Lance Vance

Background

Lance Vance is a flamboyant drug dealer who, with his brother Victor Vance, runs a small operation in Vice City. The brothers arranged to sell cocaine to the Forelli family in 1986, a deal that would change Lance's life.

Lance is a regular at the city's clubs and parties and knows the local underworld well. After Victor's death, he has a personal reason to find the men behind the ambush, which makes him a natural partner for Tommy, who needs to recover the Forellis' money.

Events of GTA Vice City

• In In The Beginning..., the deal with the Forellis is ambushed. Victor is killed, and Lance escapes by helicopter while Tommy Vercetti and Ken Rosenberg flee by car.
• Driven by revenge for his brother, Lance attaches himself to Tommy. In Back Alley Brawl he takes Tommy to Ammu-Nation to arm up, and the two protect Ricardo Diaz in Guardian Angels.
• Lance works alongside Tommy for Diaz in Phnom Penh '86 and Supply and Demand.
• Unable to wait any longer, Lance tries to kill Diaz alone, is captured and tortured at a junkyard, and is saved by Tommy in Death Row.
• In Rub Out, which Lance himself starts, the two storm Diaz's mansion and kill him. Lance becomes Tommy's right-hand man in the new Vercetti Gang.
• Feeling ignored and resentful of Tommy's success, Lance secretly sides with Sonny Forelli. In Keep Your Friends Close... he reveals the betrayal; Tommy chases him to the roof of the Vercetti Estate and kills him.

Personality

Lance is charming, vain and impulsive. He likes nice suits, fast cars and attention, and he often acts before thinking. Under his confident surface he is insecure and craves recognition, which is what eventually turns him against Tommy.

His relationship with Tommy sours as the Vercetti Gang grows. Lance feels he is treated like a junior partner, is left out of decisions and is scolded for mistakes, such as the botched bombing in Cop Land. Rather than confront Tommy openly, he quietly sells him out to Sonny Forelli, explaining his betrayal in the finale as simply business. His end on the roof of the mansion he helped Tommy take is one of the most memorable moments of the game.

Relationships

• Victor Vance: his older brother, killed in the opening ambush.
• Tommy Vercetti: friend, partner and finally the man who kills him.
• Ricardo Diaz: the man responsible for Victor's death.
• Sonny Forelli: his secret partner in the final betrayal.

Trivia

• Lance is voiced by Philip Michael Thomas, star of Miami Vice.
• He also appears in GTA Vice City Stories, set two years earlier.
• Lance's white suit and pastel style match the game's Miami Vice influences.
• He drives a Stallion in Rub Out, with the M4 rifles in the trunk that he has been saving for a rainy day.
• Lance is one of the few characters to accompany Tommy as a partner across several different employers' missions.