Toni Cipriani

"Let's teach these would-be tough guys what it means to be a tough guy."

- Toni Cipriani

Antonio "Toni" Cipriani is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and a main character in Grand Theft Auto III. Michael Madsen voices Toni in Grand Theft Auto III, whilst Danny Mastrogiorgio voices him in Grand Theft Auto: LCS.

Background
Toni Cipriani was born in 1968 to Ma Cipriani and an unnamed father, who was a member of one of the city's mafia families. He lived with his Ma in their restaurant and and was regularly beat by her as a child and an adult. He later became involved in Liberty City's criminal underworld, joining the mafia to follow on his father.

Events of GTA: LCS (circa 1998)
In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Toni Cipriani assumes the role of the playable character and main protagonist of the game. GTA: Liberty City Stories explores Toni's history and exploits in 1998, three years prior to the events in GTA III.

Toni left Liberty City and decided to lay low in a foreign country after killing a rival made man (presumably Forelli or Sindacco family) under orders from Salvatore Leone. He finally returned to the city in June 1998, ready to continue his life of organized crime. A grateful Salvatore Leone gives Toni jobs, but because he was out of town for so many years, other members of the Leone Family have had the time to move up in the hierarchy. Salvatore was forced to strip Toni out of his rank and give the position to Vincenzo Cilli during his leave of absence. Toni now finds himself as a low-ranking goon that has to once again gain favor with the Don, in order to secure a leadership position in the family. Toni however works for Salvatore's wife Maria Latore who later on, develops feelings for Toni and has him to do her bidding, and tells him she loves him, but Toni does not feel the same way. However after learning Toni "has no money", she cuts ties with Toni, reminding him that she is Salvatore's girl and not to hit on her. Toni appeared in the game to be much thinner than his appearance in GTA III. Much of his efforts in achieving his goal of reclaiming his place in the Leone hierarchy include battling two other Mafia families, the Forellis and the Sindaccos via several means, allowing him to be "made" halfway through the storyline after killing the Liberty City mayor, Roger C. Hole. After being made, his mother calls off a hit she had put on her son. Later, Toni works for millionaire and mayor candidate, Donald Love and fights the Forelli's in order to help the Leone's own City Hall while protecting Donald. Donald Love is eventually found to be in league with Salvatore and Toni, which makes him unfit for the office in people's eye. After Miles O'Donovan has been elected mayor, Salvatore Leone is arrested on several crime charges, forcing Toni to pose as a lawyer named Lionel to take jobs from the police station where Salvatore is imprisoned.

Donald Love, in a stressful phone call, says that he has many propositions for him. Upon arriving at the flophouse, Donald Love says that he has plans that will make both Toni and himself rich again and orders Toni to kill real estate businessman, and Love's former mentor, Avery Carrington. Toni and Donald steal Avery's plans and bomb expert 8-Ball is paid to give them explosives in order to blow up Fort Staunton, causing the Forelli Family to lose a lot of influence. Toni is called by a mysterious woman, Toshiko Kasen, and asked to fight the local Yakuza organization. After Toni kills her husband Kazuki, a remorseful Toshiko commits suicide and a panicked Donald Love asks Toni for some help to take him to Francis International Airport as the Colombian Cartel are attacking to steal Avery's plans. Toni gets Love to the airport safely and Love brings with him the corpses of Avery Carrington and Ned Burner.

Salvatore is eventually released from jail, after being escorted to the courthouse by Toni, due to the Sicilian Mafia wanting Salvatore dead. After being released, Toni and Salvatore go to see the mayor, Miles O'Donovan, to get his charges dropped. However, Massimo Torini, a high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia, had the mayor kidnapped. Toni and Salvatore chase Torini and rescue the Mayor from Portland Rock, killing Torini in the process.

