Introduction (GTA III)

The introduction for Grand Theft Auto III is a series of cutscenes played as a new game is started. Consisting of only cutscenes, the player only has the option of skipping them and moving on to "Give Me Liberty", the first mission in the game.

Bank heist
The introduction opens with a shot of the Liberty City Bank, as a Banshee driven by Miguel zips by and stops in front of an adjoining alley way to pick up a team of three bank robbers who have just robbed the bank: Catalina, Claude and an unnamed associate with Colombian Cartel attire. After shooting a security camera, Claude attempts to rejoin the other two, but learns Catalina has double crossed Claude by gunning him and the third accomplice down. This leaves Catalina and Miguel to feast on the spoils of the heist while Claude, slumped on the ground on the alleyway, survives but is arrested by the Liberty City Police Department. Catalina reveals her ambitions to rise up the ranks of the criminal world, but felt Claude was not up to par for her, hence the betrayal and decision to join Miguel's powerful Colombian Cartel gang instead.

Custody and escape
Claude, now in police custody, is intended to transfer from police headquarters to Liberty Penitentiary to serve out his 10-year jail sentence. Claude is to be taken there via a police convoy that is also transporting two other inmates: 8-Ball, following an arrest which left both his hands fully bandaged, and an oriental man of unknown origin, arrested for possessing no legal documents. While crossing the Callahan Bridge from Staunton to Portland, the convoy is ambushed by a well coordinated Colombian Cartel team, whose intention is to capture the oriental prisoner as ransom. To ensure their escape, the team also left a powerful bomb on the bridge, resulting in an explosion that damages the bridge and cuts Portland off from the rest of Liberty City.

During the ambush and explosion, Claude and 8-Ball manage to break free, but find they have nowhere else to go but Portland, leading up to the first mission of the game, "Give Me Liberty".