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Heroes come and go, but legends never die. Grand theft Auto is one of the most extensive series in gaming history featuring mind-blowing graphics, immersive gameplay, captivating stories, and most importantly, unforgettable characters. Characters are what drive the story and bring it to life, and very few manage to deliver a memorable performance. Toni Cipriani is one of them. So, what is Toni Cipriani’s story? Where did he come from? What did he do?
If you played GTA III and GTA: Liberty City Stories, you would have had a blast working for and playing as Toni Cipriani. But, if that is not enough and you want to know more about Toni, you came to the right Toni Cipriani Guide.
Who is Toni Cipriani?
Antonio “Toni” Cipriani, also known as Lionel, Fido, Mr. Tough Guy, and Toni the Tux, is one of the main storyline characters in Grand Theft Auto III. He also takes on the role of the main protagonist in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. He is voiced by Michael Madsen in GTA III and Danny Mastrogiorgio in GTA: LC stories.
Toni is the Caporegime of the Leone Family Mafia based in Liberty City and the right-hand man of Don Salvatore Leone. He is an American with roots extending back to Italy. His father is an unknown Sicilian-American, and his mother is Ma Cipriani. The latter owns a restaurant in Saint Marks, Portland, called “Momma’s Restaurante”.
Toni used his mother’s diner as the main headquarters of his criminal activities. It may be a bad idea, as Toni gets scolded and shouted at by his mother. During his upbringing in Liberty City, Toni took it upon himself to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the criminal underworld.
What is Toni Like?
The GTA series features a long list of characters and it is likely for two or three characters may share the same attitude and personality. Or at least have one common characteristic in one aspect. Toni Cipriani has an ideology almost identical to Tommy Vercetti from GTA Vice City. his behavior throughout different scenes during the game entails that Toni is a smart and fearless man with a short temper. Just like Vercetti, he snaps whenever someone interferes and ruins his plans or tries to hurt the people close to him.
In a state of rage, Toni can perform the most horrendous crimes. For instance, in the mission “Dead Meat”, Toni gets extremely furious when she tells him that he does not have the guts like Geovanni Casa. As a result, Toni picks up Casa and takes him to the sawmill to kill him.
Toni chases Casa around until he finally catches him and uses an axe to rip his corpse apart. Just like his counterpart Tommy, Toni shows no hesitation or remorse in annihilating anyone and everyone who makes fun of him or stands in his way. He displays discipline, determination, and pure commitment toward what he wants.
Cipriani believes in the principle of respect and advocates that people should show proper reverence, especially to their parents. It is clear in the mission Hot Wheels when he snaps at Vincenzo for having intercourse with a prostitute while chatting with his mother. Not to mention, Toni is petty and will give drivers the finger when they try to run over him.
It appears that Rockstar was influenced by the movie Goodfellas and Money Talks. Toni Cipriani’s name, character, and physical structure are inspired directly by Paul Sorvino’s character (Tony “Guy” Cipriani).
Moreover, Cipriani’s character shares some qualities with Tony Soprano from The Sopranos. They both have “mommy issues” that put a bounty on their heads, got fat, and hated their capos. Not to mention, Toni Cipriani, alongside Salvatore Leone, Joey Leone, Maria Latore, Luigi Goterelli, and 8-Ball appear in a poster of a movie dubbed Badfellas.
The poster can be seen in the Red Light District in Portland, Liberty City, and exist at the InetrGlobal Films studios in GTA Vice City.
What does Toni look like?
Cipriani’s appearance in GTA III is different from his looks in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. The latter is set in 1998, three years before the GTA III events. In Liberty City Stories, Toni appears to be skinnier. He is somewhat brawny and has light skin.
A closer look at his facial figure will show his brown eyes, dark brown hair, and a 5 O’clock shadow. Toni is reasonably taller than the other characters like Salvatore. And since you can change his outfit, you can see some hair on his chest.
Toni Cipriani in a mascot costume is an unforgettable scene! On the other hand, Toni looks larger (fatter) in GTA III. His hair is a lighter shade of brown with /grey strips. He always appears wearing a purple coat and tanned pants.
As if he aged twelve years, not three. Anyways, Toni presumably gained more weight because of the criticism he received from his mother, Salvatore, and Maria Latore.
What are the missions related to Toni Cipriani?
Toni gets the role of one of the main characters in GTA III’s storyline. As a result, he appears in a handful of missions. His quests include:
- Cipriani’s Chauffeur
- Taking Out the Laundry
- The Pick-Up
- Salvatore’s Called a Meeting
- Triads and Tribulations
- Blow Fish
In addition, he appears in all Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories missions because he is the main playable protagonist.
