Shakedown (GTA Vice City)

Updated 2 November 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Shakedown is the first mission Tommy Vercetti starts from his new Vercetti Estate in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). Shops no longer pay protection after Diaz's death, so Tommy goes to North Point Mall and smashes their windows against a five-minute clock. It pays $2,000 and, more importantly, lets Tommy buy businesses across the city.

What is Shakedown in GTA Vice City?

Shakedown is the opening job of Tommy Vercetti's own empire in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. With Diaz dead after Rub Out, Tommy has a mansion but no steady income. Our Vice City missions hub lists it first under the Vercetti Estate, followed by Bar Brawl and Cop Land. gta.wiki notes there is also an unrelated mission with the same name in Vice City Stories.

What happens in Shakedown?

In the cutscene Tommy meets Lance Vance, Ken Rosenberg and Avery Carrington at the estate. Lance reports that local shop owners have heard Diaz is gone and have stopped paying for protection. Ken suggests buying them off. Tommy has a blunter idea: scare them.

The player drives to North Point Mall in Vice Point and breaks every pane of glass in the front of each targeted shop. gta.wiki says there are five shops, all of which must be done inside five minutes. The police take more and more interest as the damage piles up, so the wanted level climbs during the mission. Failure comes from death, arrest or running out of time.

Tips for Shakedown

Because the wanted level rises with each shop, speed matters more than neatness. Explosives can break several windows at once in the original game. gta.wiki warns that in the 10th Anniversary Edition and The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition the rules are different: the player needs to break ten windows, the wanted level is held at two stars, and windows destroyed together by a single blast are not counted. Break too many that way and the mission can no longer be finished, with the old five-star wanted level returning. In those versions, shoot or hit the windows one at a time.

What does Shakedown unlock?

The last row is the important one. Buying an asset opens its own mission chain, and gta.wiki lists the first jobs that become reachable this way, including Checkpoint Charlie at the boatyard, Distribution at the ice cream factory, Club Pole Position, the Sunshine Autos import garage, Recruitment Drive at the film studio, V.I.P. for Kaufman Cabs, No Escape? at the Malibu Club and Spilling the Beans at the Print Works. Our hub explains how finished assets go on to earn money.

A phone call from Avery Carrington follows the mission, in which he advises Tommy that owning the right property is the way to get ahead in town.

Why is Shakedown remembered?

It is the moment the game hands the player the city. Up to now Tommy has worked for others; after Shakedown he can buy clubs, a taxi firm and a film studio and run them himself. gta.wiki also notes that the mission has a weather setting of its own, a heavier cloud cover than usual that makes the city look darker.

The protection-racket idea links back to Avery's earlier advice, described on our missions hub, and forward to the finale, Keep Your Friends Close..., where the business Tommy builds is what Sonny Forelli wants a share of.