| “ | Every dog has his day... | „ |
| ~ Uncle Leone secretly cursing his nephew Salvatore Leone, foreshadowing his eventual death three years later. |
Uncle Leone is the overarching antagonist of the 2005 video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the ninth installment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
He is the elderly head of the Sicilian Mafia and the uncle of Salvatore Leone, the Don of the Leone Family. In 1998, Uncle Leone comes up with a plot to take over Liberty City with his organization, sending his underboss Massimo Torini to pit his nephew's mob against the Sindacco Family and the Forelli Family so these three crime families destroy each other to let the Sicilians settle down.
He was voiced by the late Bruce MacVittie.
History[]
As leader of the Sicilian Mafia, Uncle Leone schemes a plot to take over the American city of Liberty City, State of Liberty, in the late 1990s, in spite of his nephew Salvatore's grip over the city's criminal underworld as leader of the Leone Family due to being "out of control" after a visit to Las Venturas in 1992, coming up with driving his nephew's crime family into a mob war against the Sindacco Family and the Forelli Family so his own organization can station themselves at the city once the three organization wipe themselves out.
For almost the entirety of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City, Uncle Leone stays behind on Sicily as he sends his underboss Massimo Torini to oversee the Sicilian takeover in Liberty City. Toni Cipriani first becomes aware of the Sicilian complot after Joseph Daniel O'Toole advises him to follow Torini after a meeting with Salvatore, resulting in Toni discovering that Torini is making a deal with the Liberty City Triads to keep Salvatore "tied down" to Portland as a distraction in exchange of an alliance rather than broking peace between the crime families. Toni and Salvatore then discover through Mayor Roger C. Hole's assistant that Franco Forelli was controlled by the Sicilians to push the Forellis into a war against the Leones and the Sindaccos and then are forced to avoid getting killed by the Sicilians when Salvatore is arrested but not found guilty, with those trying to kill Leone to prevent him from reaching the court.
Uncle Leone finally appears in the last mission of the game after the deaths of Torini and his men at the hands of Toni and Salvatore. Salvatore reunites with him at a quiet spot of Liberty City, where they greet each other with kisses. Uncle Leone explains that all the Sicilians wanted was clarity, so he hopes they can all be at peace now, which Salvatore seemingly agrees. However, as Uncle Leone takes his leave, Salvatore privately admits to Tony that his uncle is a liar and that he doesn't trust him. Having surprisingly heard his nephew, Uncle Leone says to himself that "every dog has his day".
Uncle Leone makes no further appearances in following games, either by release date or chronologically, but it can be presumed he retreated back to Sicily. That said, his cryptic subtle warning to Salvatore becomes true in Grand Theft Auto III when Salvatore is sniped by Claude under orders of Asuka Kasen. It's unknown if Uncle Leone was still alive by this point, and if he was, what was his reaction to his nephew's death.
Trivia[]
- Uncle Leone was based on Don Altobello from The Godfather Part III, who has a similar physical appearance to him and similarly tries to set up a war in order to take over the criminal underworld of New York City (which is Liberty City in the Grand Theft Auto universe). Another possible inspiration for Uncle Leone may have been Uncle Junior from The Sopranos.
- It's unknown how old Uncle Leone is, considering that his nephew Salvatore Leone looks old as well. However, given how Salvatore is commonly assumed to have been born around 1935, then it's possible that his uncle was in his 30s or 40s when he was born, making him in his 80s or 90s by the time Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories takes place.
- As for Uncle Leone's exact relationship with Salvatore, it's possible that Uncle Leone may have been the uncle or father of the cousin Salvatore mentioned to have lost to the Sindacco Family in The Introduction short film of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. At the very least, Uncle Leone must have been related to Salvatore's father given how they share the same last name.
- His "Every dog has his day..." quote is taken from Tony Montana in the 1983 Scarface film and its tie-in video game Scarface: The World Is Yours.
