For other uses, see Pegorino (disambiguation).
- Pegorino: "I know enough about you, your cousin, your friends... I know a lot of people around you end up in jail."
- Niko: "Some maybe."
- Pegorino: "But that's the same all over town. This is a dying game."
- —Dialogue between Jimmy Pegorino and Niko Bellic in Pegorino's Pride.
James "Jimmy" Pegorino is a main character and the secondary antagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV. He is also mentioned in The Lost and Damned.
He is voiced by Tony Patellis.
History[]
Background[]
Early Life[]
Jimmy Pegorino was born in Alderney City, Alderney. His father was the founder of the Pegorino Family, an Italian-American faction that was highly disrespected by all of the crime families from Liberty City.
Pegorino was arrested for theft three times during the mid-1970s. At some point in his life, he married Angie, and they had one son and at least one more child together.
Taking Control Over the Family[]
Following his father's death, Pegorino gained leadership over the Pegorino Family, and desperately wanted to join The Commission, despite his organization being incredibly weak. He sought to impress the Commission by doing favours for them, such as allowing the Pavano Crime Family to operate in Alderney. Jimmy also thought it would be a good idea to anonymously weaken the Ancelotti Crime Family whilst improving his own, in order to prove that he is able to run a stable organization. He learned that a leader shouldn't place value on his employees until they either impress him (like Phil Bell) or, ironically, become a threat to him because of their greed (like Ray Boccino).
Pegorino's own son had committed suicide, and he then accepted his bodyguard Anthony Corrado as a son in nature.
Unbeknownst to Angie, Pegorino has a young mistress who lives in an apartment in Acter.
Events of Grand Theft Auto IV[]
In 2008, Phil recommended Niko Bellic's services to Pegorino. He first had Niko watch over a deal he was having with members of the Pavano Family. The deal was a set-up, and Pegorino's personal bodyguards were killed by the Pavanos, and his tribute was stolen. Niko rescued Pegorino, and chased a group of remaining of the remaining thugs to get Pegorino's money back.
In retaliation for the Pavano's betrayal, Pegorino later sent Niko to follow a couple of Pavano mobsters to a crew meeting at the Auto Eroticar dealership and kill them all. Pegorino stated that they were going to war with the Pavanos.
Later on, the police began to thoroughly investigate his "businesses", leading Pegorino to believe that several of his employees had become police informants. Pegorino initially suspected Niko and threatened him with a shotgun, but was convinced otherwise and then ordered him to kill Anthony Corrado. Corrado, who was confirmed to have worn a wire, suffered a heart attack after talking with Pegorino over the phone, but survived and received police protection in the hospital until Niko eliminated him. Believing several other members had turned states, Pegorino ordered Niko to kill Ray Boccino.
Endings[]
In the game's finale, Jimmy orders Bellic to take part in a heroin deal with Niko's nemesis, Dimitri Rascalov, and was promised a vast sum of money. Niko is unsure whether to comply and be paid or take his revenge, and his final decision is left to the player.
Niko rebels and kills Dimitri, Jimmy's organization becomes nothing. He personally attempts to kill Niko at Roman and Mallorie's wedding, but accidentally kills Kate McReary. Niko tracks down Jimmy with the help of Roman and Little Jacob. After chasing and shooting him down, Niko tells him that the Commission thought he was a "fat fucking joke". Niko begins to walk away, Jimmy raises his gun to try and kill Niko, but before he can Niko shoots Jimmy in the head with an Assault Rifle.
Character[]
Personality[]
Jimmy can be considered a very arrogant individual with an incredibly inflated sense of self-worth, believing himself to be a "big player" within the Liberty City criminal underworld, even believing to be far more successful than his father, who founded the family. His arrogance fuels him to not take advice from others, even from his most trusted subordinates, such as Phil Bell. It also leads him to genuinely believe that he has control over his territory, claiming he "allows" the Pavano Crime Family to operate in Alderney without giving him a cut, despite the Pavanos being far more powerful and influential than his organization, and having no need to request his "permission" whatsoever. Furthermore, Jimmy is very disrespectful towards his own henchmen, often insulting and treating his personal bodyguard with disdain and mockery, even claiming to have often beat him several times over the years.
Unlike other Mafia bosses, such as Jon Gravelli, who remain themselves without the need of a strong front, Jimmy tends to act tough in front of others and speak around in circles to make himself look smarter, although this rarely works as during his first meeting with Niko, the latter was clearly unimpressed with his antics. He's also incredibly naïve and gullible, setting up a meeting with the Pavanos to request a seat in The Commission with a "tribute", despite this very act making him and his entire organization look weak and pathetic due to the fact the meeting point was not only within Pegorino's own territory, but also in a very secluded area, making it perfectly clear that the Pavanos were intending to eliminate him from the start, and his ego had him subsequently believe The Commission would punish the Pavanos for committing this act, blindly unaware of their indifference towards it.
Despite proclaiming himself to be a successful "mob boss", Jimmy's leadership is incredibly dysfunctional and self-damaging to his organization; he openly discusses his organization's illegal businesses and actions inside his house, not caring or knowing about possible bugs planted by the LCPD, and often hires several "dumb muscle" off the streets without going through background checks to see whether they are informants or not, attributing to his constant troubles with the police, and shows very little concern about them, as Jimmy shrugged off Marco Bonnaro and Big Pete's deaths despite their unwavering loyalty to him. Jimmy also holds the Mafia's traditional rules to an incredibly high degree, refusing to promote Phil to a higher position due to his lineage being mostly Irish, out of fear that The Commission will look down upon them for it, despite them already doing so, in spite of Phil being one of his most trusted subordinates. While sticking through many of the Mafia's rules, Jimmy isn't above breaking them to suit his own needs, as he ordered one of his highest-ranking subordinates, Ray Boccino, to be killed out of a mere suspicion of him being a traitor rather than having outright evidence, which goes against the Mafia's rules as they are only allowed to eliminate a subordinate by having concrete evidence of their betrayal.
