Characters
Click on the names below to jump to each character's section. (or just scroll down)
- Major Characters
- Minor Characters
- Victor Vance
- Mercedes Cortez
- Gonzales
- Donald Love
- Hilary King
- Cam Jones
- BJ Smith
- Candy Suxxx
- Alex Shrub
- Maude Hanson
- Delores
- Earnest Kelly
- Dwaine & Jethro
- Pierre La Ponce
- Leo Teal
- Pastor Richards
- Eugene
- Moweesha
- Georgio Forelli
- Mr. Black
- Pedro Garcia
- Alberto Robina
Major Characters
Tommy Vercetti
Tommy Vercetti is the protagonist and playable character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Fresh out of prison in 1986 after a 15-years prison sentence, Tommy was sent to kill one man but as he arrived there were 11 men waiting, Tommy killed them all, resulting in his 15 year prison sentence. After his prison sentence had been finished he was keen to start work again for the Forellis. Tommy is immediately dispatched by mob boss Sonny Forelli to the Miami-like Vice City to participate in a drug deal. When an ambushed of the deal by a group of assailants results in Tommy losing both the money and the drugs, he sets out to find and kill the party responsible, and take over the city, working for various criminal outfits, while Sonny Forelli maintains en eye on him. Tommy eventually learns of Sonny's betrayal that landed him in jail and Lance's defection to Sonny's side, leading him to kill both parties and triumph.
Sonny Forelli
Sonny Forelli is the head of the Forelli crime family in Liberty City circa 1986. The Forellis are apparently the richest and most powerful Mafia family in the city (contrary to Grand Theft Auto III, where the gang is a shadow of its former self and has been usurped by the Leone crime family). Sonny came to power young, and ordered several mob killings around the time of Tommy Vercetti's imprisonment. At the time of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Sonny is believed to have major influences in racketeering, gambling, union trouble, corruption and prostitution, with growing interest in the narcotics trade (which the Mafia families have tried to avoid).
Ken Rosenberg
Ken Rosenberg is a shady neurotic lawyer (a partner at the "Rosenberg & Associates" legal firm) who is closely affiliated with Tommy Vercetti and loosely connected to the Forellis, often serving ascomic relief. Rosenberg meets Vercetti at the Vice City airport and remains his ally throughout the game. He secures Tommy's release from prison whenever he is arrested, and his voice on a phone is sometimes briefly heard in these situations ("Tommy Vercetti is an innocent man!" and "Officer, do you really think my client is capable of these acts?").
Lance Vance
Lance Vance is a drug dealer who soon becomes Tommy Vercetti's partner in crime. Lance worked in the narcotics trade with his brother, Victor. Lance piloted the helicopter and Vic conducted the deals. In the game's opening cut scene, Lance flies Victor to a cocaine deal with Sonny Forelli's men (Ken Rosenberg, Tommy Vercetti, and two minor Forelli goons named Harry and Lee). But before the goods could change hands, Victor, Harry and Lee are shot down in an ambush. Lance, still in the helicopter, flies away unscathed, while Vercetti jumps into the car with Rosenberg and narrowly escapes.
Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez
Colonel Juan García Cortez, a retired colonel from an unspecified Central American nation, is an acquaintance of Ken Rosenberg. He helped set up the failed exchange that brought Tommy Vercetti to Vice City. Tommy meets Cortez in person at a informal party on the Colonel's extravagant yacht. Tommy continuously asks Cortez when he is getting reimbursed for the money he lost at the setup, but Cortez tells Tommy that he is "not in Liberty City anymore", and encourages him to take charge, which Tommy does, although Cortez has set up his own "methods of inquiry" into finding out who ambushed Tommy's deal. Cortez more or less strings Tommy along, using Tommy's debt with the mob to make him work for him. Nevertheless, Cortez is not unappreciative and behaves as such. While investigating, Cortez discovers that his lieutenant, Gonzales, is a mole and leaked the information about Tommy's deal to someone. He later suspects that Ricardo Diaz was behind the ambush, a lead that Tommy follows.
