Mike Toreno

Character
Mike Toreno
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Appearances GTA San Andreas
Full Name Mike Toreno
Aliases Toreno
Status

Alive

Place of Birth United States
Nationality American
Home Ranch in Tierra Robada
Main Affiliations T-Bone Mendez (until 1992)
Jizzy B. (until 1992)
San Fierro Rifa (until 1992)
Big Smoke (1992)
Ryder (1992)
Grove Street Families (1992)
Carl Johnson (1992)
Vehicles Washington
Businesses Intelligence recollection
Assassination
Voiced by James Woods
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You may be looking for the mission of the same name.

Michael "Mike" Toreno is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a main character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. An undercover government agent from a "government agency", most likely the CIA, who disguises himself as a drug dealer and one of the co-leaders of the Loco Syndicate, more specifically, its leader de mysterio, he is voiced by James Woods, who bears some resemblance to the character, and has featured in films such as Once Upon a Time in America.

Character history

The Loco Syndicate

Toreno joined an unknown government agency sometime before 1992 and was later given the task of 'battling threats in Latin America' and moved to San Fierro in San Andreas. After arriving in San Fierro he met and became business partners with Jizzy B., the owner of The Pleasure Domes Club, and San Fierro Rifa leader T-Bone Mendez, who together formed the Loco Syndicate. The three took control of an abandoned factory in Doherty and the building was converted into a drug manufacturing plant. Toreno later made connections with Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris, a high ranking member of the Grove Street Families who was looking to make himself powerful in Los Santos, and made deals to sell drugs to him.

Toreno, Jizzy, and Mendez later meet Lance "Ryder" Wilson, Smoke's right hand man, at a fast-food restaurant in Angel Pine to further discuss the deal. Protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson, co-leader to the fallen Grove Street Families, and Mexican-American Varrios Los Aztecas leader Cesar Vialpando, having heard of the deal, spy on the meeting and photograph those involved, later returning to Carl's garage to seek the help of blind Chinese-American San Fierro Triads leader Wu Zi "Woozie" Mu and his assistant in identifying those involved, with the exception of Ryder. The two, however, are unable to shed any light on Toreno.

Looking for a way into the organisation to stop the flow of drugs to Los Santos, Carl begins to work for Jizzy, the negotiator. Carl and Mendez later set out to find Toreno after he was accidentally kidnapped by the Da Nang Boys, who had stolen a van full of drugs, which Toreno happened to be in. Carl and Mendez eventually track him down to Easter Bay Airport and free him, although Toreno remains suspicious and almost kills Carl, being convinced by Mendez to spare him. The three then destroy the van, full with drugs, to destroy evidence before the police arrive.

Toreno and Mendez, still suspicious of him, have him protect a van full of drugs from the Da Nang Boys and their roadblocks on its way to their factory. Following the death of Jizzy, Toreno, unaware of Carl's involvement and the event itself, decides to meet with Mendez and Ryder at Pier 69 but, arriving by helicopter, sees the dead bodies of the San Fierro Rifa and Triad gangsters and escapes. Carl and Cesar, watching from a distant rooftop, then attack the pier and kill Mendez, before Carl gives chase to and kills Ryder. Knowing of his partners' deaths, Toreno goes to the San Fierro Police Department headquarters but uses a decoy helicopter to allow him to escape unnoticed, with Carl taking the bait and destroying the helicopter.

Carl then destroys the factory used by the gang and, assuming the syndicate leaders dead, settles back into life in San Fierro. Shortly after this, though, he receives a phone call from a distorted voice, telling him to go a ranch in Tierra Robada. Carl, upon arriving, is told he must complete a race in a monster truck across Tierra Robada. The unknown caller's man on the ground says that he will receive a phone call and, upon returning to the ranch, Carl is surprised to meet Toreno, who he believes will kill him.

Life in Tierra Robada and Bone County

Mike Toreno explaining his true identity to Carl Johnson at his ranch in Tierra Robada during the mission Highjack.
Mike Toreno pointing to the locations from where he is being watched, during the mission N.O.E..

Toreno, however, has plans to use Carl to do his bidding and uses his connections to his advantage, telling Carl he could get his now incarcerated brother Sean "Sweet" Johnson free from prison, in what is clearly an ironic turn of events. Toreno also tells Carl of his true identity, that of a government agent, and tells him that he is not a drug dealer but an agent 'battling threats in Latin America, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY' and that the operation has led to them making numerous allies that have helped 'immeasurably'. Toreno, for his first task, tells Carl to get Cesar and to steal a truck from a rival agency while it is being transported, saying they need the cargo, telling Carl not to reveal to Cesar the reason for the theft.

