Phil Cassidy is a main character in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and a minor character in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto III. He is also briefly mentioned in Rockstar North's Manhunt.
He is voiced by Hunter Platin in GTA III and Gary Busey in GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories.
History[]
Background[]
According to his interview on MeTV, he was part of the Army Catering Corps and received a dishonorable discharge.
Events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
In Phil's first chronological appearance in 1984, he appears in a MeTV patriotism report where he complained that the government wasn't properly looking after their veterans, which ended with him having an emotional breakdown and crying, and being ridiculed by reporter Jenny Mitchell. He is introduced to Victor Vance through Sergeant Jerry Martinez. Phil is Jerry's gun dealer. Jerry sends Vic to help Phil get rid of some Cholos that are giving him trouble. Through Phil, Vic meets Phil's younger sister Louise and her husband Marty.
After completing some jobs for Marty and eventually killing him because he tried to pimp Louise, Vic returns to Phil and saves him from Jerry's goons who want to finish him for betraying Jerry. After being saved by Vic, Phil promises to stay sober from now on; however, he begins to drink again when Armando Mendez kills Louise. Phil, wanting revenge on the Mendez Brothers, gets drunk and blows up the entrance of Fort Baxter Air Base so that Vic can steal a Hunter helicopter to attack the Mendez compound.
Events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
In 1986, Tommy Vercetti hires Phil to pull off a bank robbery in the mission The Shootist. Phil is the one who suggests Tommy should employ Hilary King as a getaway driver. After the robbery, Phil invites Tommy to work for him in order to get fixed with firepower. After Tommy kills Phil's rival gun dealer, a drunken Phil invites Tommy over to check out a Boomshine bomb he had set up, wired to a remote detonator. The remote doesn't work the first time, so Phil changes its batteries for fresh ones sitting beside the bomb. Now standing just a meter away from the powerful explosive, in inebriated carelessness, he presses the remote's trigger, detonating the bomb and blowing his left arm off. Tommy drives Phil to an ex-army surgeon to be patched up. Tommy and Phil start an arms business, with Phil supplying Tommy with expensive heavy weapons not available in local Ammu-Nations throughout the rest of the game.
In GTA Vice City, Phil's mobile home is accessible. Gun Racks displaying several handguns, submachine guns and rifles are on the wall. When his bedroom is entered, his bed consists of a camouflaged mattress, an American Flag-styled pillow, and a few girl posters on the walls. A Kaufman Cabs calendar can also be seen in his mobile home. He also has a Patriot parked inside a hangar next to his home.
Events of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
By 1998, Phil resides in Liberty City, where he owns a gun store, selling heavy artillery. Phil makes a short appearance during the mission "More Deadly Than the Male" as Toshiko Kasen's gun dealer. During the cutscene at the end, Phil admits that he does so much business at the docks he should set himself up there and not halfway down Staunton Island. This explains why he has left his heavy artillery store in Bedford Point and has moved to his barracks in Rockford by the time of the events of GTA III.
Events of Grand Theft Auto III[]
In 2001, corrupt LCPD cop Ray Machowski commissions Claude to go and meet Phil at his shop, since some members of the Colombian Cartel tried to extort weapons out of Phil. Phil and Claude attack the Cartel men as they arrive and kill them, preventing them from stealing Phil's weapons. During this mission, Phil claims to have lost his arm in Nicaragua.
Post-Grand Theft Auto III[]
He is also mentioned in 2003 in Manhunt by members of the Carcer City Police Department. This implies he expanded his business over to Carcer City too, which is close to Liberty City according to the Lips 106 news segment in GTA III.
Character[]
Personality[]
In all of Phil's appearances, he appears as a manic heavy artillery arms dealer, selling the protagonist military-grade weaponry such as grenades, rocket launchers and miniguns. Phil presents himself as a military veteran and regularly discusses his experiences, including claims of having "flashbacks" to the Vietnam War. However, Cam Jones claims that Phil was never in the army, and Phil's records show that he was repeatedly refused for service due to "drunkenness and unsuitable temperament for combat".
Phil has been featured as a heavy drinker. He distils "Boomshine", a highly explosive mixture that can get a man drunk off its fumes alone, which he started distilling and selling in Vice City around 1984. During a phone conversation with Tommy Vercetti, he explains that, due to his heavy boomshine consumption, he is blind in his left eye.
Phil’s dialogue in certain missions indicates that he drinks as a result of possible depression, likely due to his bad relationship with his father. Otherwise, he appeared to have a good relationship with Louise and was genuinely mournful of her death. It was shown that her death caused Phil to return to his drinking habits.