Kent Paul
Kent Paul is a Cockney English youth who works in the music business but claims to be a criminal mastermind. "Kent Paul" is probably an assumed name; his real name is unknown, although an early voice clip featured him calling himself "Paul from Kent." He also goes by "KP", "Paulo" and "Kent". He tapped the local biker gang to provide security for the band he represents, but had a falling-out with Big Mitch Baker and was stripped and thrown out of their bar. Paul is a notorious kiss-up to all of Vice City's elite, and as such is very good "with rumors." He has information on most of the major crime figures in the city, and seems to have contacts in certain SWAT divisions. He is also, however, a pathological liar and a suspected alcoholic. Kent serves as a manager to the metal band Love Fist and is usually found at the local Malibu nightclub.
Avery Carrington
Avery Carrington is a successful Texan property magnate, real estate mogul and extreme capitalist. He enjoys quoting his father and using old-western euphemisms. He is willing to do anything to manipulate property prices and land value, including arson, rioting, bribery, intimidation, and murder. He always wears a cowboy hat and rides in a black limousine.
Ricardo Diaz
Ricardo Diaz is the extremely dangerous and volatile individual behind the ambush of Vercetti's drug deal. He is also the head of his own gang, and the initial leader of the drug trade in the city. Fearing the Liberty City Mafia is looking to gain a foothold in Vice City's drug trade, Diaz takes the initiative and arranges the killing of the buyers, which includes Tommy Vercetti and his crew, as well as the supplier Victor Vance. Over time, Diaz becomes less tolerant of competition, singling out aspiring dealers for assassination, no matter how small-time. Diaz later recruits Vercetti to run errands for him, but eventually Vercetti discovers Diaz's role in the ambush and kills him, seizing his estate in the process.
Umberto Robina
Umberto Robina is a Cuban warlord (and leader of the Cuban Gang) who has been involved in a long-term Vice City turf war with Haitian criminals. He is an extremely macho man who wants to wage full scale war with the Haitian gang, however, he has never been personally implicated in a crime and his bravery has been questioned within Cuban circles. He is good friends with Tommy Vercetti and treats him as an equal. His quote on it: "Tommy, to us, you Cuban".
Auntie Poulet
Auntie Poulet is an elderly Haitian matriarch, leader of the Haitian gang (which she also uses as her own protection). She gives Tommy Vercetti mind-altering voodoo potions to get him to cooperate in the missions she wants him to undertake. This includes acting against the Cubans, with whom he has friendly relations. However, when the potion's effects wear off, Tommy shows no memory of what he has done for the Haitians. Ultimately, she cuts her ties with him and wishes that he not return to Little Haiti, but when Tommy does do so, he receives a final phone call from Auntie Poulet ("Why you [Tommy] coming here fee? Me tell you we don't want to see you around here no more.") and makes permanent enemies of the Haitian gang. Following Poulet's final mission, Tommy is given the opportunity to destroy the Haitians' main drug operations plant.
Love Fist
Love Fist is a Scottish hard-rock band in Vice City, managed by Kent Paul. The band's members are Jezz Torrent, Willy, Dick and Percy. The last three names are all slang terms for penis, while Jezz, when said in a Scottish accent, is heard as "Jizz", a British idiom for semen. During the game, Tommy has to help organize the group's appearance in Vice City, by providing the band members with drugs and prostitutes, protecting them from a deranged stalker, hiring a biker gang to work as security for the show (a reference to The Rolling Stones' show at Altamont Speedway, where the Hells Angels were hired as security, with disastrous results) and driving them to their show in their bomb-rigged limo (a reference to the movie Speed).
Steve Scott
Steve Scott is a porn film director at Interglobal Films, Inc. Tommy Vercetti buys his studio and brings him stars, while funding a new film starring Candy Suxxx (who is also implied to have had sex with Steve in his trailer). Steve is obsessed with making a movie about a giant shark; a movie poster for the Candy Suxxx movie Bite appears later in the game and is clearly a homage to Steven Spielberg's film Jaws. Another poster depicts another Steve Scott film starring Candy Suxxx called Closer Encounters, an obvious reference to the Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The last name could also be a reference to yet another director, Ridley Scott, director of 80's classic Blade Runner whilst the first name is probably that of Steven Spielberg.
