Tommy Vercetti

Background

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Powers and Abilities

Tommy Vercetti is a skilled business manager and a powerful drug distributor. He rules the underworld of Vice City and holds considerable influence in the town’s legitimate economic and political organizations as well.

He is even more famous for his street skills. He accrued fame as an excellent wheelman, an highly skilled shooter, and a born survivor with a knack for getting out of even the worse firefights with his skin intact.

Rising Star

As Vercetti’s power and influence increased, so did his array of associates and enemies.

Lance Vance

A fellow mob enforcer (Low Connection in DC Heroes terms). While most of Tommy’s previous allies became business partners as his fortunes rose, Vance became increasingly marginalized. This was due to Vance’s lackadaisical attitude and his subsequent embarrassment with being chastised by Tommy for failing to keep on top of things.

Lance became increasingly withdrawn as Tommy’s criticisms hit a sore point with Lance, reminding him of the mockery he received as a child, especially from his now-deceased brother. Lance soon ceased to be a Sidekick and though he was still a part of tommy’s crew he became only a Low Connection until the final confrontation with the Forelli Family (See the Tommy Vercetti (Kingpin) writeup).

Phil Cassidy

Arms dealer and gun lover (Low Connection in DC Heroes terms): Tommy recruited Phil to provide weapons and muscle during his heist of Vice City’s El Banco Corrupto Grande. Phil was impressed by Tommy’s marksmanship and willingness to take risks.

After the heist, Tommy had an open invitation to stop by Phil’s shack whenever he needed to buy some heavy artillery, among which were rocket launchers and remote-detonated explosives, or borrow Phil’s Patriot (a Humvee knockoff).

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Umberto Robina

Cuban gang lord (Low Connection in DC Heroes terms): Umberto, head of the Cuban gangs in the West Side of Vice City, was Tommy’s first contact in that area. Tommy proved his skills and bravery by helping Umberto in his war against Auntie Poulet’s Haitian gangs. Umberto became a friend and let Tommy work his business in Vice City’s Little Havana neighborhoods without hindrance.

Auntie Poulet

Haitian gang lord (Enemy in DC Heroes terms): After a failed attempt at subverting Tommy with hypnotic potions and Tommy’s subsequent alliance with the Cubans, the latter of which culminated in the destruction of a major Haitian drug processing center in Vice City’s Little Haiti neighborhood, Auntie Poulet’s gangs became bitter foes of the Vercetti crew.

Tommy now gets shot at on sight whenever he enters Little Haiti. That happens a lot, because Tommy bought a taxi company in the heart of Little Haiti in defiance of Auntie Poulet’s edict that he never return to there and he frequently goes there in person to collect his cut of the profits.

Exchanges of gunfire between Vercetti’s thugs and Haitian gangers outside of Kaufman Cabs are a daily occurrence and the police do not even bother responding anymore.

Love Fist

A rock band (Low Connection in DC Heroes terms): Kent Paul introduced Tommy to Love Fist, whose music he enjoyed. He helped them put together some parties, avoid psychotic stalkers, and get security for their big performance in Vice City. While Vercetti enjoyed the parties, this also served as a chance to meet some people that he put to use later as a Low Connection to Vice City Entertainment Celebrities.

“Big” Mitch Baker

(High Connection in DC Heroes terms): After Kent Paul’s failed attempt at recruiting Baker’s biker gang to work security for Love Fist’s concert (said attempt ending when they stripper Paul and tossed out through the window of their hangout), Tommy stepped in. After Vercetti proved himself worthy to ride with Mitch’s gang, they agreed to work as stage bouncers for the Love Fist gig.

Earnest Kelly

Printer and counterfeiter (Low Connection in DC Heroes terms): Feeling nostalgic, Tommy bought a print shop during his expansion into Vice City’s West Side.

Earnest was the head of the shop and quickly became a favored associate, both for sound business suggestions like using the print works to counterfeit money and because Kelly’s avuncular ways probably reminded Vercetti of his father, who had made his living working the same kind of jobs.

General wealth

The combination of business assets and connections Tommy accrued caused his Wealth to rise rapidly, going from 12 to 15 over the next few months.

History

(See the Tommy Vercetti (Enforcer) writeup for the history prior to this point.)

The infiltration of Diaz’s operation went awry when Lance Vance impulsively attempted to assassinate the crime lord. Vance failed and Diaz had him taken to the local junkyard to be tortured to death. Kent Paul heard the buzz and alerted Tommy. Vercetti gunned down Diaz’s goons at the yard in a ferocious firefight and then took Lance to the hospital.

After Lance was patched up, he met Tommy at the Diaz Estate on Starfish Island, bringing a car trunk full of military small arms with him. Tommy and Lance invaded the Diaz Estate, fighting their way through Diaz’s men. They finally cornered Diaz in his office and executed him with simultaneous head shots from Lance’s .50 Desert Eagle and Tommy’s .357 Colt Python.

