The Kearny chemical plant shootout occurred in the spring of 2008 when the Pavano crime family attempted to murder Pegorino crime family boss Jimmy Pegorino at a sitdown with Pavano representatives at the chemical plant in southern Kearny; Pegorino had hoped that he would be able to ally with the Pavanos in order to get his family a seat on The Commission. Several Pavano hitmen arrived behind Pegorino and his bodyguards Marco Bonnaro and Peter Marchetti after Pavano gave a backpack full of tribute money to the Pavanos, leading to a shootout between the Pavano members and the Pegorinos. Pegorino's associate Niko Bellic sniped several Pavano gunmen from the abandoned warehouse after they killed Bonnaro and Marchetti, and he ran down the stairs of the building to join the fight. He gunned down several Pavanos and rescued a wounded Pegorino, and he helped him in chasing down the last assassins and recovering his tribute. The shootout led to a war between the Pegorinos and the Pavanos.