"Big" Mitch Baker
"Big" Mitch Baker is a Vietnam veteran turned biker, earning a Purple Heart for killing a village full of Viet Cong. Vice City's cops tend to mistreat veterans, which has led Baker into many clashes with them and 13 occasions of being jailed. He runs the local biker gang at the Greasy Chopper bar and is extremely loyal to them. Tommy Vercetti has to earn Baker's respect before he can get the gang to provide security for a Love Fist concert. This is most likely a reference to the disastrous Rolling Stones concert where the Hells Angels were hired to work security. Big Mitch also occasionally calls into Vice City's rock-and-roll radio station complaining of the fact that they play too many hair bands and not enough hard rock.
Phil Cassidy
Phil Cassidy is a firearms expert and dealer who first appeared in GTA III, where he claimed to have lost an arm in Nicaragua. In contrast to his appearance in GTA III, the younger Phil is more energetic, but drinks to the point of drunkenness during one mission (qualities which become more common during his appearance in Vice City Stories). He also appears with both arms intact and participates in Tommy's "Job," a heist at a local bank. In Tommy's final mission for him, Phil loses an arm when his "boomshine", a homemade and hazardous explosive/alcoholic beverage, explodes directly in front of him. After the explosion, Tommy must drive Phil to the hospital while suffering from blood loss and the intoxicating effects of the boomshine. On the way to the hospital, Phil has Vietnam flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder. After that point, he continues to sell Tommy rare and powerful weapons.
Minor Characters
Victor Vance
Victor is Lance Vance's elder brother. He appears at the beginning of a mission (with Lance in the background) to participate in a drug deal with the playable protagonist, Tommy Vercetti. Vic is then gunned down, along with Tommy's escorts Harry and Lee, by henchmen working for Ricardo Diaz. There has been arguments between fans that Pete was the one shot down but proved in the official website it was Victor Vance.
Mercedes Cortez
Mercedes Cortez is Juan's wayward daughter. She is initially set up as a possible love interest for Tommy Vercetti, but this plot line is never 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 strip club. On another occasion, she has sex with the band Love Fist. Later in the game, she becomes involved in the porn film industry, co-starring with Candy Suxxx in a film directed by Steve Scott and produced by Vercetti.
Gonzales
Works for Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez is various capacities. Diplomatic immunity - part of cultural affairs division of San Dominican consulate. Believed Gonzalez' visa was issued as Health and Fitness Commission. Greedy - known to take bribes; could try bribing to find out more about Cortez' operation. Has been seen leaving property of Diaz without Cortez. Possible weakness in organization? Gonzalez has problems with his weight. Formerly very active in vice City underworld. Now spends a lot of time at penthouse, away from Cortez.
Donald Love
Donald Love, previously depicted as an influential tycoon in Grand Theft Auto III, makes two minor appearances as a young apprentice of real estate tycoon Avery Carrington, learning the tricks of the trade. The Vice City rendition of the character has little voice acting; Love remains silent throughout his appearances, and his second appearance sees him uttering only one or two minor words before being interrupted by Carrington.
Hilary King
Hilary King is a talented, neurotic, and highly dependent driver who is involved in two missions with Vercetti. He is afraid of venturing on the deadly missions but will do as his team requires regardless. In "The Driver" (a mission notorious for being one of the hardest in the game), he agrees to help Tommy if he can beat him in a street race. In "The Job", he participates in a bank robbery and is scheduled to meet the rest of the crew in a getaway taxi. However he arrives late, and when he finally appears, he is instantly slain by SWAT gunfire. This is a reference to the 1995 film Heat, directed by Michael Mann, who also was the executive producer of Miami Vice.
Cam Jones
Cam Jones is a kleptomaniac safecracker Tommy frees from jail to recruit for his "bank robbery" team. He is an expert at what he does, but is suggested by the police to have dubious expertise. Prior to his first appearance in the game, Cam was arrested by the police when he was caught running down the street with a safe he couldn't open. He is awaiting trial for attempted robbery (which would see him sentenced to a 10-year prison term), when he is rescued by Tommy Vercetti and asked to help pull off "the job."