Events of GTA III (circa 2001)
By 2001, Toni has become one of the highest-ranking members of the Leone Family, behind only Salvatore Leone. The police had attempted to connect Toni and Salvatore throughout 2001; however, they fail to link them beyond his mother's restaurant. Salvatore’s son, Joey, introduces the game’s protagonist, Claude, to Toni. Toni hires Claude to attack the Triads (Leone Family enemies), including trying to get protection money from Mr. Wong's Laundromat, destroying some Triad fish vans and the Triad owned fish factory in Callahan Point. Toni also introduces Claude to Salvatore Leone.

In 2001, Toni still working with his mother and is frequently been seen in his family-run restaurant, where he provides Claude with jobs. The constant insulting from his mother about him not being able to be like his father and failing to meet up to her expectations had forced him to call the local chat radio station, Chatterbox FM, and complain about his mother's constant berating. After Salvatore Leone has been assassinated, it is believed that Toni will take control of the Leone Family simply because Joey Leone, Salvatore's son, hasn't exactly done much to help the family.

Personality
Toni's behavior in scenes of the game suggest that he is very loyal, but very easy to irritate (of course, this may be in part of that he is surrounded by such strange people, for instance, Maria Latore, Joseph Daniel O'Toole and Donald Love). When he is angry, Toni is capable of practicing extremely violent acts (like using an axe to kill Giovanni Casa and cut his body into small pieces), but he also seems to feel remorseful at times (like when he goes to the Cathedral to make a confession). However, like many other GTA protagonists, he too shows very little hesitation in killing anyone standing in his way and occasionally mocks them. Toni also believes that people should show proper respect to their parents, as seen in the mission Hot Wheels when he berates Vincenzo Cilli for receiving oral sex from a prostitute named Cheryl while talking to his mother, and how he desperately tries to please his mother. Like Claude, he will give drivers the finger if a vehicle stands in front of him and tries to mow him down.

Toni seems to be very loyal to his bosses (for example, he saves Salvatore from being crushed in a car which the Sindaccos used to kidnap Salvatore). However, after completing the story-line mission "The Sicilian Gambit", during the ending cutscene, Toni seems to be a little troubled and hesitant for not being paid by Salvatore the couple of million dollars he promised.

In GTA: Liberty City Stories, Toni is significantly thinner than his depiction in GTA III; this is commented or criticized by his mother, Maria and Salvatore Leone, with his mother and Salvatore in particular commenting about him not being fed well. By GTA III, Toni is fatter and has aged considerably in the three years that have passed.

Appearance
In GTA: Liberty City Stories, circa 1998, Toni has a burly build and light skin. He has brown eyes and short, black hair. He has a permanent 5 O'Clock shadow, and a small amount of chest hair, which can be seen when using certain outfits.

Tony appears to be quite tall, and he is considerably taller than Salvatore and JD O'Toole.

As Liberty City Stories allows the player to change clothes, Toni can wear up to 16 different outfits, ranging from casuals to mascot costumes to luxury suits. Toni's regular outfit is a dark brown jacket, tan pants, and black shoes.

In GTA III, circa 2001, Toni's appearance has changed drastically; he has lighter brown hair with grey stripes and a much fatter and heavier build. Toni also wears a purple coat, and tan dress pants.

Mission Appearances

 * GTA III
 * Cipriani's Chauffeur
 * Taking Out the Laundry (Boss)
 * The Pick-Up (Voice/Boss)
 * Salvatore's Called A Meeting (Boss)
 * Triads and Tribulations (Voice/Boss)
 * Blow Fish (Boss)


 * GTA Liberty City Stories
 * As the protagonist, he appears in all missions.

