Characters in GTA Vice City (original) (raw)

This page lists all the characters featured in Rockstar North's 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

† denotes Deceased, Italics denotes a status determined by the player's choice.

Protagonist[]

Tommy Vercetti is the protagonist and playable character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.Prior to events in Vice City, Vercetti had previously worked as a member of the Forelli Crime Family of the Liberty City Mafia. In 1971, he was sent by Sonny Forelli to kill a man in the Harwood District, but as he arrived 11 men ambushed him. Vercetti was forced to kill them all, resulting in a 15-year prison sentence for multiple counts of homicide. He also earned the title "Harwood Butcher".Fresh out of prison in 1986, Vercetti, at the age of 35, is keen to start work again for the Forelli family, and is immediately dispatched by Don Sonny Forelli to Vice City to participate in a crucial introductory drug deal. When an ambush of the deal by a group of masked assailants results in Vercetti losing both the money and the drugs, he sets out to find and kill the party responsible.

Main Characters[]

Sonny Forelli†	Sonny Forelli is the head of the Forelli crime family, a major crime family in Liberty City. Tommy Vercetti was one of his trusted men, but he became afraid of Vercetti's growing power. He orchestrated the Harwood massacre, sending Tommy on what was supposed to be a simple hit. Instead, there were assassins waiting for Tommy. Tommy managed to survive, but was put in prison for 15 years.At the start of the events of the game, Tommy has just been released from prison. Sonny, who believes that Tommy's presence and notoriety will bring the law down on the Mafia, sends him to Vice City to oversee a cocaine deal with the Vance Crime Family. When the deal goes wrong and unknown assailants make off with both the drugs and the money, he orders Tommy to retrieve both.
Ken Rosenberg	Ken Rosenberg is Tommy Vercetti's lawyer, and the contact in Vice City for the Liberty City Mob. He is suspected to have cheated his way through law school according to a VCBI police file, and has defended Mafia associates in court, including Sonny Forelli's cousin Georgio.He is supposed to mediate the cocaine deal, and narrowly escapes with Tommy Vercetti when it goes wrong.
Lance Vance†	Lance Vance is one of the two heads and remaining members of the Vance Crime Family along with his brother Victor. However, during a cocaine sale to the Forelli Family, both parties were ambushed by unknown assailants, and Victor was killed. Seeing Tommy Vercetti, the lone surviving member of the Forelli Family, as his best route to take revenge, Lance began buddying up to Tommy. He appears cool and collected on the surface, although below that he's impulsive and emotionally insecure.
Juan Cortez	Colonel Juan García Cortez is a Cultural attaché. He is believed to facilitate trade in all areas of criminal activity, including, but not limited to, narcotics, firearms, weapons and military secrets. In his own country, he has been sentenced to death 9 times, but always survives and gets promoted.Cortez has diplomatic immunity which is an asset when the cops are bugging his house. He has somehow survived up to 30 coups in his native country. Cortez likes to eat endangered species and considers this to be fine living. He lives with his daughter, a widower. He has a long term dislike for French secret service.
Avery Carrington†	Avery Carrington is a Texas property maganate and real estate developer. He likes to talk about his father and "the good old days". He is an extreme capitalist. Avery is suspected of doing anything to manipulate property prices and land value, including, but not limited to arson, rioting, bribery, intimidation and murder.Avery always wears a cowboy hat. He is believed to be involved in several developments and slum-clearance programs. He is a known guest of Colonel Juan García Cortez. He uses Ken Rosenberg for legal advice who is a possibly weak link. Avery's hair is suspected to be fake.
Ricardo Diaz†	Ricardo Diaz is a Gun Collector and is always armed. He has a private army/militia and is heavily guarded at all times. He has been involved in long running battle for control of Narcotics business in Vice City.He first appears at one of Juan Cortez' parties, which was also attended by Forelli representative Tommy Vercetti. Cortez begins to investigate the previous ambushed deal and openly suggests that Diaz may have been involved, but does not accuse him. Cortez employs Tommy and Lance to protect him in a deal with the Cubans from Haitians, which results in Diaz hiring the two for other jobs.
Phil Cassidy	Phil Cassidy is a redneck arms dealer. He is believed to be involved in weapons trade. Phil is a gun enthusiast and a member of various second amendment organizations and various Vice City gun clubs. Sources suggest he also distills boomshine in his own stills. Phil is fighting a war with Mexican gun-running gangs led by Pedro Garcia.Phil Cassidy is linked with Cam Jones. Jones and Cassidy are believed to have worked together numerous times although Cassidy has avoided convictions. He is a degenerate and a patriot. It is also believed that Cassidy claims to have served in various divisions although Army records show he was repeatedly rejected for service drunkenness and an unsuitable temperament for combat.
