Tom Kocmi

Lore & Background

In the world of Mafia III, New Bordeaux is a city in the late 1960s where the Foresters—a white supremacist paramilitary gang—have carved out territory by force, displacing Black residents and crushing any organized resistance. The Lost MC, a biker club rooted in the city's working-class neighborhoods, becomes one of the few groups willing to push back, and its members operate from garages, back-alley bars, and open roads that thread through the city's districts. Tom Kocmi moves through this world as a fixture of the Lost MC's daily operations. He is the kind of character who is behind the scenes of most heists and muscle jobs—keeping bikes roadworthy, watching the perimeter, and remembering who owes what to whom. His presence in Lincoln Clay's circle underscores the game's emphasis on community: the Foresters don't just kill individuals, they sever the networks of mutual aid that hold a neighborhood together, and the Lost MC is one such network. The Lost MC's arc in the game is tied to the broader theme of generational conflict in 1960s America. Older members carry the weight of a world that no longer tolerates their code, while younger riders like those around Kocmi are trying to build something that can survive the next decade. Mafia III uses these characters to ground its open-world gameplay in a specific cultural moment, and Kocmi is a small but telling piece of that mosaic.

In Their Own Story

The garage smells of two-stroke oil and cheap coffee. Kocmi is on his back under a chopper, one boot hooked over the rear fender, muttering a string of profanity at a carburetor that's decided to be difficult. Through the open bay door, the humid New Bordeaux night presses in—distant sirens, the clatter of a trolley on the elevated track, the low hum of the city that never quite sleeps. Lincoln drops a duffel bag on the workbench without a word. Kocmi doesn't look up. "You're late," he says, voice muffled by the engine block. "Foresters hit the bar on Seventh. Took two of the boys."

A long silence. The carburetor finally yields with a metallic clunk. Kocmi rolls out, wipes his hands on a rag that's more grease than fabric, and meets Lincoln's eyes. "So. What's the plan, brother?"

Outside, the streetlights flicker. The city holds its breath. Tomorrow they ride.

Reader's Guide

The game was published by 2K Games and released in October 2016. Hangar 13 built the title on an in-house engine, giving them full control over the open-world systems, vehicle physics, and the period-accurate set dressing of New Bordeaux. The studio has spoken in interviews about wanting to tell a story rooted in a specific time and place rather than a generic crime narrative. The 1960s setting was chosen deliberately to explore the civil-rights era, and the Foresters were designed as a direct analogue to real-world paramilitary organizations. The Lost MC, and characters like Kocmi, were written to give the player a sense of community beyond the protagonist—side characters with their own routines, bars, and grudges. Mafia III sits in the open-world action space alongside titles like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, but distinguishes itself with a linear narrative spine, a period-locked setting, and a focus on one city rather than a sprawling map. It is often cited as a more grounded, story-driven entry in the genre, prioritizing character work and atmospheric detail over sheer scale. In the broader landscape of narrative open-world games, it occupies a niche as a focused, era-specific crime drama that trades replayability for emotional specificity.

Did You Know?

• Mafia III's setting, New Bordeaux, is a fictional city modeled on New Orleans, with its architecture, music, and humidity baked into the level design.
• Hangar 13 was founded by the Houser brothers, who had previously worked on the original Mafia and Mafia II before leaving Rockstar Games.
• The Lost MC is one of several playable gangs in Mafia III, and switching between them changes the player's available vehicles, weapons, and safehouse locations.
• The game's 1960s backdrop was a deliberate creative choice by the developers to explore the civil-rights era through the lens of a crime narrative.