Catalina

Background

Catalina is the main antagonist of Grand Theft Auto III. She is a ruthless, short-tempered criminal who began the game as Claude's partner and girlfriend. By 2001 she has bigger ambitions than robbing banks, and she has thrown in her lot with the Colombian Cartel, which she runs alongside Miguel.

Catalina is fiercely ambitious and sees robbery as small-time. She wants control of a real criminal empire, and the Cartel gives her that.

Events of GTA III

In the opening robbery at the Liberty City bank, Catalina shoots Claude in an alley and leaves him for the police, telling him he would only slow her down. She and Miguel then drive off with the money.

For most of the game she works in the background. Her Cartel flood Liberty City with SPANK, attack the prison convoy to kidnap the Old Oriental Gentleman, supply the Yardies, and fight the Leones and the Yakuza for territory. Claude repeatedly damages her operations: he sinks the SPANK ship in Bomb Da Base, kills Cartel gunmen for the Yakuza, Ray and Donald Love, and destroys her plane and espresso stands for Asuka.

Catalina strikes back near the end. She sends death squads after Claude in Bait and turns King Courtney against him in Kingdom Come. In Ransom she kills Asuka and her own partner Miguel at the construction site in Fort Staunton and kidnaps Maria Latore, leaving a note demanding $500,000.

In The Exchange she takes the money at her mansion in Cedar Grove and orders her men to kill Claude. When he escapes, she flees in a helicopter with Maria to the Cochrane Dam. She drops Maria there with guards and attacks Claude from the air, but he rescues Maria and shoots the helicopter down with a rocket launcher, killing Catalina.

Her final appearance is one of the most memorable endings in the series: a long chase from the Cartel mansion to the Cochrane Dam, ending in a helicopter fight with a rocket launcher.

Personality

Catalina is ambitious, impulsive and cruel. She uses people and discards them as soon as they are no longer useful, including Claude and Miguel. She is confident to the point of arrogance and mocks Claude openly during their final meeting.

Relationships

• Claude: her former partner and lover, whom she betrays and who eventually kills her.
• Miguel: her partner in the Cartel, whom she kills when he becomes a liability.
• Maria Latore: the hostage she uses to lure Claude into a trap.
• King Courtney: Yardie leader who sides with her against Claude.

Trivia

• Catalina also appears in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, set in 1992, where she is the cousin of Cesar Vialpando and briefly dates Carl Johnson before leaving with Claude.
• She is voiced by Cynthia Farrell.