Toni Cipriani

Background

Toni Cipriani is a captain (caporegime) of the Leone family in Grand Theft Auto III. He is a hardened mobster who lives with his overbearing mother, Mrs. Cipriani, at Momma's Restaurante in Saint Mark's, Portland. Toni also runs the Leones' war with the Triads.

Toni's father is dead, and his mother runs Momma's Restaurante, which doubles as Toni's base of operations. Most of Toni's missions begin with a conversation in the restaurant or with a note left on the table, often while his mother makes cutting remarks in the background.

Events of GTA III

Joey Leone introduces Claude to Toni in Cipriani's Chauffeur. Claude drives Toni to collect protection money from the Triad-run laundry in Chinatown, but the Triads ambush him and Claude has to drive him back to Momma's.

The ambush starts a feud. In Taking Out the Laundry, Toni, pushed by his mother's taunts, has Claude destroy the laundry's vans with grenades from 8-Ball. In The Pick-Up, Claude collects the protection money behind the laundrette and fights off a Triad ambush. Salvatore's Called a Meeting begins with a note from Toni: Claude drives Toni, Joey and Luigi to the don's mansion through a Triad attack.

The war escalates in Triads and Tribulations, where Claude and two Leone gunmen kill three Triad warlords. In Blow Fish, Toni ends the war by having Claude drive an explosive-laden Trashmaster into the Triad fish factory.

After Claude defects, Toni becomes hostile to him like the rest of the family.

Toni's missions form the core of the Leone–Triad war, from the first ambush at the laundry to the destruction of the fish factory. He is one of the Leones' most active men during that war, and he gives Claude his introduction to the don by arranging the drive to Salvatore's meeting.

Personality

Toni is tough and ruthless on the streets but timid around his mother, who mocks him and compares him to his late father. He is proud and quick to anger and does not take insults from rival gangs.

He is loyal to the family and takes its honour seriously, which is why the Triads' refusal to pay protection money affects him so personally. His relationship with his mother is played for dark comedy throughout his missions.

Relationships

• Mrs. Cipriani: his mother, who constantly criticises him.
• Joey Leone and Luigi Goterelli: fellow members of the Leone family.
• Salvatore Leone: his don.
• The Triads: his main enemies.

Trivia

• Toni is voiced by Michael Madsen in GTA III.
• He is the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, set in 1998.

• His base, Momma's Restaurante, is in Saint Mark's, the heart of Leone territory.
• In Liberty City Stories, set three years earlier, he returns to Liberty City after a period in hiding.