled into the island as Bellic pursued him. Bellic chased him to the foot of the Statue of Liberty and mortally wounded him, and he proceeded to taunt Pegorino by telling him that the other mob bosses considered him to be a "joke". An angry Pegorino attempted to reach for his gun to shoot Bellic, but Bellic fired a fatal shot to Pegorino's head, killing him and avenging Kate McReary. The remnants of the Pegorino family would be absorbed by the Ancelottis and the Pavanos after Pegorino's death.