Tommy Vercetti

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Character

Thomas Vercetti
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Appearances	[[Appearance::Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]
Full Name	Thomas Vercetti
Aliases	The Harwood Butcher
Gender	Gender::Male
Date of Birth	1949
Place of Birth	Liberty City
Age Now	75
Nationality	American
Home	Vercetti Estate, Vice City
Family	Unnamed Father Mercedes Cortez (Possible girlfriend)
Main Affiliations	Vercetti Gang Forelli Family Cubans/Los Cabrones Bikers Diaz Gang Ken Rosenberg Lance Vance Avery Carrington Cortez Crew Kent Paul Earnest Kelly Steve Scott
Vehicles	White Stretch White Admiral White Infernus
Businesses	Malibu Club Kaufman Cabs The Pole Position Club Vice City Print Works InterGlobal Films Cherry Popper Ice Cream Factory Sunshine Autos Vice City Boatyard
Voiced by	Ray Liotta
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Tommy Vercetti is the protagonist and playable character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He is voiced by Ray Liotta.

Background

Tommy Vercetti's father worked all his life in a printing shop, and years later Tommy had fond childhood memories of helping his father clean the rollers. He wanted to follow his father in the family business, but he lived a different life, instead becoming a criminal in the employ of the Forelli Family.

Tommy was convicted in 1971 on 11 counts of homicide in the district of Harwood, Liberty City, which earned him the nickname "The Harwood Butcher". With the help of the Forelli Family’s connections, he was spared the wp:death penalty and only served 15 years for manslaughter. That year (1986), Sonny sent Tommy to Vice City, where he was meant to act as the Forelli's representative in a drug deal, and expand the Forelli empire into Miami; the deal, however, was ambushed by hitmen for drug lord Ricardo Diaz. Tommy worked for several people including Juan Garcia Cortez and Ricardo Diaz himself to find out who was behind the ambush, and to get the drugs back. Tommy and his partner in crime Lance Vance raided Diaz's mansion and killed him; Tommy then took over the mansion and started his own gang, the Vercetti Gang.

Sonny Forelli, angry that he was not receiving a cut of the Vercetti Gang's profits, sent hitmen to raid Tommy's businesses; Tommy killed all of them, and so Forelli came to Vice City himself, to face Tommy one-on-one. At Vercetti mansion, Sonny revealed that the 1971 Harwood incident was an ambush he had organised, and that Lance Vance had betrayed Tommy. A gunfight between the Vercetti and Forelli gangs broke out across the Vercetti estate, and Tommy killed both Sonny and Lance.

With the Forellis driven from Miami and Tommy victorious, the Vercetti gang rose to prominence, and ruled the Vice City underworld at least until 1992, as witnessed in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Personality

Tommy is depicted as an intelligent but temperamental man, easily angered and quick to resort to violence (consider his lethal beating of Leo Teal, and his repeated roughing-up of Kent Paul to obtain information). He does not hesitate to kill; he performs several contract killings for Mr. Black, and many of his other jobs incur high body counts. The only murder for which he expresses regret is that of Lance Vance; Tommy was surprised and hurt that Vance had betrayed him to Sonny Forelli.

Despite his violence, Tommy has a (usually buried) softer side; his only sincere friendship in Vice City is with Earnest Kelly, an old man who runs the Vice City Print Works. Tommy apparently sees Earnest as a father figure, Tommy's father having worked at a printing press when Tommy was young.

Partnerships

While Tommy's main objective was initially to retrieve Sonny's money, he also bought property and businesses in Vice City to raise an income. He also pulled off other jobs along the way which gained him connections and a reputation in Vice City. Among his business partners were:

Avery Carrington

Tommy worked with Avery Carrington to learn more about the Vice City real estate market. Tommy pulled off jobs which allowed Avery to take more property around Vice City, including killing Avery's main rival in Vice City real estate, blowing up a building under construction so that Avery could buy out the lot, and inflaming the rivalry between the Cuban and Haitian gangs to reduce real estate prices.

Umberto Robina

Tommy worked for the Cuban leader, Umberto Robina, to gain the favour of Vice City's Cuban gang. Umberto enlisted Tommy in the Cubans' gang war against their Haitian rivals; he raided Haitian drug stockpiles, busted their drug deal with the Sharks gang, and eventually blew up the Haitian drugs factory.

Phil Cassidy

Tommy works for gun-runner Phil Cassidy to gain access to heavier armaments. He kills Pedro Garcia, Phils gun-running rival and steals his weapon shipment; he also saves Phil's life when the latter accidentally blew off his own arm by standing too close to a homemade Boomshine bomb.

Inspirations

Tommy Vercetti exhibits several characteristics of fictional drug lord Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface; GTA Vice City as a whole is heavily influenced by the film. Like Montana, who is exiled from Cuba, Tommy is an exile from Liberty City; like Montana in Miami, Vercetti rises to power in Vice City using great violence, eventually building an empire centred on a huge estate and mansion (the interior of Vercetti's mansion is designed after that of Montana's). Both are short-tempered and violent; both worked as hired assassins, killed their own collaborators, and took over their ex-bosses' empires. Unlike Montana, however, Tommy did not become addicted to his own narcotics, and, unlike Montana, he survived the attack upon his mansion.

Tommy also bears some resemblance to Michael Madsen's character, 'Mr. Blonde', in the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. At the beginning of Reservoir Dogs, it is stated that Mr. Blonde (real name Vic Vega) has just been released from prison after loyally doing time for his crime family, much as Tommy did after the Harwood incident. This may be why Tommy's contact for the payphone assassination missions is called 'Mr. Black', and why the latter refers to Tommy as 'Mr. Teal' in their conversations.

Trivia

• An Easter Egg in Grand Theft Auto IV suggests that Tommy Vercetti, along with the other GTA III era protagonists, is dead as of 2008. However, GTA IV does not share a canon with the GTA III era.
• In GTA San Andreas, a Tommy Vercetti action figure, along with a Lance Vance figure, are seen on shelves in Zero RC Shop.
• Tommy has the highest in-story body count in the Grand Theft Auto III Era.
• Tommy bears a strong resemblance to Detective James Crockett from Miami Vice, possibly an intentional reference, as Vice City takes many elements from Miami Vice.

Murders committed

Compulsory

• Leo Teal - Killed for his involvement with the bust of Tommy's cocaine deal
• Gonzales - Killed for betraying Juan Cortez by giving information to Ricardo Diaz
• Pierre La Ponce - Killed while attempting to escape when the police bust the exchange of stolen technology between he and Colonel Cortez.
• Carl Pearson - Killed on Mr. Black's orders
• Mrs. Dawson - Killed on Mr. Black's orders
• Mike Griffin - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Dick Tanner - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Franco Carter - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Marcus Hammond - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Nick Kong - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Charlie Dilson - Killed on Mr. Black's orders for planning to rob the Vice City Metropolitan Bank
• Ricardo Diaz - Killed by Tommy and Lance Vance at his mansion for ambushing their cocaine deal
• The Psycho - Killed for attempting to kill the members of the band Love Fist.
• Pedro Garcia - Killed on Phil Cassidy's orders
• Lance Vance - Killed for betraying Tommy
• Sonny Forelli - Killed for setting Tommy up in 1971, for sending collectors to Vice City to take Tommy's money, and as vengeance for the collectors' beating of Earnest Kelly.

Optional

• Cam Jones - The player can kill Cam during the mission The Job .
• Rico - Can be killed in the mission Trojan Voodoo.
• Pepe (GTA VC) - Can be killed in the mission Trojan Voodoo .