Many of my turf mates are wondering about building their toons. Here is the advice given to me when I started playing mafia.
Own at least one of the highest armors available for your level for each of your mob members. These will change as your toon level increases.
This includes defense and attack rating. Armors have different ratings for defense and attack. If you are being attacked you want the higher defense rating to protect your toon. If you are attacking some one you need the higher attack rating to deal more damage to your opponent.
Vehicles and weapons have the same charactristics as armor. Weapons are a special subject. When you reach higher levels you may take more than one weapon per mob member into battle. The maximum nember of weapons you may take into battle is two per member but this is only when you reach higher levels.
When using skill points if you plan to hunt use them on attack power but be careful. Too much attack power and low defense power leaves you open to a lot fo damage if attacked. I chose to use six of every ten skill point for attack and four for defense. I hope this helps my turf to build strong toons. If you have any questions feel free to ask.