Mitch Baker	Mitch Baker is a Vietnam veteran and motorcycle enthusiast. He has won the Purple Heart award for killing a village full of Vietcong. His extreme bitterness at treatment of veterans has led to violent clashes with authority. He has been jailed on 13 occasions. His character has been described on his VCBI police file as a lawless degenerate sociopath.Big Mitch Baker is believed to have been implicated in several civil disturbances. He runs the local gang of Bikers and is believed to be implicated in Narcotics distribution. He has extreme loyalty within his gang, the Bikers. His initiation rituals for the Biker Gang preclude getting a man on inside. Big Mitch Baker is known loathing for soft rock, Communists and wigs.
Mercedes Cortez	Mercedes Cortez is Colonel Cortez's wayward daughter. She is initially set up as a possible love interest for Tommy Vercetti, but this plot line is never fully explored. Tommy is first introduced to her during a party aboard the Colonel's yacht. Afterwards, she asks Tommy to give her a ride to the Pole Position Club, Vice City's largest strip club which Tommy ends up owning. On another occasion, she has sex with the band Love Fist. She becomes involved in the porn film industry, co-starring with Candy Suxxx in a film directed by Steve Scott and produced by Vercetti and his movie studio.
Kent Paul	Kent Paul is a cocky youth from Kent, England. He works in the music business, but claims to be a criminal mastermind. He claims to work in the music business, but has no known employment, his INS papers are not in order, and although he claims to be a criminal mastermind no criminal record has been found.He is very "good with rumours", has information on most of the major crime units of Vice City, and seems to have contacts in certain SWAT divisions. He tipped Tommy Vercetti off about Leo Teal's part in the ambushed deal. He is also, however, a pathological liar and a suspected drug addict. Paul acts as a manager to the rock band Love Fist and is usually found at the local Malibu night club in Vice Point.
Jezz Torrent	Jezz Torrent is the lead singer for the Scottish hair metal band Love Fist. Torrent, alongside Kent Paul, Dick, Percy and Willy, later hired Tommy Vercetti to do some work for them, including the task of bringing Mercedes Cortez to them, buying some drugs for themselves (called "Love Juice") and saving the band from a psycho.
Candy Suxxx	Candy Suxxx (real name Candice Shand) is a porn star and escort. She wears a bikini with a United States flag motif, and red high-heeled shoes. She works as an escort out of the Downtown area; Congressman Alex Shrub is a regular of hers. She eventually starts working with adult film director Steve Scott. She also works as a prostitute or escort, often accompanying Congressman Alex Shrub, including to Juan Cortez' parties, in place of his wife Laura. She first meets Tommy Vercetti when he recruits her, first killing her agent, and then taking her to the InterGlobal Films studios with Mercedes Cortez.
BJ Smith	BJ Smith is the is the former star Tight End for Vice City Mambas. He has a very successful career in Professional Football, but he is haunted by problems off the field. He is famous for hurting opponents and now runs a celebrity endorsed used car lot, which the cops believe may be a front. He is thought to sell stolen vehicles and is believed to be heavily in debt with loan sharks and is now doing anything for money.
Auntie Poulet	Auntie Poulet is an elderly Haitian matriarch and the leader of the Haitian gang. She is involved in a long term feud with Cuban crime families for control of eastern and downtown Vice City. Poulet is heavily protected by Haitian thugs at all times.
Umberto Robina	Umberto Robina is the leader of the Cubans gang in Little Havana and has been involved in a turf war with the Haitian street gang. He first encounters Tommy Vercetti when he phones Tommy, believing him to be Leo Teal (who had previously being killed by Tommy). Believing Tommy has "big cojones" for killing Teal, he invites Tommy to his father's café. Umberto orders Tommy to ambush a Haitian drug deal, infiltrate and later destroy a Haitian Drugs Factory.
Steve Scott	Steve Scott is a film director spotted at various parties where organized crime carries on. He is thought to be seeking any money he can to finance his films. He first meets Tommy Vercetti after Vercetti purchases the studios and begins to help Scott advertise his latest film.
Doris	Doris is a middle-aged dispatcher at the Kaufman Cabs taxi company. Appearing in one cut scene, she introduces the company and its dealings (competing aggressively against a rival taxi company) after Tommy purchases the business. Doris may also be heard on the dispatch radio of Kaufman Cab taxis.It's Doris who dubs Tommy's gang as the "Vercetti Gang", since she says that the Kaufman Cabs have been bought about 20 times by gangs and she needs to tell the employees what gang is controlling Kaufman Cabs now.
Mr. Black	Mr. Black is the pseudonym of a man who is running a hitman business and may have a connection to money laundering. At some time either during or prior to 1986, Mr. Black started working with Leo Teal. Teal was later killed by Tommy Vercetti, who took Teal's cellphone. Mr. Black later gave missions to Tommy, seemingly unaware of Teal's death.

