The neon empire of the 1980s is dead. The money survived. The bodies were buried. The city moved on — but the same families, corrupt officials, smugglers, and street crews are still fighting over what Tommy Vercetti left behind.
Streets of Vice is set in Vice City, 2005. Nearly twenty years after Tommy Vercetti seized control of the city by force, his old empire is beginning to fracture. The neon cocaine kingdom of the 1980s has been replaced by shell companies, nightclubs, luxury hotels, private security firms, and corrupt politicians.
Nobody knows whether Vercetti still controls the city from the shadows, whether he is dead, retired, or whether his lieutenants are simply using his name to keep the organisation alive. What matters is that the city can feel the weakness.
As the old order weakens, every faction moves in. Cuban and Haitian gangs rebuild their influence. Biker gangs traffic guns and meth through the outskirts. Colombian suppliers return to the coast. Liberty City families seek a foothold in the South. The VCPD struggles to keep the city clean while old corruption festers beneath the surface.
“Vice City sells paradise to tourists. Beneath the beaches, clubs, and money, the city is preparing for war.”
Victor and Lance Vance build a criminal empire from the ground up. The cocaine economy explodes. Ricardo Diaz rises. Smuggling routes, corrupt officials, and gang territory become permanently embedded in the city's foundations.
Tommy Vercetti arrives to oversee a drug deal that goes catastrophically wrong. Diaz is killed. The Forelli family is broken. Lance Vance is dead. Tommy seizes control of the entire city — nightclubs, rackets, drugs, and property. Vice City belongs to one man.
Nearly twenty years later, the old empire is cracking. Payments are missed. Businesses quietly change hands. Nobody knows if Vercetti still rules from the shadows — or whether the throne has been empty for years. The city is preparing for war.
Every faction has a stake in Vice City. None of them agree on who it belongs to.
Fractured between ageing loyalists who want stability and younger captains who want the streets back. Nightclubs, hotels, shell companies, corrupt officials, offshore accounts. The Vercetti name still carries weight in 2005. Whether anyone is behind it is a different question entirely.
Under enormous pressure to keep Vice City looking clean and safe for tourism. Old corruption from the 1980s never fully disappeared. Some officers are honest. Some are on criminal payroll. Command cares about headlines. Internal Affairs is a political minefield.
The South Florida chapter runs guns, meth, and stolen vehicles through the city's outskirts, highways, and industrial zones. Pushed aside during the cocaine boom, they've rebuilt into one of the most dangerous outfits in the region. They don't forget old disrespect.
Deep roots in Vice City going back decades. The older generation survived by choosing money over revenge — neighbourhood protection, dockwork, bars, street distribution. The younger generation wants to reclaim what was taken from them. Internal tension defines everything they do.
Close-knit and nearly impossible to infiltrate. Centred in poorer districts away from the tourist strips, they maintain control through community networks, protection rackets, and quiet violence. As the Vercetti grip weakens, they are expanding further than they have in years.
The Forelli family was humiliated in 1986. By 2005, new Liberty City interests see Vice City as unfinished business. They arrive quietly — through lawyers, restaurants, and construction fronts — testing the waters before committing to anything in the open.
Ricardo Diaz is long dead, but Colombian supply lines do not vanish forever. By 2005, cartel representatives prefer multiple competing buyers over a single local kingpin. They supply rival Vice City factions simultaneously, keeping everyone dependent and divided. Port operations. Quiet brutality.
Young crews who grew up in Vice City's shadow don't care about legends from 1986. They want money, territory, and reputation now. Drug corners, car theft, robberies, protection rackets, illegal racing. The new generation is moving while the old empires argue over a dead man's throne.