Here’s our guide with everything you need to know about the GTA III Missions.
What are Toni’s best moments?
Crazy ‘69’
Toni heads to Aspatria to meet with Leon McAffrey and his new partner Ray Machowski. After a brief, shaky, and stressed-out “hello” from Ray, Toni is sent to Belleville Park to murder twenty mobsters from the Forelli’s Mafia Family, with a Katana sword. I don’t know about you, but slicing someone with a Katana sword is more satisfying than I imagined.
Taking out the Laundry
In Grand Theft Auto III, Cipriani was one of the most captivating ruthless bosses you can meet. Toni hates the Triads from the deepest and darkest part of his heart. As a result, whenever a problem pops up involving the pesky Triads, Toni instantly snaps and tries to take them down.
My favorite by far is the “Taking Out the Laundry” mission. Toni loses his temper because the Triads refused to pay protection money. As he shouts the instructions to Claude at the restaurant, his mother interrupts him and rebukes him for all the mess.
Dead Meat
Toni always wanted to impress his mother and earn her respect, but it seems like nothing he does is enough. Because of his mother’s harsh criticism, Toni gets into a state of pure rage and does something horrific.
In the mission “Dead Meat”, Ma Cipriani scolds Toni for not having the guts of Giovanni Casa, who stood up to Toni and refused to pay protection money.
Toni took his mother’s words at heart, figuratively and literally. Toni picked up Casa and took him to the Sawmill where he used an axe to butcher Casa and sell his guts as food.
Does Toni have connections or affiliations?
Toni Cipriani is mainly affiliated with Leone’s Family Mafia stationed in Liberty City. he takes orders directly from the Don of the family, Salvatore. Additionally, he worked for Don’s wife Maria Latore, and former capo Vincenzo Cilli. However, Maria cut her ties with Toni when she discovered that he doesn’t share the same feelings for her, and Vincenzo was killed by Toni for his betrayal.
Along the course of the story, Toni worked for/with Donald Love, the Yakuza, Ned Burner, and his mother. In GTA III, Toni is still taking orders from Don Salvatore. Now he has further connections with Joey Leone, Luigi Goterelli, and the main protagonist Claude.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Events
Toni Cipriani got the role of the main playable character in this game. The latter shines the light on Toni’s history and the events leading to GTA III. In 1994, Toni killed a made man from the riveling mafia families by orders from Don Salvatore Leone. It is not known if the made man is a Sindacco or a Forelli.
Anyhow, Toni decided to lay low outside of Liberty City to escape the heat of retaliation. Fast forward 4 years later (1998), Toni returned to Liberty City prepared to get back to his old criminal syndicate and resume his work. However, things did not go as planned.
A very grateful Salvatore gave Toni a warm welcome and a job on the spot. Unfortunately, when Toni was away, other members of the family climbed up the ranks and took the capo position.
Thus, Toni found himself doing the petty tasks for the new Caporegime, Vincenzo Cilli. Right out of the gate, Toni and Cilli display hatred toward each other. And what made Toni furious is Cilli’s disrespectful attitude to his mother. During the mission Hot Wheels, Toni walks in on Vincenzo talking to his mother on the phone while getting fondled by a prostitute.
Anyways, later Vincenzo gets Toni up to date with information about a bartender named Joseph Daniel O’Toole (JD). The latter used to be a member of the Leone family, and now a Sindacco member wants to come back to the Leones. Vincenzo explains further that JD will work as a spy for the Leone family.
Toni starts a mission series for Vincenzo. The first task involves picking up a lazy drug dealer and driving him to work. Other small tasks include taking out Sindacco drug dealers and high-ranking members to help JD become a made man.
Vincenzo was not happy with Toni’s progress and climbing up the hierarchy ladder. So, he decides to take him out in an ambush. Cilli asks Toni to pick up a car full of drugs, but it is surrounded by cops. Toni manages to escape and cuts his ties with Cilli.
Meanwhile, Toni starts street racing, killing, and taking down Triads’ deals to gain his mother’s respect. He goes on a rampage and kills Giovanni Casa by hacking his corpse with an axe, but Ma Cipriani was underwhelmed and put a bounty on Toni. A hit that he successfully survives.
Salvatore gets back in the picture and asks Toni to convince Jane Hopper, union boss, to follow Salvatore’s orders. Things get complicated when Maria Latore, Salvatore’s wife, blackmails Toni to work for her. They later join forces to seal a deal with the Colombian Cartel for Salvatore.
