Vercetti Gang

Type	GANG
Vercetti Gang
Members of the Vercetti crime family outside the Vercetti Estate.
Group information
Status	Active
Locations	Starfish Island Prawn Island Little Haiti Little Havanna Vice Port
Leader	Tommy Vercetti
Type	Criminal organization
Enemies	Forelli Family Haitians Patrol Invest Group Sharks
Affiliations	Cubans Bikers Cortez Crew
Colors	Blue
Vehicles	Admiral Sentinel Stretch
Weapons	Pistol Micro-SMG (after Keep Your Friends Close)
Businesses	Armed Robbery Protection Drug trade and trafficking Prostitution Extortion Auto-theft Pornography Counterfeiting Money laundering Racketeering Loansharking Gun-Running Smuggling Illegal Gambling Bookmaking Hijacking Contract killing
Fronts	Vercetti Estate Kaufman Cabs Boatyard Malibu Club Pole Position Club InterGlobal Films Print Works Sunshine Autos Cherry Popper Ice Cream Factory Phil's Place
Members	Tommy Vercetti Lance Vance (formerly, deceased) Ken Rosenberg (formerly) Mario Mike Avery Carrington (Deceased)
Game information
Appearance(s)	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The Vercetti Gang or Vercetti crime family is a powerful criminal organization based in and around Vice City. They are led by Tommy Vercetti and are essentially a splinter group of the Forelli Family, of which Vercetti was previously recognized as a member. They first appear midway through Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and are later mentioned in passing in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Descriptio​​n

The Vercetti gang is headed by Tommy Vercetti, a renegade Forelli Family member who has assumed control of many businesses and property ventures during the events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, circa 1986. The organization is known to be involved in various illegal enterprises, including extortion, drug dealing, counterfeit and pornography. They are very territorial, and hostile towards the other gangs in the city, even the Cubans and Vice City Bikers, who are on friendly terms with Tommy Vercetti.

Though some might consider the Vercetti Gang a Mafia family, due to being led by a former mafia member, it cannot be a true mafia family because there are high ranking members, such as Lance Vance and Ken Rosenberg, who are not Italian, however they could be considered high ranking associates which are common in Mafia families, various high ranking members of the Five Families are not Italian. It does appear that Tommy structured it to resemble a Mafia family. The Vercetti Gang are mentioned in passing in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by The Truth, who mentions that Dwaine and Jethro had their business bought out by "The Mob".

History

Tommy Vercetti was originally dispatched by the Forelli Family to Vice City to oversee a drug deal funded by Forelli family money; the drug deal was supposed to be the beginning of the Forelli expansion down south towards Vice City.

After the deal was ambushed by the Diaz Cartel, Vercetti was forced to start over with no money or property and aided only by Ken Rosenberg, a bent lawyer with Forelli connections. He eventually killed the perpetrator of the drug deal attack, Ricardo Diaz, aided by his new friend Lance Vance.

Following the demise of Ricardo Diaz, he received ownership of Diaz's mansion on Starfish Island, using it as his main base of operations, and subsequently took over many other properties and businesses in the city, including Kaufman Cabs, Cherry Popper Ice Cream Factory, Malibu Club, Pole Position Club, Sunshine Autos, InterGlobal Studios, Print Works, Boatyard and Phil's Place. Tommy cut his ties with the Forelli Family, as his operation expanded greatly throughout Vice City, which thus made Tommy a very rich, powerful and influential man, infuriating Sonny Forelli who was demanding his cut of the profits.

Ricardo Diaz controlled a very lucrative protection ring across the island, prior to his death, however after learning of Diaz's demise, some of the stores in the North Point Mall were refusing to pay for protection, and so Tommy vandalized the stores who were refusing to pay for protection. Not too long after, Tommy drives DBP Security out of Ocean Beach so that his gang can provide protection for the Front Page Café, which is based in Ocean Beach, and eventually consolidates his control over the lucrative protection ring by blowing up the Tarbrush Café at the North Point Mall along with Lance, while disguised as police officers.

