United Liberty Paper
United Liberty Paper, U.L. Paper, or simply U.L.P.C. (C. for Company) is a front company for a secretive government (or government-contracted) organization in Grand Theft Auto IV. Niko works with them through an anonymous representative.
Organization
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Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details are in the text which follows. |
Almost no information about the nature of UL Paper is given over the course of the game, except that, according to Niko's contact, they are not part of the FIB. They appear to have considerable resources and influence, and in some way co-operate with public authorities -- it is their subterfuge which leads to the capture of Elizabeta Torres, and the resulting collapse of her distribution operation.
Niko's contact within UL Paper says, "It's hard to tell who the good guys are. I'm not a good guy, but I work with the good guys,", suggesting that they may be a government black ops group, or a group subcontracted by government to keep illegal activity at arm's length (they commit one illegal rendition as a favour to Niko late in the game). The organization offers several missions supposedly related to stopping terrorist activity in Liberty City. Niko is blackmailed into working for the organization after discovering that his girlfriend, Michelle (real name Karen), is in a similar predicament, and was in truth assigned to monitor him.
In the game's files, UL Paper's missions are titled "CIA", ie, the Central Intelligence Agency. Several framed documents on the representative's office walls carry the seal of the CIA.
Contact
Niko's contact within UL Paper is an anonymous middle-aged man with spectacles. He makes mention of having a past military career, and having officially died in the Vietnam War, however he also implies that anything he says about himself may be a lie. It is revealed in the cutscene of the first mission for the organisation that the contact speaks Serbian, the language of Niko's homeland; he says to Niko that America is "just like the old country", to which Niko replies: "Just like it". After Niko tracks down Florian Cravic, his contact reveals to him that he should actually be hunting for Darko Brevic, who is ultimately delivered to him as a favor by U.L. Paper.
Trivia
- If Niko is Wasted with a Wanted level of three or more stars, he may receive a call from the UL Paper representative after being revived at a hospital telling Niko to calm down and keep his head down.
- The U.L. Paper contact has many similar traits, physical and personal, to the San Andreas character Mike Toreno. They are both middle aged, well spoken, and mysterious. They never reveal what organization they work for, but it is heavily speculated that both of these men work/worked for the same organization. A big difference between the two however is that Mike Toreno reveals his full name, whereas the U.L. Paper contact keeps that secret, suggesting that Mike Toerno is actually a fake name given to Carl Johnson.