Mike Toreno
| Mike Toreno | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Appearances | [[Appearance::Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]] |
| Full Name | Mike Toreno |
| Aliases | Toreno |
| Status |
Alive |
| Gender | Gender::Male |
| Place of Birth | United States of America |
| Nationality | American |
| Home | Mike Toreno's Ranch, Tierra Robada |
| Main Affiliations |
T-Bone Mendez (until 1992) Jizzy B. (until 1992) San Fierro Rifa (until 1992) Big Smoke (1992) Ryder (1992) Grove Street Families (1992) Carl Johnson (1992) |
| Vehicles | Washington |
| Businesses |
Intelligence recollection Assassination |
| Voiced by | James Woods |
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- You may be looking for the mission of the same name.
Mike Toreno is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a main character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (set in 1992). Toreno is an undercover government agent from a "government agency", most likely the CIA, who disguises himself as a drug dealer and one of the co-leaders of the Loco Syndicate. He is voiced by James Woods, who bears some resemblance to the character, who has featured in films such as Once Upon a Time in America.
Character history
Mike Toreno is an agent for an unspecified government agency; likely the CIA, because his exploits draw from real-life drug trafficking between the CIA, the Contras of Nicaragua and 'Freeway' Rick Ross of Los Angeles. While "battling threats in Latin America, by any means necessary", Toreno headed the Loco Syndicate of San Fierro and lived in a ranch house in nearby Tierra Robada. The syndicate (headed by himself, Jizzy B. and T-Bone Mendez) sold cocaine to Big Smoke of Los Santos, usually meeting in person with his second-in-command Ryder.
Carl Johnson began working for Jizzy, and first met Toreno after rescuing him alongside T-Bone Mendez. Despite Carl's heroism, Toreno nearly silences him before Mendez talks him out of it. Carl eventually betrays them by killing Jizzy, T-Bone and Ryder; Carl sought revenge against Big Smoke, Ryder and LSPD officer Frank Tenpenny for the murder of his mother Beverly Johnson. Carl then shoots down Toreno's helicopter with a rocket launcher, seemingly killing Toreno, and finally destroys their drug factory.
Toreno calls Carl's cell phone days later and, masking his voice, requests him to his Tierra Robada ranch to audition "to do things I can't get caught doing". By this point, Toreno is fully informed of Tenpenny's illicit activities, Sweet's predicament, Cesar's relationship with Kendl, and Beverly's death (initially taunting Carl by saying "and look what happened to the bitch!")
After Carl passes the audition, he reveals he's a government agent and in exchange for Carl's services, he would free Carl's brother Sweet from prison. Carl's first task is to steal a tanker of gasoline from "a rival agency with a confused social agenda". He then retrieves an unknown valuable package while "two agency choppers" attempt to take it from him.
When Carl returns, Toreno nonchalantly tells Carl that double agents in Panama and Russian spies are after him (Carl). Toreno then directs Carl to purchase Verdant Meadows and teaches him how to fly, in preparation for Carl air-dropping a mysterious, valuable green goo to Toreno's associates who will otherwise be "dead by nightfall".
When Carl returns to the airstrip, government agents are loading up a cargo plane with crates. Toreno explains "some traitors from another department think they can help the overseas situation, by financing militaristic dictators in exchange for arms contracts" - they specifically plan to deliver stolen land mines to a Middle Eastern country. Toreno routinely does similar deals, but only with "degenerates that we can control". When CJ fights them aboard the plane, they hint that they're actually extraterrestrials. Carl successfully blows the plane up midair and parachutes down to safety. Carl does not see Toreno again for some time, and ends up reclaiming the green goo for his friend The Truth (a hippie who believes in extraterrestrials and is highly paranoid of the US government).
Toreno contacts Carl once more (interrupting the recording of Madd Dogg's comeback album) to steal a fighter jet and kill several spies aboard some small boats. Toreno goes to Madd Dogg's mansion again, where a frustrated Carl points a gun at him. Toreno calmly talks him out of shooting him, and says that he got Sweet out of prison as promised.
Personality
Philosophically, Mike Toreno is a highly cynical American imperialist who primarily uses Carl as a courier, saboteur and assassin. Despite knowing of the crimes of Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski, as well as their hold over Carl (who they could implicate in the murder of Ralph Pendelbury), he does nothing to stop them, later explaining that while he tries to pit bad guys against bad guys sometimes good guys are hurt or die. Toreno, similar to Tenpenny, gravitates towards committing heinous crimes in the name of a greater good and equates the maintenance of the American socio-economic system with the continued survival of the free world.
Trivia
- A character in the 1995 film Heat is called Mike Toreno, however he has no similarities to the Toreno.
- In missions, the number plate on Toreno's Washington says "OMEGA", although the Washington parked at his ranch always has a random plate number.
Mission appearances
- GTA San Andreas
- The Introduction
- Photo Opportunity
- Jizzy (Photo)
- Mike Toreno
- Outrider
- Pier 69
- Monster (Voice/Boss)
- Highjack (Boss)
- Interdiction (Boss)
- Verdant Meadows (Boss)
- Learning to Fly (Voice/Boss)
- N.O.E. (Boss)
- Stowaway (Boss)
- Vertical Bird (Boss)
- Home Coming (Boss)