Tommy's refusal to cut Sonny into the profits prompted him to send collectors to Vice City in an attempt to "tax" his businesses, even going so far as to ordering his men to badly beat Earnest Kelly, which resulted in Tommy killing all of the men that Sonny had sent to collect from his businesses. Following this, Sonny personally confronted Tommy at his mansion, and revealed that Lance had informed him about Tommy's plan to con Sonny with counterfeit money, which ultimately ended with Tommy killing everyone at the mansion in a large shootout, including several Forelli gangsters, Lance Vance and Sonny Forelli. Tommy claimed to be "untouchable" now in Vice City, as Sonny Forelli, the man who wanted him dead the most, had been killed in the massacre, and it was implied that with the death of their boss, the Forelli Family would be weakened too much by his death to be able to send men to take care of Tommy.

Following Sonny's death, the Vercetti Family is assumed to have total domination of Vice City. The Vercetti Family, or at least Tommy Vercetti himself, is presumed to remain in power for an undisclosed time. In The Introduction, the prequel film to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Ken Rosenberg, a close friend and business accomplice of Tommy, is assumed to have been abandoned by Tommy after Ken is forced into rehabilitation for prolonged cocaine abuse. Following his release from the Fort Carson Medical Center, Vercetti no longer takes his calls and their relationship is dissolved. This led to Ken's subsequent assignment as a middleman for the Leone Family, the Forelli Family and the Sindacco Family over Caligula's Palace along The Strip, Las Venturas and then employment as an accountant to rapper Madd Dogg. The Truth makes a reference to them, saying that Dwaine and Jethro's businesses were bought by "the mob".

Members

• Tommy Vercetti - Boss
• Lance Vance - Underboss (Formerly/Deceased)
• Ken Rosenberg - Adviser (Formerly)
• Avery Carrington - Adviser (Deceased)
• Mike - Enforcer
• Mario

Associates

• Juan Cortez - Leader of the Cortez Crew
• Kent Paul - Associate of Ken Rosenberg/manager of Love Fist
• Umberto Robina - Leader of the Cubans
• Big Mitch Baker - President of the Vice City Bikers
• Ricardo Diaz (Formerly/Deceased) - Leader of the Diaz Cartel
• Earnest Kelly - Owner of The Print Works
• Phil Cassidy - Gunman and arms dealer
• Sonny Forelli (Formely/Deceased) - Don of the Forelli Family
• Steve Scott - Porn film director
• Cam Jones (Can be killed in The Job) - Safecracker/locksmith
• Hillary King (Deceased) - Driver

Mission Appearances

GTA Vice City

• Rub Out
• Bar Brawl
• Cop Land
• Cap the Collector
• Keep Your Friends Close...

Trivia

• The Vercetti Gang are never formally named in the game. The name 'Vercetti Gang' came from Kaufman Cabs dispatcher Delores announcing Tommy Vercetti's takeover of the business to the drivers.
• Upon reaching 100% completion, three Vercetti gang members that the player can recruit will as Bodyguards spawn in the room to the right of the main entrance when entering the Vercetti Estate. The player just needs to walk into the pink marker for each gang member and they will immediately begin following the player while $2000 is deducted.
• The Vercetti gang does not spawn around Vice Beach. This is either because there are not many gangs in the area, or because the player only has safehouses rather than business assets.
• On some occasions whilst in a gunfight around an area where they spawn, the gang can attack your bodyguards (who are also members of the gang) and the bodyguards can attack each other.
• Vercetti Gang members will fall into the ground If you attack them. If they attack you accidentally during a gun fight, you will not lose Health, nor Body Armor.
• The Vercetti Gang is the only gang in normal gameplay to use any firearm other than a pistol, as they begin to carry Uzis after the completion of Keep Your Friends Close...
• It is unknown how Tommy Vercetti was able to recruit so many thugs to guard his properties and businesses in such a short amount of time. What is even more curious is that the regular members of this gang are pre-dominantly Italian-American, a demographic that wouldn't be as widely seen in Florida as it would on the East coast (e.g. Liberty City). It is possible that these thugs were citizens of Liberty City that heard about Tommy Vercetti starting a new Mafia family in Vice City and left Liberty State to join him, or that they were Forelli Family members later sent by Sonny Forelli to help Tommy secure the money he needed.

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