Tommy Vercetti

 

Tommy Vercetti first appears wearing a blue green Hawaiian shirt. He is offered more wardrobe options as the game progresses.^[3] Tommy, in several ways, exhibits characteristics of fictional drug lord Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface. This coincides with the heavy themes and appearance of the movie that has been implemented into Vice City.^[4] The interplay between Tommy and Lance Vance was crafted to be similar to the relationship of Miami Vice's Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.^[5]

The team spent time "solving [the] riddle" of a speaking protagonist, a notable departure from Grand Theft Auto III's silent protagonist Claude.^[6] Ray Liotta portrayed protagonist Tommy Vercetti. Liotta described the role as challenging: "You're creating a character that's not there before ... It's so intensive". When recording the role, the team used blue screen in order to allow Liotta to visualise "how it's gonna move".^[7] The team ensured that the player felt "real affinity" for Tommy, making the narrative a key development interest.^[8] Dan Houser described Tommy as "strong and dangerous and prepared to wait for the right opportunity to arrive".^[9] Director Navid Khonsari found Liotta occasionally difficult to work with.^[10] "In some sessions he was ... into it, but then sometimes ... he was very dark and couldn't work", said Sam Houser.^[11]

Prior to the release of Vice City, IGN stated that Tommy was likely to "leave the same kind of imprint on kids today that [actor Ray Liotta's] portrayal of Ray Sinclair left on every high school and college kid who saw Something Wild back in 1986." They also compared Liotta's portrayal of Tommy to his portrayal of Henry Hill in Goodfellas.^[12] When asked about his portrayal of Tommy, Liotta stated that "it was hard work." He said that "you're pretty much putting yourself in [the game developers'] hands and doing whatever they want so there's not much for you to do creatively."^[13]

Tommy Vercetti was born in Liberty City to an Italian American family. As a child, he would often visit his father at his job as a printing press operator and helped him by cleaning the rollers.^[14] Although Tommy initially dreamed of an honest life, he quickly became caught up in the criminal lifestyle as a teenager, after befriending Sonny Forelli. Sonny, a prominent member (presumably already Don) of the Forelli Crime Family, got Tommy involved in various criminal activities, and eventually inducted him into the family as a made man.^[15]

In 1971, jealous and nervous of Tommy's rising reputation within the Mafia, Sonny sent him into a trap to be killed, under the guise of a mission to assassinate a rival mobster in the city's Harwood district. When he arrived, Tommy was swiftly ambushed by eleven men, but managed to kill them all. Despite acting in self-defense, Tommy was arrested and sent to prison for multiple charges of murder.^[16] At one point, he was to be placed on death row, but due to the Forelli family's influence and possible interference, he only served fifteen years. While in prison, Tommy earned the nickname "The Harwood Butcher" for his actions prior to his arrest.^[15]

Fresh out of prison in 1986, Tommy is immediately dispatched by Sonny to Vice City to oversee an important drug deal. The deal was arranged by Sonny to both keep Tommy outside Liberty City in order to avoid further conflict with law enforcement, and to allow the Forelli family (by this time the most powerful Mafia organization in Liberty City) to expand into the drug trade in the south. Once in Vice City, Tommy and his assigned bodyguards meet the Forellis' crooked lawyer Ken Rosenberg, who drives them to the deal's location. When the deal is ambushed by masked assailants who kill Tommy's bodyguards and one of the customers, Tommy is forced to flee with Ken and abandon the money given to him by Sonny and the merchandise. After calling Sonny to give him the bad news, Tommy finds himself tasked with retrieving the drugs and Sonny's money, and kill whoever masterminded the ambush, under the threat of retaliation from Sonny.

During his investigation, Tommy makes a number of allies who offer him help, including retired Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez, who helped set up the exchange; music producer Kent Paul, a friend of Ken's who maintains connections with Vice City's criminal underbelly; Lance Vance, the vengeful brother of the customer killed in the ambush; and Texan real estate developer Avery Carrington, who hires Tommy to assist him with several jobs. Through Cortez, Tommy meets drug lord Ricardo Diaz, who employs him and Lance, but is later revealed to be responsible for the ambush. After working for Diaz to earn his trust, the pair kill him in his mansion, getting back their money and drugs.

With Diaz dead, Tommy takes over his empire, and slowly distances himself from the Forelli family, ignoring Sonny's orders to pay him the money he is owed. While he remains in contact with most of his allies, he begins to neglect Lance, who asks him to be treated like an equal partner on multiple occasions. Instead, Tommy becomes more focused on expanding his criminal syndicate, called the "Vercetti Gang", by forcing various businesses to pay him protection money, buying out nearly bankrupt companies to be used as fronts for illicit operations, and forming alliances with gangs such as the Los Cabrones and the Vice City Bikers.

After Tommy establishes himself as the undisputed kingpin of Vice City, he is forced to defend his businesses from Forelli mobsters sent by Sonny, who decided to take actions against Tommy. After learning Sonny will be coming to Vice City to collect what he believes he is owed, Tommy plans to pay him tribute with counterfeit money. However, when Sonny arrives at Tommy's mansion, he reveals that he knows about his plan thanks to Lance, who betrayed him, and admits his role in Tommy's arrest fifteen years prior. A shootout then ensues in the mansion, during which Tommy prevents the Forellis from stealing his money and murders Lance for his betrayal, before finally killing Sonny in a tense standoff. Moments later, Ken arrives to a scene of carnage, but Tommy assures him that everything is fine, because without Sonny, he is in charge now. He then names Ken his new right-hand man, declaring the moment to be "the beginning of a beautiful business relationship."^[17]

Not much is known about Tommy's life after 1986 other than his partnership with Ken being short-lived. At some point before 1992, when Ken's cocaine addiction became a serious nuisance for Tommy, he sent him to a rehabilitation center in Fort Carson, San Andreas, and abandoned him there. In The Introduction, a short prologue film to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Ken gets out of rehab after completing his treatment and tries to contact Tommy, but is unsuccessful, as the latter has cut all ties with him.^[18]

 

The character of Tommy Vercetti received very positive reviews and remarks from critics and players of Vice City, making it to many lists of the best video game characters. AllGame's Scott Alan Marriott found Tommy more engaging than Grand Theft Auto III's Claude;^[22] IGN's Perry felt that Rockstar "found the right person and the right choice",^[23] and Edge wrote that Tommy "sweats charisma", commending Liotta's performance.^[19] CraveOnline stated that playing as Tommy was "a breath of fresh air".^[24] The Age praised Liotta's acting and stated "while the character riffs on Tony Montana throughout the game, Liotta's speeches give him a reckless sense of humour that makes him more likeable".^[20] GameDaily praised Liotta's portrayal as having transformed him from a generic-looking thug to a "tough guy who ruled the 80's."^[21] The Telegraph described Tommy as "the most amoral" Grand Theft Auto protagonist.^[25]

Liotta won the award for Best Live Action/Voice Male Performance at the 2003 G-Phoria Awards and Best Performance by a Human at the 2003 Spike Video Game Awards.^[26][27]