Not sure if this is actually just a context error like you said, but I always assumed that comment was just made just out of spite. My guess is that Salieri had long been dead, but in the tradition of mafia vengeance, the killers were instructed to remind Tom why they were killing him, so they said "Don Salieri sends his regards," as if he was getting his revenge from beyond the grave. But then again, I could just be reading into it too much .

I would assume that once Salieri found out Tom had killed Sam and knew that he had turned on him, he isolated himself and made it so Tom couldn't get to him.

reading this thread really makes me want to play that game again. Haven't touched it since I beat for the 2nd time about 6 months back. guess i'm a bit of an addict.