Rocco Pelosi is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series that appears as a main character and the secondary antagonist in The Ballad of Gay Tony and a minor antagonist in Grand Theft Auto V. Rocco is a made man in the Algonquin based Ancelotti crime family, he works alongside his uncle, Vince, an Ancelotti enforcer. Gay Tony owes him money, thus forcing him and the game's protagonist Luis Lopez to work for him.
Background
Rocco is a made member of the Ancelotti Crime Family and relative of both Giovanni and Gracie Ancelotti. He is often seen alongside his uncle Vince, being more influential within the family than him despite his young age. Rocco's exact status in the crime family is unknown, as well as his connection to Ancelotti capos Tony Black or Frankie Garone.
The Ballad of Gay Tony
Rocco first meets Luis Lopez in I luv LC and immediately throws racial slurs at him in a similar fashion, calling him a "spic" and a "taco", prompting Luis to refer to him as a "guido". He also clearly dislikes Tony, as he frequently mocks him with slurs such as "fag", knowing Tony is not in the position to fight him back. Behind his back, Tony and Luis agree that he is a wannabe who is "out of his league" as well as mocking him.
Luis voices his dislike of Rocco to his face and distrusts him (for example, he claims that Chinese Takeout and Boulevard Baby were both traps set by Rocco to kill him). Rocco, though normally very disrespectful, prefers Luis and occasionally delegates to him when trying to restrain or exclude Tony. Rocco still has a small degree of trust in Tony's business practices - despite saying his judgment is clouded by a "midlife crisis", he sees a very big monetary value in Maisonette 9.
In a complex chain of events, the diamonds attract thieves who kidnap Gracie and demand the diamonds. Giovanni Ancelotti makes a truce with the original owner of the stolen diamonds, Ray Bulgarin, and both blame Rocco, Tony and Luis for the incidents. Rocco, in a twisted gesture of compassion, offers to spare Luis and own the clubs with him if he personally kills Tony. Although he briefly considers it, Luis instead kills Uncle Vince and is about to kill Rocco, but Tony saves him by telling Luis that he is a made man. Rocco then flees. Shortly after, Luis and Tony fight off a Russian hit squad.
After TBoGT
Rocco is not heard or seen again after the completion of the story. If the player calls Rocco's number after Departure Time, Rocco's voicemail message states that he has fled Liberty City to "lay low" for a while.
Grand Theft Auto V
Rocco appears in GTA V where he is shown to be in Los Santos after he escaped from Liberty City. After coming to the city, Rocco became a corrupt talent agent, who persuades actors to demand bigger paychecks from their studios in order to halt productions and blackmail studio executives into buying him out.
When the game takes place, Rocco attempts his scam once more with Solomon Richards' most recent movie, Meltdown. However, Solomon sends Michael De Santa to threaten Rocco into giving up his extortion. Michael sneaks into Rocco's building and confronts him on his helipad, beating him severely and then forcefully taking the actor and director he'd been withholding back to the studio.
Later on, Rocco and his friend Gianni break into Solomon's studio and assault him for sending Michael after them. However, Michael arrives and chases both Rocco and Gianni out of the studio, optionally wrecking their car and eventually killing them both.
Outfits
In The Ballad of Gay Tony Rocco has only two outfits:
- 1970's style pink polo shirt with black slacks, only worn in Practice Swing.
- Black leather jacket with white undershirt and grey slacks.
In GTA V he wears a pink v-neck t-shirt, a black leather jacket and a pair of blue jeans.
Mission appearances
The Ballad of Gay Tony
- I luv LC
- Practice Swing
- Boulevard Baby
- Frosting on the Cake
- Ladies' Night (Post-mission phone call)
- Ladies Half Price (Post-mission phone call)
- Party's Over (Boss/Betrayal)
Grand Theft Auto V
- Mr. Richards
- The Ballad of Rocco (Killed)
Trivia
- His name is possibly a reference to "Rocco P", a trendy brand of women's boots.
- Rocco, Miguel and Ryder are the only antagonists who did not directly attempt to kill the protagonist.
- Rocco's character model could have been taken from Tommy Johnson from the movie "Football Factory" (which Rockstar produced). Rocco wears a similar polo shirt to Tommy, and also share similar facial features. Tommy Johnson was played by Danny Dyer, who also voiced Kent Paul in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
- Rocco also bears some resemblance to Armando Torres, as they have similar facial appearences.
- Rocco's in-game model is different from his artwork, as in his artwork he is shown with spiked hair.
- Tony states that Rocco is below the age of consent in Utah, which is 18. Rocco is a made man, implying that he is either a Soldier or Capo in the Ancelotti crime family. Being a made man at 18 is next to impossible, as associates are usually "made" after 10 to 20 years of experience in the Mafia. It is most likely that Tony was joking or exaggerating as it's stated he born in 1980.
- Rocco's first voicemail is one of the five shortest voicemails in the HD Universe. (Yo, it's the Rock. Leave a message) the other four would be Little Jacob's (Yeah, I'm busy. Call me back.), Phil Bell's (This is Phil B. Leave a message.), Clay Simons (This is Clay's phone. Leave your details.) and Dave Norton's (Dave Norton. Leave a message.) However, after Departure Time is completed, he changes it to a longer one.
- The mission name in GTA V, The Ballad of Rocco is clearly a reference of The Ballad of Gay Tony, in which Rocco also appears in.
- Rocco Pelosi, Ray Boccino and Ray Bulgarin are the only antagonists to be killed by another protagonist (Rocco Pelosi was the rival of Luis Lopez and was killed by Michael De Santa, Ray Boccino was the rival of Johnny Klebitz and was killed by Niko Bellic and Ray Bulgarin was the rival of Niko Bellic and was killed by Luis Lopez).
- In Frosting on the Cake, Evan Moss claims Rocco could have lent Tony $2 million (he suggests Gracie as well, and both of them could have, in turn, borrowed it from Don Ancelotti).
- Although Rocco is stated to be a made member of the Ancelotti Family (not being killed in Party's Over because he's a "made guy") it is also suggested that he is only an associate working his way up, for example he once asks Gracie to "tell the Don i'm on the up" indicating that he has not yet earned Ancelotti's approval, and is therefore not a made man/soldier. It is possible that he simply wants Ancelotti to know of his earning power to be considered for the position of Capo however Tony also says Rocco is small time suggesting he has little or no standing within the family.