If you're not used to playing role playing games, mafia wars can look a little intimidating at first glance. But take it from me, it's nothing compared to something like World of Warcraft, which can be mind boggling - even to elite gaming geekoids. Since I am a sort of gaming geek myself, let’s spend a little time on mafia wars leveling, so that if you're new to gaming in the first place, or even just new to mafia Wars, you can level a lot faster while you learn the ropes.
The key to gaining levels fast in mafia wars is in timing. Mafia wars is a like a lot of other text based RPG's (role playing games) in that everything is on a timer. In timer based text games the clock is the key. Knowing when to do things and in what order makes all the difference. If you're a super casual player who only logs in once a day, you can sort of forget it, but if you have the time to check in every couple of hours for a minute or two it may make a huge difference.
There is another element to leveling and that is energy. You have to have a lot of energy (or stamina, but that's another discussion) in order to level fast, but having too much can mess up your timing. Without boring you to death with a wickedly long explanation of 'why' just remember this rule of thumb. When you first begin playing mafia wars put 7 out of every 10 skill points into energy until you hit level 100. From level 100 to 200 put 6 out of every ten points there, and past 200 five or less.
The short answer for 'why' is energy refills. You want to have just enough energy at each level so that when you use an energy refill you can use all of the bonus energy without leveling (or at least most of it). ok, that sounds confusing. Let's say you just hit level 100 and have 2,000 experience points to your next level. Using up all of your energy and stamina should get you a little less than halfway to the next level. If you have 700-750 energy you should be in perfect shape. Using all of your energy would leave you with around 1,100 experience to your next level, and if you use your energy refill at this exact time (right after you level up) the extra energy you get from the energy refill should get you to the next level, and that means another energy refill.
By timing the use of your energy refills you should easily be able to gain a full level and a half in just a few minutes every day. If you choose the maniac class, you can get another full level a day from the faster energy refills. I also use my reward points for energy refills. If you do it right you can hit at least level 100 in less than a month. With a little careful timing mafia wars levels will fly by.