GTA III missions
Grand Theft Auto III (2001) has 50 storyline missions by the count of the gta.wiki mission list, spread over Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale. Claude works first for the Leone Mafia, then for the Yakuza, a corrupt policeman and the tycoon Donald Love, before the final showdown with Catalina in The Exchange.
How many missions are in GTA III?
The gta.wiki list of missions for Grand Theft Auto III counts 50 storyline missions, plus an opening cutscene. On top of those come optional jobs from phone contacts and a set of side missions. Wikipedia describes the main missions as linear tasks with fixed goals that push the story on. Several can be open at the same time, because some contacts make you wait for a call or an event before the next job appears. This page groups the missions by the person who hands them out. For the plot itself, see our Claude and GTA III articles; here we only sketch how the work moves from one employer to the next.
How do the islands unlock?
The game starts on Portland, the industrial island of Liberty City. According to gta.wiki, finishing Last Requests for Salvatore Leone opens Staunton Island, adds a safehouse there and raises the maximum wanted level to five stars. Later, Donald Love's A Drop in the Ocean opens Shoreside Vale, with another safehouse and the six-star wanted level.
Portland missions
The Portland chapter is all about the Leone family. Claude climbs from small errands to jobs for the don himself. Wikipedia's plot summary sums up the arc: he helps Salvatore Leone, wrecks a Cartel drug lab with the explosives expert 8-Ball, and is then set up with a car bomb by the same boss.
| Contact | Missions (game order) |
|---|---|
| Opening | Give Me Liberty, Luigi's Girls |
| Luigi Goterelli | Don't Spank Ma Bitch Up, Drive Misty For Me, Pump-Action Pimp, The Fuzz Ball |
| Joey Leone | Mike Lips Last Lunch, Farewell 'Chunky' Lee Chong, Van Heist, Cipriani's Chauffeur, Dead Skunk in the Trunk, The Getaway |
| Toni Cipriani | Taking Out the Laundry, The Pick-Up, Salvatore's Called a Meeting, then later Triads and Tribulations, Blow Fish |
| Salvatore Leone | Chaperone, Cutting the Grass, Bomb Da Base: Act I, Last Requests |
| 8-Ball | Bomb Da Base: Act II |
In short: Toni's jobs drag Claude into the Leones' fight with the Triads. Bomb Da Base is the SPANK lab raid in two parts, and Last Requests is the point where Salvatore's trust runs out.
Staunton Island missions
On Staunton Island the Yakuza take over as Claude's main employer. Asuka Kasen's first test, Sayonara Salvatore, is the killing of his old boss. Her brother Kenji, the corrupt police inspector Ray Machowski and the businessman Donald Love all add their own chains. Wikipedia notes that Love later has Claude kill Kenji to start a war between the Yakuza and the Cartel.
| Contact | Missions (game order) |
|---|---|
| Asuka Kasen | Sayonara Salvatore, Under Surveillance, Paparazzi Purge, Payday For Ray, Two-Faced Tanner; later Bait, Espresso-2-Go!, S.A.M. |
| Kenji Kasen | Kanbu Bust-out, Grand Theft Auto, Deal Steal, Shima, Smack Down |
| Ray Machowski | Silence the Sneak, Arms Shortage, Evidence Dash, Gone Fishing, Plaster Blaster, Marked Man |
| Donald Love | Liberator, Waka-Gashira Wipeout!, A Drop in the Ocean, Grand Theft Aero, Escort Service, Decoy, Love's Disappearance |
| Catalina | Ransom |
Ray's run ends with Claude helping him get out of town, as Wikipedia puts it. Love's chain ends with the job called Love's Disappearance. Asuka's late missions turn on the Cartel, and after S.A.M. the story jumps to Catalina's ransom note. Only one story mission takes place mainly on the third island: The Exchange. Catalina holds Maria and asks for $500,000. The mission is a trap that turns into a chase to the Cochrane Dam. Our separate article covers it in full, including the much-debated gunshot over the credits.
Who gives phone missions in GTA III?
Four contacts hand out optional jobs over payphones, according to gta.wiki. They sit outside the main storyline.
| Contact | Island | Missions |
|---|---|---|
| Marty Chonks | Portland | The Crook, The Thieves, The Wife, Her Lover |
| El Burro | Portland | Turismo, I Scream, You Scream, Trial By Fire, Big'n'Veiny |
| King Courtney | Staunton Island | Bling-bling Scramble, Uzi Rider, Gangcar Round-up, Kingdom Come |
| D-Ice | Shoreside Vale | Uzi Money, Toyminator, Rigged to Blow, Bullion Run, Rumble |
What side missions are there?
Wikipedia lists vigilante, firefighter, paramedic and taxi work as the classic side activities. gta.wiki adds four off-road challenges (Patriot Playground, A Ride in the Park, Multistorey Mayhem and Gripped!), four remote-control car jobs, and the Import/Export garage. Our GTA side missions and Hidden Packages guides cover these activities across the series.
What is the hardest mission in GTA III?
Opinions differ, but GTABase's 2025 ranking of the 20 hardest missions in the series puts two from Grand Theft Auto III on the list: Espresso-2-Go! at number 8 and Bomb Da Base: Act II at number 11. Reviewers at launch were kinder to the missions as a whole. Wikipedia quotes 1UP.com calling them "wonderfully creative" and notes praise from IGN for their variety.
- ConfirmedThe game's story missions are linear tasks that unlock as the plot moves on, and the three islands open in turn. Wikipedia
- ConfirmedA mission that referred to terrorists was removed after the 11 September 2001 attacks. Wikipedia
- Not knownWhich mission was cut and what it contained. Wikipedia does not name it.
Sources
- GTA Wiki (gta.wiki) — Missions in GTA III read 30 Oct 2026
- Wikipedia — Grand Theft Auto III read 30 Oct 2026
- GTA Wiki (gta.wiki) — The Exchange (GTA III) read 30 Oct 2026
- GTABase — The Hardest Missions in the Grand Theft Auto Series (Top 20), Denten Allen, 21 June 2025 read 30 Oct 2026