Maria Latore

Maria Latore (also credited as Maria La Torra) is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a character in Grand Theft Auto III (set in 2001), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (set in 1992) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (set in 1998). She is the wife of Leone Family Don Salvatore Leone and step mother to his son, Joey. She is voiced in GTA III and GTA San Andreas by Debi Mazar, who has also appeared in shows such as Entourage and Civil Wars, whilst in GTA Liberty City Stories she was voiced by Fiona Gallagher.

Life until 1998
Maria Latore was born in an unknown location, quite possibly in San Andreas, and later moved to Las Venturas and became a waitress at the Mafia run Caligula's Palace casino. Later, she meets and begins a relationship with Leone Don Salvatore Leone. At some point between 1992 and 1998 she marries Salvatore and moves into his home in Liberty City, before moving out into her own apartment in the same district.

1998
In 1998, Maria and Salvatore's marriage is at rock bottom with the two not getting along and living separately, whilst Maria has become addicted to drugs. She has also begun to cheat on Salvatore, including with Biker leader Cedric &quot;Wayne&quot; Fotheringay, something that Salvatore is well aware of and often uses in arguments. She attempts to sell Leone Family secrets to Ned Burner through e-mails, although the two never reach an agreement on a price. Toni Cipriani is assigned to chaperone her, often resulting in Toni rescuing her from trouble, including: helping her after she robs some stores, 'winning' her in a street race, killing Fortheringay after he attacks her, and saving her life after she overdoses. She shows romantic feelings toward Toni, who constantly declines her requests, although it takes a realization that Toni has no money before she decides to stay with Salvatore: "I'm Salvatore's girl! He's loaded! Don't you ever hit on me again!"

Life until 2001


In 2001 she remains married to Salvatore Leone, probably for his money and has seemingly moved back in with him, although their relationship is still at rock bottom, with Maria only remaining with Salvatore for his money. She is introduced to Claude, who she calls "Fido", by Salvatore who asks him to look after her for an evening. Maria, who is still addicted to drugs, has Claude take her to drug dealer Chico, who informs her of an illegal party at a warehouse in Atlantic Quays. Claude takes her to the party and successfully manages to return her to Salvatore's home after being chased by the Liberty City Police Department. Maria later tells Salvatore that she and Claude have entered into a relationship, resulting in Salvatore attempting to kill Claude with a bomb-laden Cheetah. Maria, however, pages Claude and has him meet her at a small dock in Callahan Point. She introduces Claude to her old friend Asuka Kasen and the three flee to Staunton Island.

Asuka later hires Claude to kill Salvatore, resulting in Maria becoming a widow. Maria and Asuka engage in various activities such as going on a holiday to avoid a paparazzi and shopping. Maria and Asuka eventually torture Miguel together to extract information about the Colombian Cartels operations. Catalina, however, assaults Asuka and Miguel, kidnapping Maria and taking her to Shoreside Vale, demanding Claude to pay a $500,000 ransom. Claude pays the ransom at the Cartels headquarters but is ambushed by the Cartel. Claude kills the Cartel members and follows Catalina to Cochrane Dam, destroying her helicopter with a rocket launcher and rescuing Maria.

Fate
As the mission The Exchange ends, Claud and Maria begin to walk away from the scene with Maria moaning continuously about the way she looks as the screen fades to black. Once the scene/screen is fully black, a gunshot is heard, after which Maria stops talking.

There have been various theories about what happened. One is that Claude shot and killed Maria, with several different reasons suggested. Another is that Claude fired a fun into the air to make Maria stop talking. Still another theory is that it was an unknown assailant who fired the gun.

Rockstar Game's official response to fan questions about the incident was that "Certainly gun shots were fired but nobody is sure as to exactly what happend."

Personality
Maria is secure about her looks, although she has no control over herself, using drugs (and at one point almost overdosing) and spending a lot of Salvatore's money. Despite her ability to get money, she also shoplifts, leaving the trouble to either Salvatore or Toni Cipriani. She is also very dominating, a nymphomaniac, a man eater, a gold digger and perceives Salvatore's most trusted henchmen as lapdogs that do her bidding, calling them "fido" (as is the case with Claude in GTA III and Toni Cipriani in GTA Liberty City Stories).

Mission appearances

 * GTA III
 * Chaperone
 * Last Requests
 * Sayonara Salvatore
 * Payday For Ray (Voice)
 * S.A.M.
 * The Exchange (Possible Death)


 * GTA San Andreas
 * Freefall
 * Saint Mark's Bistro


 * GTA Liberty City Stories
 * Ho Selecta!
 * Shop 'Til You Strop (Boss)
 * Taken For A Ride (Boss)
 * Booby Prize (Boss)
 * Biker Heat (Boss)
 * Overdose of Trouble (Boss)
 * Contra-Banned
 * The Trouble with Triads

Trivia

 * Maria's fate is left ambiguous by Rockstar Games, who refuse to state whether the gunshot from Claude was to kill Maria or to simply silence her.
 * Maria can be heard of Chatterbox FM in Grand Theft Auto III discussing Claude, stating that "he don't talk too much". This appearance appears throughout the game, including before she meets Claude and after her possible death, due to the radio stations being played on a loop.
 * Maria holds an interest in leopard skin furniture, which she references on Chatterbox FM in GTA III and is evident in her clothing in GTA Liberty City Stories.
 * Maria Latore, (along with Salvatore Leone, Luigi Goterelli, 8-Ball, Joey Leone, and Tony Cipriani, in that order) appears on posters for the film Badfellas in GTA III. This is a reference to the film Goodfellas.
 * Maria Latore is listed as Maria La Torra in the credits for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
 * The only time Maria doesn't wear anything with leopard print is in her appearance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
 * Maria has brown hair, but in her artwork for Liberty City Stories, she is blonde.
 * It is possible to kill Maria in Chaperone by killing Chico before Maria talks to him as she will leave and you can kill her, but it is more than likely that she would commit suicide, by running into the river and drown.
 * Maria and Carmen Ortiz are the only women to have feelings for two protagonists in the same town.