His desperation to become recognized and respected by the Liberty City mob drove him to work with Dimitri Rascalov, who The Commission themselves despised and refused to work with due to Dimitri's well-known habit of betraying his business partners (with the exception of the Ancelotti Crime Family), with Jimmy naively believing his partnership with the Russian Mafia was one of mutual respect and loyalty. Even after not only Niko, but Phil, are betrayed during a possible deal with Dimitri, Jimmy shows little to no care about two of his most skilled subordinates risking their lives, only celebrating his newfound wealth and success, and later, standing by Dimitri as he betrays Niko, despite the latter having helped his organization several times. Jimmy's naivete and lack of judgment lead to his own downfall, as he himself is betrayed and killed by Dimitri. If Niko decided to kill Dimitri, therefore betraying Jimmy and resulting in Jimmy's organization being completely broke and powerless, he still believed himself to be a "big player" during his final moments, arrogantly claiming that "he gave the orders" even as Niko had him at gunpoint, and Niko's subsequent mockery of him caused his anger to skyrocket, as he refused to be made fun of, before being finally put out of his misery.
LCPD Database Record[]
1974 - Possession Stolen Property
1976 - Armed Robbery
1979 - Grand Larceny
1981 - Promoting Gambling
1985 - Hijacking
1988 - Manslaughter
- Attempting to control rackets being run by the five Algonquin families but his power is questionable.
- Main associates are Phil Bell and Ray Boccino.
- Ties to Irish American hoods such as Gerald McReary in Dukes.
- Lives in Alderney with his wife, Angie.
PROTECTING LIBERTY CITY
JIMMY "PEG" PEGORINO
HANGOUT
Unknown
WANTED FOR
Racketeering
Murders Committed[]
- Kate McReary - Murdered after Roman's wedding, though Niko was supposed to be killed instead. (only in Revenge ending)
Notable Murders Ordered by Pegorino[]
- Anthony Corrado - Murdered by Niko Bellic at Westdyke Memorial Hospital following the revelation that he was a federal informant, as he was expected to testify against the Pegorino Family.
- Ray Boccino - Murdered by Niko Bellic out of fear that he was a federal informant, and to send a message to his underlings.
Mission Appearances[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
- Pegorino's Pride (Boss)
- Payback (Boss)
- Flatline (Boss)
- Pest Control (Boss)
- That Special Someone (Post-mission phone call)
- One Last Thing (Boss)
Deal Ending
- If the Price is Right (Boss; post-mission phone call)
- A Revenger's Tragedy (Betrayal) (Killed)
Revenge Ending
- Mr. & Mrs. Bellic (Betrayal)
- Out of Commission (Killed)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His favorite radio stations are Jazz Nation Radio 108.5 and Fusion FM, suggesting his favorite genre is jazz, and he will respond positively if it is turned on in a car.
- Pegorino is possibly visually inspired from Phil Leotardo from The Sopranos, who was played by Frank Vincent, the voice actor for Salvatore Leone. His mannerisms are similar to Ralph Cifaretto, also from The Sopranos. He could also be based on Tony Soprano from The Sopranos, played by James Gandolfini, as he is the head of the Alderney mob (and Tony is, similarly, the head of the New Jersey mob), and just as Jimmy's father was the boss of the Pegorino Crime Family before his death, Tony's father ran the largest and most effective crew in the New Jersey mob and was most likely going to become the next boss before he died. The DiMeo/Soprano crime family, under Tony's rule, was also plagued by countless federal informants, while the Pegorino Crime Family was being weakened by law enforcement crackdowns (many of his men were incarcerated, as of Pest Control), and although Anthony Corrado was the only confirmed informant in the family (leading Jimmy to dispatch Niko to the hospital to turn off his life support), Jimmy ordered Niko to assassinate Ray Boccino in order to send a message to anyone else in the family who was thinking of ratting them out. Also, his wife, Angie Pegorino, is voiced by Sharon Angela who portrays Rosalie Aprile, the widow of ex-acting boss of the DiMeo family, Jackie Aprile, Sr., in The Sopranos.
- In the Deal ending, Pegorino is killed by Dimitri Rascalov, making him one of the only four antagonists to be killed by another antagonist. Miguel is killed (off-screen) by Catalina, Ricardo Diaz is killed by Lance Vance (with the help of Tommy Vercetti) and Jimmy Hernandez is killed by Eddie Pulaski.
- Pegorino has an unused suit which can be found in the game files, consisting of darker brown pants and a greenish-brown blazer with a grey dress shirt.
- In Pegorino's office, a photo can be seen of an MMA fighter that resembles Pegorino.
- In the second dialogue for "Pegorino's Pride", Pegorino states he would not leave his wife Angie because she is the mother of his children, implying he has more than one child.
- Pegorino has some similarities to Salvatore Leone, as both are bosses of a major Liberty City crime family (in differing universes of course), both are killed by the protagonist (Revenge only for Pegorino), both of them have a son (though Pegorino's is unseen due to having committed suicide prior to GTA IV), both have become very paranoid, and both betray or are betrayed by the protagonist in some way.