Death Row (GTA Vice City)
Death Row is a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) mission given by Kent Paul at the Malibu Club. Lance Vance has tried to take revenge on Ricardo Diaz and been captured. Tommy fights through the junkyard where Diaz's men hold him, frees him and drives him to hospital while being chased. It is the only story mission with no cash reward.
What is Death Row in GTA Vice City?
Death Row is the rescue mission that turns Tommy Vercetti against his employer Ricardo Diaz in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It is Kent Paul's only story mission. gta.wiki says it opens once both Diaz's Supply & Demand and Colonel Cortez's Sir, Yes Sir! are done. Our Vice City missions hub places it among the early contacts.
Why was Lance Vance captured?
By this point Tommy and Lance Vance know that Diaz was behind the ambush in the opening scene. That ambush killed Lance's brother Victor. Tommy's plan was to stay close to Diaz and win his trust before striking. Lance could not wait. He went after Diaz alone, failed, and was taken away by Diaz's gang.
Tommy hears about it from Kent Paul, the fast-talking Englishman who hangs around the Malibu Club in Vice Point. Paul tells him that Lance is being held across town at the junkyard.
What happens in Death Row?
Tommy drives to the junkyard and finds it full of armed Diaz men. He has to shoot his way across the site to a storage shed at the far side, where Lance is tied to a chair, badly beaten but alive. After cutting him loose, Tommy is furious that Lance has wrecked his careful plan. Lance answers that Diaz had his brother killed and he was not going to sit still. The two agree that Diaz now has to die before he gets to them first.
The second part is a drive. More gang cars chase the pair as they leave, and Tommy has to shake them off and get Lance to Downtown, where the Schuman Health Care Center takes him in. Before leaving him there, Tommy arranges to see him again, once he has healed, by the Starfish Island bridge. That meeting is the start of Rub Out.
According to gta.wiki the mission fails if Tommy is killed or arrested or if Lance dies.
What is the reward for Death Row?
| Item | Details (per gta.wiki) |
|---|---|
| Cash reward | None, the only such mission in the game |
| Hidden bonus | Diaz's gunmen at the junkyard drop large sums of cash |
| Unlocks | Rub Out and All Hands On Deck! |
| Follow-up call | Colonel Cortez asks for help with his French problem |
gta.wiki explains that because no money is paid out, the game uses a special version of the mission-passed text found only in this mission's text file. Players who take the time to pick up the money dropped by the guards can still leave with a decent sum.
Trivia
The opening cutscene in the club plays "All Night Long" by Mary Jane Girls, which is also on the Fever 105 station; gta.wiki adds that in normal play the song is heard in the Pole Position Club rather than the Malibu. At the end of the mission Tommy calls the island "Star Island". gta.wiki says this is the only time the game uses that name outside random pedestrian chatter, and that it was the island's name in the beta version.
Where does the story go next?
Death Row is the moment the alliance with Diaz falls apart. The next storyline step is the raid on his mansion in Rub Out, which hands Tommy the estate and sets up Shakedown and the rest of his rise. Lance's own story, and his later choices, are covered on the Lance Vance page.
Sources
- GTA Wiki (gta.wiki) — Death Row read 2 Nov 2026