The next time the two meet Toreno proves his statements of being an undercover agent by relaying the story of corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officers Frank Tenpenny and Edward "Eddie" Pulaski, of the C.R.A.S.H. unit of the Los Santos Police Department, murdering fellow officer Ralph Pendelbury to hide their crimes from Internal Affairs, a case that had not been solved. Toreno also explains that he tries to pit bad guys against bad guys but that sometimes good people get hurt or killed, stating that, to him, Sweet is 'collateral', before sending Carl to Las Brujas, a ghost town. There, speaking through a speaker, Toreno tells him to go to the top of Arco del Oeste and light a flare, to give a signal to a plane carrying precious cargo. The plane, however, is ambushed by agency helicopters although Carl, having picked up a rocket launcher, destroys the them. The plane with the cargo flies to a small inlet near the abandoned Verdant Meadows airstrip, with Carl following and collecting the package, delivering it back to Las Brujas.

Toreno meets Carl at his ranch shortly afterwards and tells him that he had used Sweet to get Carl to do his work, saying he will not be released yet, although he states that he is being protected as he needs him alive just as much as Carl. Toreno then tells him that his actions are getting him noticed by other government agencies and that he needs him to purchase the Verdant Meadows Airstrip and then learn how to fly.

After finishing his lessons, Carl is visited at the airstrip by Toreno, who appears from a hangar and tells Carl that he could have killed him in nine different ways, warning him to be more careful in future. He then explains that he is being watched by five people, pointing to the locations of three of them and saying the other two are by satellites. He also asks him to fly to Angel Pine and deliver some supplies to his men, who will be dead by nightfall without them, but tells him to fly the plane close to the ground to avoid appearing on the agencies' radar, which Carl manages to do and returns to the airstrip.

Carl returns to the airstrip a short time later and witnesses a large plane landing, thinking that they are Toreno's men. Toreno, however, appears and tells him that they from a rival agency who are planning to give land mines and money to various 'militaristic dictators' in an attempt to help the overseas situation and in return for arms contracts, with Toreno claiming that the deals could start chaos in the Middle East and Latin America. Toreno admits that he is doing the same thing, but by cherry picking the dictators so they can control them. Toreno then explains that his boss has given Carl permission to sneak on board as the plane is taking off, kill those inside and blow up the plane, a mission that Carl completes before parachuting to safety.

Final meetings with Carl Johnson

Carl Johnson pointing a gun at Mike Toreno while inside Madd Dogg's mansion in Mulholland during the mission Home Coming.

Toreno then disappears from Carl's life and Carl continues his life of crime with the Triads in Las Venturas, pulling off a casino heist, and meeting up with Tenpenny and Pulaski, with Carl killing Pulaski. Carl, after being asked by rapper Madd Dogg, who he had saved from suicide, re-takes his mansion and while there, gets a message from Toreno asking him to go outside.

The two drive to a small beach in Red County where Toreno explains that he can arrange for Sweet to be released from prison, if Carl pulls off one last mission. Toreno then explains that he wants him to 'steal a military jet off an amphibious assault ship and use it to destroy a flotilla of spy ships'. Carl agrees to do it, for Sweet, but tells Toreno that he is not confident, although he once again proves his value by pulling the mission off. After destroying the spy ships in Sherman Dam, Carl asks what he wants to do with the military jet, with Toreno disclaiming responsbility and shrugging his shoulders off the stolen jet.

Toreno appears in Carl's life one final time at Madd Dogg's mansion. Carl, frustrated by his last experience, pulls a gun and points it towards Toreno, who talks Carl out of shooting him and asks him to do one more thing, to answer his phone, which then begins to ring. Carl then realizes that Sweet, who is on the other end, has just been released and is waiting in Pershing Square. Aware that Toreno has kept his promise, Carl asks him what he is to do, with Toreno telling him to pick up his brother.

Personality

Philosophically, Toreno is a highly cynical American imperialist who primarily uses Carl as a courier, saboteur and assassin. Despite knowing of the crimes committed by Tenpenny and Pulaski, as well as their hold over Carl, who they could implicate in the murder of Ralph Pendelbury, he does nothing to stop them, later explaining that while he tries to pit bad guys against bad guys, sometimes good guys are hurt or die. Toreno, similar to Tenpenny, gravitates towards committing heinous crimes in the name of a greater good, but contrary to Tenpenny, equates the maintenance of the American socio-economic system with the continued survival of the free world.

Trivia

Mike Toreno's Ranch in Tierra Robada.
The back of Mike Toreno's Washington, showing the OMEGA number plate.
  • In missions, the number plate on Toreno's Washington says "OMEGA", although the Washington parked at his ranch always has a random plate number.
  • Toreno is likely a CIA agent, although this is not confirmed, as the CIA have been connected to cocaine trafficking between Latin American paramilitaries and gangs in Los Angeles, the city Los Santos is based on.
  • The texture ID for Toreno's in-game model is misspelled as 'Torino'. This is either how his name was originally spelt, or a typo. However, in-game pronunciation for his name almost unanimously sounds like 'Torino'.

Mission appearances

GTA San Andreas