Drug baron

With Diaz gone, Vercetti took over his business as premier drug baron of Vice City. Tommy claimed Diaz’s mansion for himself and renamed it Vercetti Estates. He quickly moved to consolidate his pre-existing business connections on the East Side of Vice City and made it clear that Diaz’s former businesses were now his as well.

It took a few terrorist acts including shooting up a shopping mall and bombing a store that was not cooperating with Vercetti’s protection racket, but the message got across — Vercetti owned the East Side.

With his current holdings secure, Tommy now needed to build up new business and a war chest. He purchased the Malibu club on the East Side, the biggest dance club in all of Vice City, and funneled the profits from it while planning a bank heist for additional liquid funds.

Assembling a crew to help him pull off the job, Tommy decided that the object of the robbery would be to swipe the VCPD’s SWAT Team Retirement Fund. He added insult to the injury done to the Vice City police when he took out two officers and stole their uniforms and car to carry out the aforementioned store bombing.

Despite considerable complications, including Tommy’s wheelman getting blown away by the SWAT team just as the stick up crew exited the bank, the theft was successful.

Movin’ on up

Once the foundation of his empire was secure, Tommy began to sink his claws into the West Side of the city. This was a diverse process in which Vercetti invested in legal and illegal ventures alike. He was not afraid to intermingle his methodologies either, using criminal acts to further legitimate business interests and applying sound “straight” business practices to his criminal enterprises.

Vercetti’s underworld expansion centered around building an alliance with the Cubans in the West Side’s Little Havana. He also tried meeting with Auntie Poulet, the leader of the gangs in Little Haiti who were feuding with the neighboring Cubans. This did not go well, with Auntie Poulet drugging Tommy into a suggestible state and sending him on a series of dangerous missions.

Tommy showed increasing resistance to the drugs over the brief time he was used in this manner. Thus, Auntie Poulet finally decided to let him go. Why she did not simply kill him when his usefulness came to an end is unknown. It probably had to do with fears that his crew would open up a second front against her in the current gang war in retaliation for such an act.

She also erroneously expected him to be fearful of crossing her in the future after this incident, based on later comments she made.

While Tommy’s memories of Auntie Poulet’s wrongs against him were cloudy, he nevertheless remembered enough consciously or subconsciously to carry a grudge. He assisted the Cubans in a major victory against the Haitians, cementing a vicious enmity between the Haitians and Vercetti’s people.

Poulet personally called Tommy to warn him to stay out of Little Haiti, but to no avail (See the Auntie Poulet section of “Rising Star” above for additional details).

No business like show business

Many of Tommy’s legal business ventures required similar efforts to get properly established. His car dealership was supplemented with stolen vehicles, his ice cream delivery trucks sold drugs instead of sweets, and his taxi business gained a considerable boost with the calculated murder of numerous competitor taxi hacks (who were equally homicidally inclined, though not as competent at it as Vercetti by a long shot).

Fortunately, some businesses such as his boat factory and strip club were much more straightforward and required little maintenance.

The entertainment industry also provided Vercetti with its share of profits and problems. He made friends with famous band Love Fist but had to contend with psychotic stalkers in the process. Getting security for Love Fist’s Vice City gig required Tommy to jump through the hoops of joining “Big” Mitch Baker’s biker gang, who then worked as bouncers for the concert.

Purchasing a porno studio meant fighting pimps to free their girls for picture work, blackmailing a senator to keep him from cracking down on blue movies (and almost getting killed by said senator’s security guards in the process), and a variety of wild stunts to get publicity for the studio’s upcoming release.

Totally legit and above-board

During these exercises in free market capitalism, Tommy was getting increasingly agitated calls from Sonny Forelli (no relation). Forelli had not gotten his lost money back, nor was he receiving a share of Tommy’s action, and he was extremely unhappy about both.

Tommy simply assured him that he was working on it, putting off the Forellis as long as he could while he built his own organization in anticipation of the coming showdown.

Last but not least, Tommy bought a print shop on the West Side. Initially his only thoughts were reminiscing about working with his father at a print shop when he was a boy and maybe printing a local newsletter or something along those lines. But the shop’s head convinced him that money counterfeiting was feasible with their equipment.

Tommy secured the necessary printing plates by the simple expedient of robbing a local counterfeiting ring. As the fake money rolled off of the presses, Tommy had an inspiration about using it in regard to the Forellis. This was serendipitous timing, because the Forellis had waited long enough, and they were coming to Vice City…

Description

See the Tommy Vercetti (Enforcer) writeup. Though Tommy has the money for more expensive suits, he still prefers to wear the same street clothes as before, signifying his continuing hands-on approach to business.

