"It's not all white knights and heroes. We have to make decisions, kid. You know, I try to set bad people on other bad people and sometimes I let good guys die."
— Mike Toreno, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The various universes of Grand Theft Auto are considered to be some of the most hellish places to live in, with most being forced to undergo a life of crime or deal with the criminal underworld in order to even survive. That being said, those who instead opt to take control of it through power, intelligence and charm can make it to the top and potentially become delightfully devious masterminds.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
3D Universe
- 8-Ball is a witty Arms Dealer who runs a successful auto shop and explosives making business across several states, where he can make anything and give you connections to the right price. In his first appearance, he help create and hide away large explosives for Toni Cipriani, and in Advance, he assisted Mike in tracking down the truth of his friend Vinnie’s assassination, getting intel that reveals Vinnie is alive. Managing to have Mike flee as he is arrested by cops, he breaks out of the convoy with Claude and he gets him a job with the Leone Crime Family, and manages to sneak aboard a Colombian cargo ship and rig to explode, escaping quickly as the ship sinks.
- Vice City:
- Tommy Vercetti, aka the Harwood Butcher, is a member of the Forelli crime family who, shortly after his release from prison, is sent to Vice City to expand the family's influence in the drug trade. After a drug deal goes wrong due to an ambush, he begins investigating who was responsible so he can recover the stolen money and product and take revenge. Upon discovering that his new employer, drug baron Ricardo Diaz was behind the incident, he kills him and takes over his operation. Tommy decides to branch out into legitimate business, using some of the properties he acquires as fronts for criminal activity. Double-crossing his nominal boss Sonny Forelli to become independent and successfully straddling both sides of the law, Tommy makes himself the most powerful crime lord in Vice City.
- "Mr. Black" is a mysterious, unseen criminal who runs a vast hitman organization that he offers to paying clients. Black has his hitmen use untraceable payphones to contact him, where he sets them up with the proper equipment and uses his intelligence-gathering skills to inform them of their target's patterns and identities to help their objective go smoothly. When Tommy starts taking jobs, Black gives him the weapons he needs for the jobs and the targets he is after, ranging from troublesome wives to entire gangs, and Black always pays Tommy what he is owed after every hit is complete.
- Auntie Poulet is the seemingly-kindly matriarch of the Haitian gangs, who winds up using Tommy as a puppet. Poulet has waged war on the Cubans for years, so when Tommy begins helping the Cubans, Poulet tricks him into drinking her drugged tea and hearing her Compelling Voice, manipulating him into striking several key blows against the Cubans. After Tommy has helped the Haitian obtain multiple wins, Poulet honors her initial promise and lets Tommy walk free from her control, albeit with the ultimatum that if he interferes in Haitian business again, her gang will try to kill him on-sight.
- Liberty City Stories:
- Massimo Torini is the Caporegime of the Sicilian Mafia, masterminding and overseeing their invasion of Liberty City after their tributes dried up. Despite his minimal appearances, almost every major conflict in the game is traced back to his manipulations. Ostensibly sent to relax tensions between the Leone, Forelli and Sindacco crime families, Torini secretly pushed the families against each other; even reaching out to smaller gangs offering them a share, successfully driving Salvatore and Toni out of Portland. The following Mob War sees the Forellis' weakened, the Sindaccos’ wiped out, and the Leone's hanging by a thread when the Sicilian’s expose their ties to Donald Love, resulting in Salvatore’s arrest. When Torini learns that Salvatore’s charges may be overturned, he orders an audacious attack on the police convoy for the trial. When that fails, Torini personally kidnaps Mayor O’Donovon to keep him out of Salvatore’s reach. When cornered and confronted, Torini cordially explains that it was Nothing Personal, before nearly escaping.
- Toshiko Kasen is the wife of Yakuza leader Kazuki Kasen, who is tired of Kazuki’s neglect and mistreatment of her to the point of wishing to humiliate him through hurting his business. Hiring Toni Cipriani, she has him steal and destroy Kazuki’s supplies and money all under his nose before eventually revealing herself to him once she hurt his business enough. After Kazuki plans on killing them both, she gives Toni his location and when he kills Kazuki, Toshiko calmly pays him what he needs before killing herself to be truly freed, never losing her calm and cool demeanor.
- San Andreas:
- Mike Toreno is an enigmatic government agent who engages in several illegal ventures to further US interests. Originally running the Loco syndicate to traffic drugs into Los Santos, Toreno fakes his death before revealing to Carl "CJ" Johnson his true allegiances, forcing the reluctant criminal to assist Toreno in running black ops against enemies of the state and rival agencies. Toreno has CJ engage in missions such as boarding a cargo plane during take-off and bombing it in mid-flight, stealing an experimental jetpack from a research base to attack a military train convoy, and infiltrating an aircraft carrier to steal a Harrier Jump Jet and assassinate protected targets elsewhere in the state. A witty and affable man through and through despite his shady nature, Toreno ultimately keeps his promise to release Carl's brother Sweet from prison by calling in some favors.