BJ Smith
BJ Smith is the former tight-end of the Vice City Mambas professional American football team, haunted by problems off the field. He is a frequent guest at Juan Cortez' parties, and has had a little trouble adjusting to life off of the gridiron. He created the exercise video "BJ's Fit for Football" and used to own BJ's Used Autos (which police suspect is a front for selling stolen cars; the showroom was later bought over by Tommy Vercetti), and is preparing for a comeback into football. BJ's approach in life is said to be heavy handed, citing football as an inspiration to his claims of resolving many of life's challenges with aggression and violence. BJ is also in debt with loan sharks and is doing anything for money.
Candy Suxxx
Candy Suxxx (real name Candice Shand )is a large-breasted (the result of having silicone breast implants) and scantly clad woman (wearing little more than a bikini with a United States flag motif, and red high-heeled shoes) who is a prostitute residing in the Downtown area; Congressman Alex Shrub is a regular of hers until she is hired by Tommy Vercetti to work at the Interglobal Films pornography studio, after Tommy killed her pimp. Candy Suxxx would eventually rise to fame as a pornographic actress.
Alex Shrub
Alex Shrub is a right wing politician who became the youngest state congressman in Florida history because, according to Maurice Chavez, "he has great hair and says things that make you nod your head." Shrub is a delusional congressman who knowingly tries to cover up and distract people from the fact that Vice City is going downhill under his term. He cares only about money and has allowed businesses to do as they please, such as the legalization of Giggle Cream, a hazardous dessert which has killed 23 people. Eventually, he is blackmailed by Vercetti and Scott after they acquire photographs of the politician engaged in crossdressing and extra-marital affairs.
Maude Hanson
Maude Hanson (dubbed "Maude the Ice Cream Lady" in the Vice City manual) is the owner of the Cherry Popper ice-cream distributor 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 is believed to have once run a children's home.
Delores
Delores 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). Delores may also be heard on the dispatch radio of Kaufman Cab taxis.
Earnest Kelly
Earnest Kelly (dubbed "Old Man Kelly" in the Vice City manual) is a worker at the print works in Little Haiti, which would be bought over by Tommy Vercetti. Having worked at the print works for a long time, Earnest has always fancied printing money, albeit on a smaller scale. With the help of Tommy, Earnest acquires high quality printing plates to produce better counterfeit money. It also appears Tommy has a soft spot for the old man, as his own father managed the same print works when Vercetti was younger. Tommy seems to bond with Earnest and shows extreme concern and anger when Earnest is injured by Forelli 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 from his injuries.
Dwaine and Jethro
Dwaine and Jethro were workers at a 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. It is not until San Andreas, where they would reappear with larger roles, that their names are mentioned. Dwaine's name is spelled "Dwayne" in the game's data files and credits.
Pierre La Ponce
Pierre is a French secret service agent. He is involved in selling military hardware and secrets. His demise eventually comes at the hands of Tommy Vercetti.
Leo Teal
Possible connection with Mr. Black. Very complicated personal life. Works in restaurant business. Communications expert. Haven't been able to get a working tap on his phones. Believed to be working as a hitman in Vice City. Possible involvement in narcotics trade.
Pastor Richards
Maniac firebrand preacher, obsessed with money. Has written several awful books. All completely fabricated. Most given away. Obsessed with degenerates. Has been campaigning to build a large statue in his own image. Has been attempting to bribe officials at NASA for rocket technology. Believed to be embezzling money from the fund for a private mansion in Hawaii.
Eugene
Possible way to TEAL. TEAL's other lover. Interior designer and restaurant owner. Likes knives. Likes Thailand. Likes the beach.
Moweesha
Involved in dubious practices with TEAL and several other men. Thought to be paid company. Involved in bizarre practices with TEAL and a manatee.
Georgio Forelli
Italian-American criminal. Currently case is going to trial. Conviction thought to be certain. Related to Liberty City organized crime family. Cross dresser.
Mr. Black
Nothing is known about this man. We are eager to find out more. Possible connection to money laundering thought to be unlikely. Believed to be involved in running hitman business. No further info available.
Pedro Garcia
Involved in violent gun-running. Buying weapons from out of state and selling them on the streets. Believed to be rival of Phil Cassidy.
Alberto Robina
Father of Umberto Robina. Quiet cafe owner.