Soon after, JD informs Toni that the Sicilian Mafia intends to throw the peace between the families in the bin. On that subject, Salvatore becomes paranoid and suspects a rat in his crew. He sends Toni to spy on Massimo Torini, Sicilian boss. Cipriani discovers that the Sicilian Mafia is trying to strike a deal with the Diablos and Triads.
Later, JD tells Toni he is going to be a made man, and Mickey Hamfists joins in the ceremony in Harwood. However, instead of celebrating, Mickey shoots JD because Salvatore did not trust him and asks Toni to dump his body in open water.
Vincenzo calls Toni and requests to meet him on board a freighter at the docks. Turns out that it was a trap to kill Toni. But, the latter managed to kill Vincenzo and escape. Soon the Leones start to struggle.
The Triads and Diablos are closing in, and Salvatore is getting the blame from mayor Roger C. Hole for all the mess. Toni later kills the mayor and steals his phone. After that, Toni became a made and his mother called off the hit.
The elections for a new mayor began, and Salvatore tells Toni to help their candidate Donald Love win against Miles O’Donovan. They later kidnap mayor Hole’s assistant who spills all the beans.
Salvatore and Toni discover that the Sicilian Mafia is controlling the Forellis and wants to start a war.
Toni starts working for a corrupt cop known as Leon McAffery to bring down the Forellis, the Sindaccos, help the Yardies, and Ned Burner. Salvatore is later arrested and Toni takes revenge on the Forellis and Sindaccos for it. Then, Salvatore asks Toni to destroy a Yakuza Tank as his last personal favor.
Toni receives a call from Donald Love to explain his plan to retrieve his wealth. The plan includes killing Avery Carrington, Love’s former mentor, and stealing his blueprints for the Fort Staunton. However, the murder is witnessed by Ned Burner who gets whacked by Toni later on.
Donald then asks Cipriani to go through hell and collect Carrington’s and Ned’s corpses, and deliver them to a plane hangar at the airport. Meanwhile, Toshiko Kasen hires Toni to wreck Kazuki Kasen, her husband, by ruining his finances and artillery.
Kazuki finally finds out and decides to kill his wife and Toni. But Toni kills him first leading Toshiko to commit suicide. Love returns to ask Toni to destroy the Fort Staunton district.
Toni meets 8-Ball with a van loaded with explosives and places it in the underground tunnels. After helping Donald escape the city, Toni runs to protect a convoy that’s moving Salvatore to court from the Sicilian mafia.
Torini kidnaps O’Donovan to stop Salvatore from walking away free of charges. Unfortunately, Torini is slain by Toni to end this mess once and for all.
In the end, Salvatore reveals that his uncle is the boss behind all this, and meets with him at Mamma’s restaurant to make peace.
GTA III events
In 2001, Toni Cipriani made his way up to the top of the ladder and became the Caporegime of the Leone family, and Salvatore’s right-hand man. This time around, Toni is off the playground and behind the office calling the shots.
Toni meets the protagonist Claude via Joey Leone and hires him as a chauffeur for his first job. He later brings Claude under his wing and puts him in charge of destroying the Triads. Starting with Mr. Wong’s Laundromat for not paying protection money.
Toni later calls Claude and tasks him with destroying three vans belonging to the Triads before blowing up their factory. The last job Toni gives to Claude is driving him Joey Leone, and Luigi Goterelli to Salvatore’s mansion for a meeting.
FAQs
Question: How many gangs/criminal organizations are in GTA: Liberty City Stories?
Answer: There are 12 criminal syndicates in total in GTA: LC Stories. The Leone Mafia Family alongside the Forellis, the Sindaccos, Sicilian Mafia, and Yakuza are the major mobsters. This means that the Triads, Diablos, Uptown Yardies, Colombian Cartel, Southside Hoods, Liberty City Bikers, and Avenging Angels are the minor gangs in the game.
Question: How long does it take to finish GTA: Liberty City Stories and GTA III combined?
Answer: It takes both games about 14-16 hours to finish the main story, and almost 40h to get 100% completion. Thus, if you played GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories back-to-back, it will take you 80-84h to finish.
Question: How many missions are in GTA LC Stories?
Answer: Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories is almost identical to GTA III. In total, it features 70 missions.
Final thoughts
There as some speculations that Toni Cipriani used to be one of the loan sharks because he was always collecting money people owe him. Nonetheless, the character is one of the best in the GTA series alongside Tommy Vercetti, Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, Franklin, and more. It is a charming, captivating, and remarkable character that is hard to forget.