- Wu Zi Mu, known to all as "Woozie," is the head of the Triad gang known as the Mountain Cloud Boys, and serves as one of CJ's closest allies. Despite being blind, Woozie has the inexplicable ability to drive and fire guns with impressive skill, and he routinely surprises CJ with his capabilities. Though a polite, peaceful man at heart, Woozie is nonetheless a ruthless gangster who will subject enemies to torture, and even knocks out power to a whole city to mask his criminal activity. Woozie is an invaluable source of intel and resources to CJ in taking down the Loco Syndicate and Da Nang Boys, and near the end, Woozie works with CJ to mastermind the brilliant heist of Caligula's Casino that rips off all the mafia families and leaves Woozie's Mountain Cloud Boys as the most powerful gang in San Andreas.
HD Universe
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The United Liberty Paper Contact, real name Bernard, is a high ranking member of the United Liberty Paper, a front for the International Affairs Agency (IAA). When Karen meets with Niko Bellic one last time, she introduces him to the Contact, who then proceeds to blackmail Niko into doing his dirty work in the name of stopping terrorism in Liberty City. The Contact has Niko assassinate multiple targets, such as a man who is aware of the United Liberty Paper's true purpose and has been leaking information about it and the owner of an inport-export business funding a terrorist organization. Despite the Contact's cold attitude, he follows through with his promise in bringing Darko Brevic to Niko and part ways with Niko on good terms. In his reappearance in Grand Theft Auto V, the Contact survives the shootout with the IAA, FIB, and Merryweather. Returning once more in Online, he assists the Online protagonists stopping to a doomsday plot of Avon Hertz as well as the Duggan Crime Family from using remnants of Clifford's code to manipulate gas prices.
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned: Thomas Stubbs III is a corrupt member of the Liberty City of Parliament who uses cares about boosting his political career by any means necessary. Blackmailing Johnny Klebitz into helping him commit crimes, he has Johnny kill his uncle for his inheritance, before having him blackmail and murder his competitors and release a gang of convicts and his supporters, all the while he orchestrates these plots to boosts his publicity. Completely straightforward on his immorality, Stubbs nevertheless proves to be completely loyal and willing to pay his dues, giving Johnny the tip about Billy Grey’s corruption and helping him and his gang break into prison to take him down.
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony: Luis Fernando Lopez is the personal bodyguard and business partner of “Gay” Tony Price, who uses his collected attitude and craftiness to get him and his friends out of trouble. Working for Mori Kibbutz and Rocco Pelosi to pay off Tony’s debts, Luis also works with Yusuf Amir to pull off grand heists, with Luis successfully stealing helicopters and a train cart. Deciding to fully get Tony out of debt, Luis works to obtain two million dollars worth of diamonds, personally going to get it back from Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz when they stole it from him, before he manages to trade them back to save Gracie. When betrayed by Ray Bulgarin for the diamonds, Luis refuses to betray and kill Gay Tony, deciding to risk his life to help him and personally destroys Ray’s operation all on his own. Confronting and killing Bulgarin on a private jet, Luis jumps out of the blown up jet and reunites with Tony, with the two mending their friendship and deciding to restart their successful businesses.
- Grand Theft Auto V:
- Lester Crest is the crippled yet brilliant criminal mastermind that planned every complex heist that Michael and his crew ever successfully pulled off. A computer genius and skilled hacker, Lester always plans ahead and gives his associates multiple ways to complete the heists and always delivers a diverse array of crew members to provide for every vital role. A defender of the downtrodden, he has Franklin perform assassinations on corrupt officials that abuse their power, all the while using the deaths to manipulate the stock market for his own gain. During the Doomsday Heist, Lester outplays the omnicidal Avon Hertz and even outwits the Artificial Intelligence Cliffford to bring their apocalyptic plans to ruin. Ultimately, Lester comes out of retirement to rob the Diamond Casino to impress Georgina Cheng and improves his style and and social skills to have her fall in love with him.
- Dave Norton is a corrupt FIB agent and the brains of Steve Haines' unit. Making a deal with Michael to get him into witness protection if he betrays Trevor and Brad, Dave successfully kills Brad and uses him to fake Michael's death and then poses as Brad through emailing Trevor to keep tabs on him for the next 10 years. In the present day, he plans out the majority of the FIB's secret missions that involve raiding other government buildings and stealing valuable cargo that the protagonists take part in. Being the last member left of his unit by the end of the game, Dave gets away with everything he does and even reaps a couple of benefits through the death of Steve, ending things off with Michael by telling him to live his life and not return to being a criminal.
- Paige Harris is Lester's snarky goth protege whose outward social skills and supreme hacking far surpass even her mentor's. First working as Lester's assistant by helping to set up the Online heists, she quickly proves her mettle by being the only competent hacker Michael can hire for his heists and always works wonders under pressure to keep the crew's jobs running smoothly. Later branching out on her own, she singlehandedly designs and builds the Terrorbyte mobile command center and uses its built in hacking software and drone platforms to mastermind her own complex jobs and make her name in the criminal underworld.
- Eddie Toh is widely considered the best getaway driver in the business and works with veteran criminals to help support his family and put his children through college. When chosen, Eddie always plans out his routes and chooses the perfect vehicles for the heist, including bringing Sanchez motorcycles to ride smoothly through the muddy construction of the Los Santos sewers and providing an ambulance to get the crew out undetected following a fierce shootout with police. Utterly reliable and absolutely professional, Eddie is always the smart robber's choice in any job needing fast cars or a clean getaway.
