← Blog · Culture · August 25, 2026
Every Major Character in GTA: Vice City, Explained
Vice City's cast is small, sharply drawn and almost entirely untrustworthy. Here is every major character in GTA: Vice City, what they want, and how they end up.
Spoilers throughout. If you would rather meet them yourself, the free browser version runs the full story in a browser tab.
Tommy Vercetti
The protagonist. Served 15 years in Liberty City for the Forelli family after a job in Harwood went badly — the reason he is nicknamed the Harwood Butcher. Sent to Vice City in 1986 to open a drug operation, ambushed on arrival, and spends the game finding out who set him up while building an empire of his own. Voiced by Ray Liotta, which is most of why he works.
Lance Vance
Tommy's partner for most of the game, and the reason the ending lands. Lance comes in looking for revenge for his brother, and stays as Tommy's closest ally through the Diaz takeover. He is also increasingly resentful of being second. In the final mission he openly betrays Tommy, citing "business" as the reason, and dies for it.
Sonny Forelli
The Liberty City boss who sent Tommy south. The plan was never to give Tommy a business — it was to have him build one, then take it. Sonny spends the game as a voice on the phone demanding his money, and arrives in person for the finale to collect. He does not.
Ricardo Diaz
Vice City's reigning drug lord, and the man behind the ambush that opens the game. Volatile, paranoid and very funny. Tommy and Lance work for him, discover the truth, and kill him in Rub Out — taking the Vercetti Estate on Starfish Island in the process. Diaz's death is the story's midpoint and the moment the game changes shape.
Ken Rosenberg
Tommy's lawyer, and the closest thing the game has to comic relief — permanently anxious, permanently talking. He is the first person Tommy meets in the city and one of very few who survives the ending. He turns up again in San Andreas.
Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez
A corrupt military officer who brokers the deal that goes wrong and spends the early game introducing Tommy to Vice City's power structure. Mercedes is his daughter.
The faction bosses
| Character | Faction | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Umberto Robina | Cubans | Runs Little Havana out of Café Robina. Endlessly questions Tommy's courage. |
| Auntie Poulet | Haitians | Drugs Tommy and sends him on missions without weapons. |
| Big Mitch Baker | Bikers | Leader of the Vice City bikers. Makes Tommy earn it. |
| Avery Carrington | Property | Ruthless developer. Teaches Tommy that property is the real business. |
| Phil Cassidy | Arms | One-armed gun dealer. Sells the heavy hardware. |
| Mercedes Cortez | — | The Colonel's daughter; helps run the Malibu Club. |
Why the cast works
Almost every character is trying to use Tommy, and the game is honest about it from the first mission. That makes the ending feel earned rather than shocking — Lance's betrayal is the natural conclusion of a story where everyone is angling. It is also a deliberate contrast with where the series went next: GTA 6's Jason and Lucia are built on mutual dependence, which is the exact opposite premise. See our breakdown of GTA 6's protagonists.
Full plot walkthrough: the Vice City story and ending, explained.
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