Supporting characters[]

Victor Vance†	Victor Vance is the leader of the Vance Crime Family, and the one of the two remaining members of the gang alongside his brother, Lance Vance. Lance and Victor set up a deal with the Forelli crime family, apparently by the help of Colonel Cortez according to Ken Rosenberg. As the two groups are about to exchange their goods, a small group of hitmen arrives and shoots at them, killing Victor, Harry and Lee, whilst Tommy and Ken drive off and Lance flies away from the scene.Victor is only named in the official GTA Vice City website, and he is only referred to as the "Supplier" in the credits.
Gonzalez†	Gonzalez works for Colonel Juan García Cortez in various capacities. According to his VCBI police file, Gonzalez has diplomatic immunity, and his visa is believed to be issued as a Health and Fitness Commission. Gonzalez's character is described as greedy because he is known to take bribes. Gonzalez has problems with his weight. He is formerly very active in the Vice City underworld and now spends a lot of his time in his penthouse, away from Cortez.He has been seen leaving property of Ricardo Diaz without Cortez which the police believe it could be a possible weakness in Cortez's operation. Cortez discovers his secret business relationship with Diaz, even openly suggesting to Tommy Vercetti that Diaz may have been involved in the ambushed drug deal, although he doesn't accuse Diaz.
Mike	Mike is a member of Vercetti's Gang (formerly Diaz's Gang). He can be seen in "The Party" accompanying Ricardo Diaz in the Colonel Cortez's party. He later seen working in Cop Land. In the mission, Lance Vance is yelling at him for messing up an explosive attack on the Tarbrush Café in the North Point Mall. Vercetti formulates a plan B, which involves Mike stealing a squad car (which can be found behind the lockup) while he and Lance ambushed two officers for their uniforms, so that they can use them as a disguse. Mike is not seen again, but accompanies Lance Vance as off-screen backup in Hit The Courier.
Cougar	Cougar is a members of the Mitch Baker's biker gang. They are playing pool with "Big" Mitch Baker when Tommy first arrives to the Greasy Chopper Bar. Baker tells Tommy that he must defeat Cougar, Zeppelin and another biker in a motorcycle race to earn their trust. Cougar is seen again in the mission Messing with the Man, wrestling with Mitch.
Hilary King†	Hilary King is an expert driver believed to have worked with Cam Jones and Phil Cassidy. His character is described as neurotic and a compulsive eater. Psychological profiling reveals obsession with abandonment issues. He has red, ginger hair. Hilary comes from a stable family background.
Alex Shrub	Alex Shrub is an extreme Right Wing congressman. He is happily married. He is a known philanderer and will do anything for votes. His VCBI police file have stated that he is power obsessed, a usual politician. Alex Shrub is expected to go very far.
Earnest Kelly	Earnest Kelly is the manager of the Print Works bordering Little Havana and Little Haiti, which is purchased by Tommy Vercetti. Having worked at the Print Works for a long time, Earnest has always printed counterfeit money, albeit on a small scale. With the help of Tommy, Earnest acquires high quality printing plates to produce better counterfeit money in a larger scale, eventually generating millions for Vercetti. It also appears that Tommy has a soft spot for the old man, as his own father managed a similar printing press when Vercetti was younger. Tommy seems to bond with Earnest and shows extreme concern and anger when Earnest is injured by Forelli family enforcers who have come to take "their cut." It is implied that these injuries were relatively minor and Earnest is later revealed to have survived the attack; some time after the final mission, Tommy receives a phone call from Earnest, who is recovering well from his injuries.