Personality

(See the Tommy Vercetti (Enforcer) writeup for previous personality notes.)

Up to this point Tommy’s reputation was primarily that of a resourceful enforcer. But his seizure of Diaz’s business allowed him to finally demonstrate to everyone what had previously only been apparent to close associates. Namely, a surprising aptitude for business and management.

As he expanded his criminal empire in Vice City beyond the holdings he had inherited from Diaz, Tommy diversified his legal and illegal businesses as much as possible. This way, the failure of any one venture wouldn’t seriously impact his bottom line.

Furthermore, Tommy takes the time to build professional connections and rapport on a face-to-face basis. When his business partners ask for favors, Vercetti often takes personal responsibility for carrying out the necessary actions rather than delegating them to underlings.

A real self-made man

When he acquires a new business, Tommy will initially do some of the grunt work himself to get a feel for the business and earn the respect of his workers. Consequently, he knows the ins and outs of each of his properties and often collects his money in person, both of which reduce the opportunity and temptation for his people to try and rip him off.

Though Vercetti often dictates the overall course of his business ventures, he does not succumb to the urge to micromanage and is open to new ideas from his employees. Subordinates are handled respectfully or forcefully, depending on which approach is most effective for the person and situation.

Tommy realizes the importance of examples, whether it means destroying a store that has failed to respect his control of the area by providing the expected protection payments or taking his lieutenants with him on a job so they can see how he wants things handled.

Quotes

“Bribery ? Screw bribery ! I’ll show you how to make ’em scared ! I’ll be back here in five minutes…”

“This is my town now ! Vercetti — remember the name !”

(Barking at his lieutenants) “Get in the car, useless !”

Ken Rosenberg: “I could be your stick up man ! Stick ’em up ! Stick ’em up !”
Tommy: “You ain’t a stick up man, you’re an idiot. Now get yourself a drink and shut up.”

Phil: “Son, I could shoot a fly off your head at 80 feet.”
Tommy: “Oh really ?”
Phil: “Yeah. I learnt in the army.”
Tommy: “Fly shooting real popular in the army ? Glad I don’t pay tax.”

“Look, it’s easy. Haven’t you ever seen a movie ? We walk into the bank, we wave the gun around, and leave very rich men.”

Umberto Robina: “Are you playing stupid with me ?”
Tommy: “No, I think you’re playing plenty stupid enough for both of us.”

Umberto: “What is this, ladies night ? You some kind of tough guy, you dress like a woman ? You got on panties like a woman too, huh ?”
Tommy: “What you got against women ? You prefer men, big boy ?”
Umberto: “I like women ! I like all women ! I love my mother, chico !”
Tommy: “Alright, alright, I’ll take your word for it. Relax.”
Umberto: “Can you drive, amigo ?”
Tommy: “Yeah… like a woman.”

Umberto: “They’re laughing at me, Tommy. At me ! Umberto Robina ! They’re doing whatever they like !”
Tommy: “Nobody does whatever they like, Umberto, they do what you let them do.”

Kent Paul: “Hey, you ever met Love Fist before ?”
Tommy: “No, I haven’t but I’ve always loved your music… Normally I wouldn’t busy myself with driving around a bunch of drunken Scottish bisexuals, but in *your* case, I’ll make an exception !”

“Big” Mitch Baker: “This ain’t no country club, boy. Can you handle a bike ?”
Tommy: “Can you sit on a stool and drink ?”

Baker: “Being one of us ain’t just about brawlin’, It’s about being part of a family.”
Tommy: “Yeah, I’ve been part of a family before alright. It didn’t work out.”
Baker: “Yeah, right, but this family takes care of its own. We don’t ask a man to do the dirty work and then let him do 15 years hard time. Yeah, that’s right. I’ve done my homework. This here’s the biggest family of misfits, outcasts and badasses. Hell, some of us has even been betrayed by our own country.”
Tommy: “I was locked up during ’Nam. Ugly business.”

“Look, you pompous asshole, I own you now. I own all of this. We’re gonna turn this place around… I’m gonna make you rich.”

Earnest Kelly: “Mr. Vercetti ? Hey. You bought the old print works ?”
Tommy: “Yeah, my old man used to work on these. 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.”

(While being chased by police) “I’m innocent !”

(While being chased by police) “Is this some bizarre mating ritual ?”

DC Universe History

See the Tommy Vercetti (Enforcer) writeup. The development of the character through successive writeups allows him to be used as a recurring adversary or associate whose abilities grow just as the PCs’ own characters advance.

By Roy Cowan.

Source of Character: GTA: Vice City (PC game), character voiced by Ray Liotta.

Helper(s): Sébastien Andrivet.