Ricardo Diaz

Background

Ricardo Diaz is a ruthless drug lord who controls much of the cocaine trade in Vice City in 1986. He lives in a heavily guarded mansion on Starfish Island, surrounds himself with a private army and is obsessed with guns. Diaz is the man who orchestrated the ambush on the Forelli-Vance deal at the start of the game, a fact Tommy Vercetti learns only halfway through the story.

Diaz's operation dominates the city's cocaine trade, and his gunmen guard every entrance to the Starfish Island estate. He keeps a well-stocked arsenal and is rarely seen without a weapon, even when relaxing in his office.

Events of GTA Vice City

• Diaz first appears at Colonel Cortez's yacht party in The Party. Cortez hints that Diaz could have been involved in the ambush but stops short of accusing him.
• In Guardian Angels, Tommy and Lance protect Diaz during a deal in Little Havana, earning his attention.
• Diaz then hires Tommy directly. In The Chase, Tommy pursues a dealer who has been skimming from Diaz; in Phnom Penh '86 he flies with Lance in a helicopter and wipes out the dealer's crew; in The Fastest Boat he steals a speedboat from Viceport; and in Supply and Demand he collects a drug shipment at sea.
• Lance, impatient for revenge, attacks Diaz alone and is captured. After Tommy rescues him in Death Row, the two storm the Starfish Island mansion in Rub Out. Tommy kills Diaz in his office, then takes the mansion and Diaz's empire for himself.

Personality

Diaz is paranoid, volatile and childish. He throws tantrums, insults his employees and changes his mind constantly, yet he is cunning enough to run a large criminal operation. His fixation on weapons and his explosive temper make him dangerous to anyone near him, including his own men.

His cutscenes show a man ruled by his moods. In The Chase he smashes a television because his horse lost a race, and in The Fastest Boat he is busy shooting at pigeons for messing up his car. He constantly forgets who Tommy is, complains about the people around him and insists that only he pays the best. When Tommy finally confronts him in Rub Out, Diaz is still more upset about the damage to his mansion than about his own fate.

Relationships

• Tommy Vercetti: an employee who turns into his killer.
• Lance Vance: Diaz's men killed Lance's brother Victor during the ambush.
• Juan Cortez: a business contact in the drug trade.
• Mike: one of Diaz's men, who later joins the Vercetti Gang.

Trivia

• Diaz is voiced by Luis Guzman.
• His mansion becomes the Vercetti Estate, Tommy's main safehouse and headquarters.
• The Starfish Island mansion that becomes the Vercetti Estate is widely seen as a nod to the drug lord mansion in the film Scarface.
• Diaz's death in Rub Out unlocks the business side of the game, as Tommy takes over his property and his men.
• Mike, one of Diaz's men seen at Cortez's party, later works for Tommy.