Tommy Vercetti
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| Thomas "Tommy" Vercetti | |
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| Game series | Grand Theft Auto |
| First game | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) |
| Voice actor(s) | Ray Liotta[1] |
| Motion capture actor | Jonathan Sale[2] |
Thomas "Tommy" Vercetti is a fictional character, voiced by Ray Liotta, in the Grand Theft Auto video game series. He serves as the protagonist and playable character in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, where he would emerge as the leader of his own organization.
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[edit] Role
[edit] Prologue
Vercetti's father worked all his life in a printing shop, and years later Tommy still has fond childhood memories of helping his father clean the rollers.[3] Vercetti had wanted to follow his father in the family business, but Tommy had lived a different life and instead became a criminal in the employment of the Forelli crime family of the Liberty City Mafia.[3] A possible reference that Tommy has served in the Vietnam War is made during a meeting with "Big" Mitch Baker,[4] although it is not fully confirmed (Tommy only mentions being "locked up during" the 1959-1975 war, which also relates to his 1971-1986 prison term).
Vercetti was sent to prison in Liberty City in 1971 for multiple counts of homicide (which Sonny claimed totaled at eleven deaths), although Tommy was originally sent by friend and Forelli family head Sonny Forelli to kill just one man in Harwood, earning him the nickname of "The Harwood Butcher", after a district in Liberty City.[5]
[edit] Dispatch to Vice City
Tommy was released from prison 15 years later, in 1986. Sonny Forelli realizes that having "The Harwood Butcher" returning to Liberty City and working on behalf of the Forelli family would be harmful to business, so Tommy was speedily sent by Sonny to Vice City to oversee an important drug deal between the Forelli family and the Vance crime family. Two Forelli henchmen, Harry and Lee, and Ken Rosenberg, a bent lawyer with Forelli connections, are sent to assist Tommy. The deal is supposed to be the beginning of the Forelli family's expansion "down south", but at the exchange, masked gunmen kill three of the people involved in the trade (Harry, Lee and Victor Vance), stealing both the drugs and the money Tommy was charged with protecting. Vercetti narrowly escapes with Ken and informs Sonny, who demands that Tommy get back both the cocaine and the money. Both Sonny and Tommy wish to kill those responsible for the theft.
Tommy eventually teams up with Lance Vance, the surviving member of the Vance crime family who is also involved in the botched drug deal, and together they discover that Vice City drug lord Ricardo Diaz was responsible for the ambushed deal and the death of Lance's brother, Victor. Tommy infiltrates Diaz's operation stealthily, gaining Diaz's trust. However, Lance, believing he can overpower Diaz, stages a premature attempt on his life.
Lance fails to kill Diaz and is captured and tortured by some of Diaz's men before Tommy rescues him. After Lance recovers in a hospital, both men forcefully invade the Diaz Mansion, killing many of Diaz's men and eventually Ricardo Diaz himself. Tommy then assumes control of Diaz's huge mansion in the process and renames it "Vercetti Estate". With Diaz out of the picture, Tommy takes over the Vice City drug market and sets up a successful protection racket. Tommy then goes on to assume ownership of multiple businesses and forms the Vercetti Gang in the process(of which he is the leader), becoming rich and powerful in Vice City. However, Lance begins to feel that Tommy is treating him like a child as his brother Victor used to do.
Sonny Forelli becomes increasingly frustrated with Tommy's refusal to comply with his wishes. After it becomes clear that Tommy has gone solo, he sends collectors to attempt assuming control of Vercetti businesses and intimidating members of Vercetti's syndicate. Their plans are thwarted when Tommy kills all of the collectors, after which Sonny comes down to Vice City personally. Informed by the news, Tommy prepares three million counterfeit dollars to give to Sonny (having assumed control of a printing press, he uses it to print a large amount of counterfeit cash). Before Sonny leaves with the fake money, Lance Vance betrays Tommy and informs Sonny that the real money is in Tommy's office safe (citing business as a reason for betraying Tommy). It is also revealed that the incident which resulted in Tommy's imprisonment was an ambush that was orchestrated by Sonny.
As a result, a huge gunfight erupts in the mansion, which involves in the massacre of countless Forelli members, including Sonny and the traitor Lance. The final cut scene in the game depicts Tommy engaging with Ken Rosenberg, stating that "this could be the beginning of a beautiful business relationship" between him and Ken.
[edit] Epilogue
Following the massacre of Forelli and his associates, Vercetti's organization no longer holds any ties to the "north", and Vercetti emerges as the most powerful crime lord in the city. While the longevity of his reign is uncertain, Tommy is indicated to be alive up until at least 1992 (the date and setting of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), when Ken Rosenberg phones him from a rehab clinic outside of Las Venturas. Rosenberg tries to get in touch with his old boss in The Introduction prequel machinima film, only to be turned away by one of Vercetti's associates, as Vercetti has apparently abandoned him.
[edit] Relation to Tony Montana
Tommy Vercetti, 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. Among these characteristics, his exile from his old home (Liberty City), his rise to power (acquiring property in the city, and a mansion, which also sports an interior similar to that of Montana's mansion), and his short tempered behavior. Tommy was also a hired assassin (before he was jailed), has killed his own acquaintances and friends (Lance Vance), and rebelled against his previous leader (Sonny), as Tony Montana has. The only notable differences are that Montana consumed his own narcotics to the point of severe addiction, a fatal flaw that Vercetti was not depicted to have and that; in addition, the final stand off of the film sees Montana killed, whereas Tommy manages to single-handedly take down his captors. Interestingly, the scenario of Montana single-handedly wiping out the forces raiding his mansion and escaping is the opening mission of the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours.
[edit] Trivia
- In DRIV3R, tanned men wearing Hawaiian shirts that are hidden throughout the game are called Timmy Vermicelli, a parody of Tommy Vercetti. Floaties on their arms ridicule the fact that Tommy Vercetti could not swim in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
- In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas's "The Meat Business" mission, CJ goes to kill members of the Sindacco family in a meat-packing facility. While inside with Ken Rosenberg, Ken exclaims "Hey, just like old times, huh, Tommy [Vercetti]?", to which CJ replies "Who the fuck is Tommy?".[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Full Grand Theft Auto: Vice City credits. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on October 1, 2006.
- ^ The Body Behind Vice City's Tommy Vercetti. GameStop.com. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ^ a b Earnest Kelly: "Mr. Vercetti? Hey. You bought the old print works?" / Tommy Vercetti: "Yeah, my old man used to work on these [printing machines]...I used to spend the evenings with him, cleaning the rollers. I was going to follow him in his trade, but...I lived a different life." (Opening cut scene of "Spilling the Beans", Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.)
- ^ "Big" Mitch Baker: "This here's the biggest family of misfits, outcasts and badasses. Hell, some of us has even been betrayed by our own country." / Tommy Vercetti: "I was locked up during 'Nam. Ugly business." (Opening cut scene of "Mess With the Man", Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.)
- ^ Sonny Forelli: "Didn't I say your temper would get you into trouble, huh?...How many was it? Ten? No, eleven men. That's how you get to be called the Harwood Butcher!" / Tommy Vercetti: "You sent me to kill one man, ONE MAN. They knew I was coming Sonny..." (Opening cut scene of "Keep Your Friends Close...", Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.)
- ^ Ken Rosenberg: "Hey, just like old times, huh, Tommy?" / CJ: "Who the fuck is Tommy?" (In-game dialog in "The Meat Business", Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.)
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