Editing Road to Perdition (section)

==Plot==
Michael Sullivan, Sr., was orphaned and then raised by [[Irish Mob]] boss [[John Patrick Looney|John Rooney]] in [[Rock Island, Illinois|Rock Island]], [[Illinois]]. Unbeknownst to his own children, Sullivan is now Rooney's most fearsome enforcer. Rooney has come to love Sullivan more than he loves his own biological son, the rash and unpredictable Connor.

Speaking in 1931 at his brother's wake, Rooney's associate Finn McGovern insinuates that Rooney is responsible for his brother's death. Rooney sends Connor and Sullivan to talk with McGovern. Sullivan's older son, twelve-year-old Michael Jr., watches the interaction through a hole in the wall. McGovern denies that his brother stole anything from the mob and implies that Connor was responsible. Connor shoots McGovern, forcing Sullivan to shoot the other armed witnesses in self-defense. Sullivan learns that Michael saw the shootout and swears him to secrecy.

Rooney sends Sullivan to collect a debt from Tony Calvino. Connor, jealous and afraid, sends a letter with Sullivan for Calvino. Calvino reads the letter and reaches for his revolver, but Sullivan kills both Calvino and his bodyguard. The letter reads, "Kill Sullivan and all debts are paid". Sullivan rushes home. When Sullivan arrives, he discovers that Connor has already murdered his wife, Annie, and their younger son, Peter. Michael was unharmed, as he had arrived home late from detention.

Sullivan and Michael flee Rock Island and head to Chicago to meet mobster [[Frank Nitti]]. Sullivan offers to work for the [[Chicago Outfit]] in exchange for permission to kill Connor. Nitti rejects his offer and advises Sullivan against seeking revenge. Rooney, listening next door with Connor, reluctantly allows Nitti to dispatch [[Contract killing|freelance killer]] Harlen Maguire to kill Sullivan. Maguire tracks the Sullivans to a roadside diner. Maguire and Sullivan converse seemingly casually while Michael stays in the car. Sensing the danger, Sullivan escapes the diner through the bathroom window and slashes Maguire's tires before driving away.

Sullivan begins robbing the banks that hold the Outfit's money. In so doing, Sullivan hopes to pressure the Outfit into withdrawing their protection from Connor. Sullivan teaches Michael to drive so that he can act as a getaway driver. The mob withdraws money from its banks, which interferes with Sullivan's plan. Sullivan visits Rooney's accountant, Alexander Rance. Rance stalls Sullivan until Maguire enters with a shotgun. Rance is killed in the crossfire before Sullivan wounds Maguire and escapes with Rooney's ledgers. During the escape, Maguire shoots Sullivan in the shoulder. Michael drives them to a farm after Sullivan collapses from his wound, and an elderly childless husband and wife at the farm help him recover.

The ledgers reveal that Connor has been [[Embezzlement|embezzling]] from his father using dead men's names, including McGovern's. Believing that Rooney will call off the hit on him if he knows the truth, Sullivan heads back to Rock Island. Sullivan confronts Rooney at Mass and discovers that Rooney already knows Connor has been robbing him. Rooney states that he expects that Connor will either be killed by Sullivan or by Nitti's men after Rooney has died. Nevertheless, Rooney refuses to give up his son. Rooney urges Sullivan to flee with Michael and raise him to be a better man than either of them are. Sullivan later ambushes and kills Rooney's bodyguards before reluctantly and mournfully killing Rooney himself. Nitti reveals Connor's location after Sullivan promises that the feud will end with Connor's death. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him.

Sullivan takes Michael to his aunt's beach house in Perdition. Once there, Sullivan is ambushed and shot by Maguire inside the house as Michael stands on the beach. Michael appears and points a gun at Maguire, and Sullivan fatally shoots Maguire in the back. Michael tells his father that he could not pull the trigger, and Sullivan nods and smiles as he dies in his son's arms.

Michael drives the car back to the elderly couple's farm. In a voiceover, Michael says that he grew up there. Michael adds that he has not held a gun since his father's death. Michael states that when he is asked if his father was a good man, he simply answers, "he was my father".