Vinnie is the primary antagonist in Grand Theft Auto Advance.
History
Background
Vinnie was a criminal in Liberty City who worked as a small-time "errand boy" for some unidentified mobsters from the Mafia at Momma's Restaurante. Vinnie is the partner and boss of Mike, a formerly homeless small-time thug. Several years prior to the game's events, Vinnie found Mike on the streets and took him in for the Mafia, eventually making Mike a high ranking associate. They worked alongside each other, with Vinnie as the brains of the operation.
Due to unknown circumstances, Vinnie and Mike had a plan to leave Liberty City. Behind Mike's back, Vinnie thinks very little of him, seeing Mike as nothing other then a "Stupid kid" and a pawn in his plans. Regardless, Vinnie continues to keep Mike at his side for a period of time, waiting and planning.
Events of Grand Theft Auto Advance
Over the years, Vinnie and Mike earned enough money to leave Liberty City for good. However, prior to their planned departure in 2000, Vinnie insists that Mike do a few more jobs for the Mafia. Vinnie sends Mike to complete several favors for the mob, in order to obtain even more money. Vinnie later secretly puts a bomb in his car and calls Mike to meet him. Mike witnesses Vinnie allegedly being killed by the car bomb, with his "remains" found in the vehicle.
Following Vinnie's "death", Mike seeks revenge and works for many sources in the Liberty City criminal underworld, such as 8-Ball, the owner of a bomb shop, and Jonnie, a bartender with criminal connections, slowly uncovering who was behind the murder. Vinnie catches wind of this and stalks Mike's leads throughout the city, even going as far as to hire mobsters and to kill people when necessary, starting with Jonnie. After Vinnie murders Jonnie, Mike starts working with Yardies leader King Courtney, who Vinnie has an apparent business relationship with.
After Mike discovers King Courtney's treachery, he begins working with Cisco, the leader of the Colombian Cartel, and Asuka Kasen, co-leader of the Yakuza. Vinnie once again decides to take matters into his own hands and kills Cisco at the airport. Mike finds Cisco's body almost immediately after the attack, and fights off Vinnie's hired thugs before seeing Vinnie's car driving off. After a short chase, Mike destroys Vinnie's car and finds out Vinnie is alive when he leaves the wreck.
Vinnie finally reveals his true nature and motives to Mike. This shocks and angers Mike and, after a short shootout with Vinnie and his thugs, Mike manages to defeat them and mortally wound Vinnie. Vinnie begs for his life, but Mike suspects that Vinnie would eventually betray him again. Vinnie tries to reason with Mike that any criminal greedy enough will try to steal the money from Mike and that he will end up dead before he can reach the city limits. Mike ignores this and finishes off Vinnie.
Shortly after Vinnie's death, 8-Ball is arrested and Mike defeats King Courtney, ultimately escaping from Liberty City with the money.
Character
Personality
Vinnie is shown to be a rather rude and cruel person throughout his time with Mike and often treats him harshly. When Mike asks for backup in the mission Payback, Vinnie declines and tells him not to make him regret helping him when he had nothing. Vinnie will sometimes make humorous yet cold comments towards Mike if he gets busted; likewise, Vinnie will often belittle him if he gets wasted. When Vinnie betrays Mike, he tells him that his morals died long ago and he didn't want to share the money, though if Mike is wasted earlier in Dirty Laundry, Vinnie will lament how he won't be able to spend it with him by his side.
Murders Committed
- Jonnie – Killed in order to stop Mike from discovering the truth about the Callahan Point incident
- Cisco – Killed in order to stop Mike from discovering the truth about the Callahan Point incident
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay
- Jump Start (Boss)
- Dirty Laundry (Boss)
- Hot Wheels (Boss)
- Ill-Gotten (Boss)
- Payback (Boss)
- Fake IDs (Boss)
- Getaway (Pager/Boss/Fake death)
- Truth Revealed (Betrayal/Killed)
Gallery
Artwork
In-Game
Trivia
- Vinnie, Samuel Deever (if the mission Rasta Blasta-Phone 5 is done long before the ending), Dimitri Rascalov (if the Revenge ending is chosen) and Devin Weston (If Something Sensible or The Time's Come is chosen) are the only main antagonists not killed in the final mission.
- Through the main story, is heavy implied that Vinnie was known and disliked by several characters and bosses. For example, 8-Ball states that Mike was the only person "who gave a damn about him", and he "should be considered lucky" about that.
- Vinnie used to hang out with prostitutes, as one of them revealed "he was a good tipper" in the mission Ill Repute.
- He is very similar to Vincenzo Cilli from Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (who is also called "Vinnie") in several ways:
- Both are antagonists in their respective games (although Vincenzo was only the tertiary antagonist in GTA Liberty City Stories), starting off as friends of the protagonist until a later betrayal.
- Both are the first contacts that each protagonist starts the game working for (Vinnie for Mike and Vincenzo for Toni Cipriani).
- Both give missions titled Hot Wheels.