Diaz' Gang

Drug baron Ricardo Diaz' unnamed Drug Cartel (referred to in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as "Diaz's gang" ) was a Vice City-based Colombian drug cartel, appering as the secondary group of antagonist in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Circa 1984, Diaz's organization was a major rival to the then-most powerful drug barons, the Mendez Cartel. Diaz enlisted the help of the Vance brothers, Victor in particular, to eliminate Diego and Armando Mendez.

Taking advantage of this power vacuum, the Diaz Cartel became the dominant drug kingpin in Vice City, with Ricardo's aggressive interest in staying on top of the drug smuggling business a defining factor, which lasted until Tommy Vercetti's takeover of Vice City. When Colonel Cortez arranged a drug deal between the Forelli Family and Vance brothers, this was leaked to Diaz' Gang by Gonzalez, an informant inside Cortez's organization. Ricardo saw this as potential competition to his narcotics empire and wanted to eliminate it in its infancy so he hired mercenaries to ambush the deal. Only Tommy, Ken Rosenberg, Lance Vance survived, however they would become key to the downfall of the Diaz criminal syndicate.

Tommy Vercetti was given the opportunity to work for Diaz's Gang, while Lance Vance infiltrated the gang under a different name. Ricardo requests the theft of the fastest speed boat in the city for smuggling activities, and killing those who attempt to cut into his profits, even though it only comprises a small proportion. As Tommy continued to work for Ricardo and planned for a takeover of Ricardo's empire, Lance attempted the overthrow prematurely, failing to kill Ricardo and resulting in his capture and torture by Diaz' men, before Tommy rushed to the rescue.

This event forced the two to take out Ricardo in their next move. The duo raided his mansion and killed many of Diaz' men. Ricardo spots them from his closed circuit security cameras and attempts to make a last stand with his MP5, but he is fatally wounded. As Ricardo crawls out of his office, noticing the bloodshed all around his house, Tommy and Lance finish him off with handguns.

The killing of Ricardo effectively ended the Diaz Cartel, as Ricardo's mansion and all of his assets were seized by the Vercetti Gang. No longer were any members of Diaz's Gang seen in the city (apart from in Rampages and vigilante missions). After the death of Ricardo Diaz, the gang was wiped out.

Interestingly, Diaz' Gang are neutral for their entire existence, being hostile to the player only in the missions "Death Row" and "Rub Out", in contrast to the Colombian Cartel in GTA III. On rare occasions they can be encountered in Rampages after Diaz's death; they are now hostile to Tommy and attack him on sight.

Ambush Men
Diaz' men that disrupted the drug deal between Tommy and the Vance brothers are members of his gang.

These men are dressed in black clothes and black tuques. They all appear to be medium athleticly build. one of them has a mustache. They are perhaps inspired by the LAPD SWAT team in the Die Hard (1988) movie, who have similar uniforms.

One of them carries an MP5K submachine gun (which is not an in-game weapon, though an MP5A3 is), the second wields an M16A2 assault rifle (also not available in-game weapon, while the Colt Model 733 carbine incorrectly titled as the "M4" is), and the third has an M60 machine gun.

Mission Appearences
GTA Vice City Stories GTA Vice City
 * Steal the Deal
 * The Exchange
 * Farewell to Arms
 * Last Stand
 * Treacherous Swine
 * Guardian Angels
 * The Chase
 * The Fastest Boat
 * Supply & Demand
 * Death Row
 * Rub Out (Wiped Out)

Trivia

 * In the movie Scarface, there is a drug cartel called the [Gang], also drug dealers, and are enemies of Tony Montana, who Tommy Vercetti is based off of. This may be a coincidence or a reference, since Vice City is based off of Scarface.