Despite his fault, Phil overall appeared to be very loyal and respectful to those he cared about and would go above and beyond for them, including attacking a military base to name a few, that includes Vic, Lance, Tommy, even Martinez for a time. It’s likely that Martinez’ betrayal worsened his paranoia.
Appearance[]
Phil's most notable feature is his one arm. He lost his left arm in 1986 after he was caught in the blast radius of a boomshine bomb, during the events of GTA Vice City. His subsequent appearances also depict him with only one arm. He is overweight and blond-haired, with a short nose, grey-blue eyes, a square jaw and a cleft chin.
In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Phil is sporting a handlebar moustache. By 1986, he shaved it off permanently. Moreover, in the 1980s, Phil's hair was styled in a mullet, and by 1998 he sports a crew cut instead and still does as of 2001.
Phil's fashion sense would slowly become more military-like as time passed. In 1984, he wears a vest and jeans. Two years later, he sports a black muscle shirt with a Confederate flag on it, along with green cargo shorts and white sneakers. By 1998, the black muscle shirt was replaced with a matching green T-shirt and BDU pants, military boots, and a set of dogtags, a look he still has in 2001.
Murders Committed[]
- Unnamed Cholo Thug – Murdered for ruining Phil's business interests. (optional)
- Jerry Martinez's men – Murdered for ambushing Phil and Vic.
- Colombian Cartel members – Murdered during an ambush.
- Mendez Cartel members – Murdered for hitting Vance Crime Family's Empire Buildings. (possibly)
Businesses[]
- Phil's Army Surplus in Rockford, Staunton Island (GTA III)
- Phil's Place in Little Haiti, Vice City (GTA Vice City)
- Phil Cassidy's Fully Cocked Gun Shop in Bedford Point, Staunton Island (GTA Liberty City Stories)
- Phil's Depot in Viceport, Vice City (GTA Vice City Stories)
- Cassidy's Bargain Firearms Emporium in Carcer City (Manhunt)
VCBI Crime Tree Record[]
- PHIL CASSIDY
- PHIL CASSIDY
- Redneck arms dealer.
- Believed to be involved in weapons trade.
- Gun enthusiast. Member of various second amendment organizations and various Vice City gun clubs.
- Sources suggest he also distills "boomshine" in own stills.
- Fighting war with Mexican gun-running gangs.
- Linked with "Cam" Jones. Jones and Cassidy believed to have worked together numerous times although Cassidy has avoided convictions.
- Degenerate.
- Patriot.
- Also believed Cassidy claims to have served in various divisions although Army records show he was repeatedly rejected for service because of drunkenness and an unsuitable temperament for combat.
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay[]
Grand Theft Auto III[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
- The Shootist
- The Driver
- The Job
- Gun Runner (Boss)
- Boomshine Saigon (Boss)
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
- Cleaning House
- Conduct Unbecoming
- Cholo Victory (Boss)
- Boomshine Blowout (Boss)
- Truck Stop (Boss)
- Marked Men (Boss)
- Blitzkrieg Strikes Again
- Lost and Found, Domo Arigato Domestoboto or So Long Schlong (Post-mission pager message)
- Over the Top
Gallery[]
Artworks[]
In-game[]
Trivia[]
- In the opening cutscene of the mission Boomshine Saigon, Phil is clearly seen having his right arm - not his left arm - blown off. This is a developer oversight, as when the player completes the mission, a cutscene plays showing Phil missing his left arm, and all his subsequent appearances show him missing his left arm.
- In the original version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, a confederate flag can be seen on Phil's muscle shirt. In The Definitive Edition, the flag has been changed to a skull.
- Phil Cassidy and Phil's Army Surplus were originally scheduled to appear in Grand Theft Auto Advance, but were cut during development.[1]
- As originally intended by Digital Eclipse, the Phil's Army Surplus menu was planned as a first-person view of the shop interior with Phil himself seen behind the counter.[2]
- Leftover menu UI text for "
ARMY SURPLUS" can still be found in the game files (observed via hex editing).
- Phil's appearance in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City served as an inspiration for his HD Universe counterpart Phil in Grand Theft Auto VI.
References[]
- ↑ Game Design Document(12/25/24)"Art Requirements"; GTA Advance: Game Design Document - Version 1.3, 26th February 2003. Digital Eclipse. (Page 79)
- ↑ Game Design Document(12/25/24)"Phil Cassidy's Army Surplus"; GTA Advance: Game Design Document - Version 1.3, 26th February 2003. Digital Eclipse. (Page 19)