Murders Committed

 * Unnamed made man - Killed in 1994 under orders of Salvatore Leone, resulting in Toni going into hiding for four years.
 * Dan Sucho - Killed to show his mother that Toni is better than him.
 * Giovanni Casa - Killed and butchered for stopping to pay protection money to Ma, later delivering his chopped remains to his own deli.
 * Cedric Fotheringay - Killed for beating up Maria.
 * Vincenzo Cilli - Killed for setting Toni up in the beginning and for trying to kill him.
 * Roger C. Hole - Killed under orders of Salvatore Leone for trying to accuse him for all the crimes in the city.
 * Faith W. - Killed under orders of Ned Burner for refusing to give an interview to the Liberty Liberty Tree Newspaper.
 * Black Lightman - Killed under orders of Ned Burner for refusing to give an interview to the Liberty Tree Newspaper.
 * DB-P - Killed under orders of Ned Burner for refusing to give an interview to the Liberty Tree Newspaper.
 * Paulie Sindacco - Killed under orders of Salvatore Leone for getting him in jail.
 * Avery Carrington - Killed under orders of Donald Love to get his construction plans.
 * Ned Burner - Killed under orders of Donald Love for exposing the death of Avery Carrington at their hands.
 * Kazuki Kasen - Killed for trying to kill Toni and Toshiko Kasen.
 * Franco Forelli - Killed in the explosion of Fort Staunton caused by Toni under orders of Donald Love.
 * Massimo Torini - Killed for kidnapping Miles O'Donovan and trying to take over Liberty City, as well as attempting to ruin Leone Family.

Influences

 * Toni Cipriani's name, character, and appearance are influenced from characters portrayed by actor Paul Sorvino. The GTA III rendition of Toni Cipriani is heavily based on Sorvino's character Paulie Cicero from the film Goodfellas, a huge inspiration on both games Cipriani appears in. Furthermore, Toni Cipriani's name comes directly from a character Sorvino played named Tony "Guy" Cipriani from the 1997 film Money Talks.
 * Toni Cipriani is likely a homage to Tony Soprano, the main character from The Sopranos. Aside from their names, both characters also share ongoing problems with their mothers, who also ordered hits on them. They also both would later go on to have weight problems, and were feuding with caporegimes in their respective crime families (Corrado 'Junior' Soprano and Vincenzo Cilli respectively).
 * Toni, along with Salvatore Leone, Luigi Goterelli, Maria Latore, 8-Ball, and Joey Leone (in that order) appear on posters for the film Badfellas in GTA III. This is a reference to the film Goodfellas, which Frank Vincent (Salvatore Leone's voice actor) and Ray Liotta (Tommy Vercetti's voice actor) starred in. The posters can be found at Luigi's Sex Club 7 in the Red Light District of Portland Island, Liberty City.

Trivia

 * Toni is the only protagonist in the series to have a character artwork in a game he's not the protagonist in (with GTA III being the game).
 * Toni was the first protagonist to appear in another game before his own.
 * Toni was the first protagonist to give missions to another protagonist (namely, Claude). He is followed by Trevor Philips, who gives missions to the GTA Online Protagonist in Grand Theft Auto Online.
 * Toni may have been a loan shark in the past, as he reminds JD O'Toole of the money he owes in Snuff and Giovanni Casa tells Toni that he will pay him "the money I owe" in Dead Meat.
 * Toni appears in a total of 77 storyline missions, the third-highest number of any protagonist (behind Carl Johnson and Niko Bellic, who appear in 104 and 98 missions respectively).
 * Toni said his own name as "Toni Ki-priani" in the mission The Pick-Up in GTA III instead of the usual "Toni Si-priani". This appears to be an uncorrected mistake by the voice actor, Michael Madsen.
 * One of Toni's random lines when targeting someone is "It's my constitutional right, you moron!", which is similar to CJ's line "It's my constitutional right, bitch!" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
 * Another one of Toni's lines in the game, "you do know that I'm Italian, don't you, Don? Not er, Spanish?" in the mission Cam-Pain, is similar to CJ's line "you do know that I'm black, right? And not Chinese?" to Wozzie in the mission Amphibious Assault.
 * His original name was Tony Facile.
 * He is the only Protagonist who is not enemies with the main antagonist as Massimo Torini is instead enemies with Salvatore Leone who serves as Toni's Deuteragonist.
 * An Easter egg in Grand Theft Auto IV suggests that Toni, along with the other 3D Universe Protagonists, are dead. However, this is not considered canon in the 3D Universe.

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