Cam Jones	Cam Jones claims to be an expert safe cracker but his expertise is dubious. According to his VCBI police file, Cam is currently awaiting trial for an attempted robbery after being caught running down the street with a safe he could not open, and likely to get 10 years in jail.Cam Jones has a legal representation from Rosenberg and Associates and is certain to be sent down because Rosenberg can get even an innocent man sent away and Jones is known to be guilty. Jones is thought to have issues with women and bank managers.
The Psycho	The Psycho has a vendetta against the members of the rock band Love Fist, claiming that they "ruined his life". He attempts to assassinate the band members at a signing, so the band sends Tommy Vercetti to the signing in an attempt to draw him out.
Maude Hanson	Maude Hanson is the owner of the Cherry Popper Ice Cream Factory before Tommy Vercetti purchases her business. Featured in only one cut scene, she claims that her business serves as a front for selling "other, non-dairy products." Maude also exhibits psychotic hatred towards children and uses stereotypes of children claiming that they're disgusting, spoiled and bratty. She is also believed to have once run a children's home.
Jethro and Dwaine	Jethro and Dwaine were workers at the Viceport Boatyard, which is involved in building boats that may transport drugs. Appearing in one cut scene, their names were never mentioned in game, but inspection of Vice City's credits in the manual and internal files reveals their first names. Dwaine's name is spelled "Dwayne" in the game's data files and credits. It appears that they left the Boatyard after Tommy Vercetti took it over, however, they can be seen watching Tommy in the Checkpoint Charlie mission.
Donald Love	Donald Love is an young apprentice of real estate mogul, Avery Carrington, learning the tricks of the trade. Love remains silent throughout his appearances, and his second appearance sees him uttering only one or two minor words before being interrupted by Carrington.
Pastor Richards	Pastor Richards, first name unknown, is a maniac firebrand preacher, obsessed with money. He plays no role in the storyline of the game. However, his VCBI police file have stated that he has written several awful books which are all completely fabricated and most given away. Pastor is obsessed with degenerates and has been campaigning to build a large statue in his own image. He has been attempting to bribe officials at NASA for rocket technology. He is believed to be embezzling money from the fund for a private mansion in Hawaii.Pastor Richards is a possible polygamist. He hates people who help others and he is a fervent Anti-Communist. He is obsessed with nuclear winter. His characteristics are described as a hateful human being but menace to society uncertain at present. He is a parody of many 80s right-wing televangelists who flagrantly failed to practice what they preached.

Minor Characters[]

Radio Hosts[]