Why aren't the Pegorino's/Russians in TBOGT?

[SlayerDarth]

After reading a thread on this forum about why Ray Boccino didn't make an appearance in The Ballad of Gay Tony, it got me to thinking: why didn't the Pegorino crime family or the Rascalov Bratva make any appearances in the DLC?

 

Think about it. As Gay Tony and Luis Lopez were doing Rocco's dirty work, and thus the bidding of the Ancelotti family, they could've had missions in which the enemies are Pegorino gangsters. If you think about it, the Pegorino's (albeit indirectly) were responsible for killing several high-ranking members of the Ancelotti family, namely Charles Matteo, the family's underboss, Anthony 'Tony Black' Spoleto, one of the family's senior caporegimes and Frank Garone, another important caporegime in the family. They also had their Irish muscle steal a large Ancelotti payoff from a waste depot that the Ancelotti's controlled, arranged for Old Man Ancelotti's daughter to be kidnapped and later exchanged for the diamonds, and the Ancelotti's seemed to be involved in the shootout at the Libertonian (at least in GTA IV's canon), due to their connection with Gay Tony, who bought the diamonds in the first place to pay off his debts to the Ancelotti's.

 

I remember someone also mentioning in the previously referenced thread that Boccino doesn't have any connections to Henrique, Armando etc., but I remember Teddy Benavidez, a member of their old gang, being killed by Niko Bellic on Ray's orders over an unpaid debt. They could've followed up on that.

 

Why wouldn't Rocco send them on a mission or two against the Pegorino's? He certainly sent Luis and Tony after the Triads and the Messina's, so why not the Pegorino's, who were constantly attacking them so that they could take their seat on the Commission?

 

You know, perhaps a possible mission would've involved Luis finding out that the Pegorino family's Irish muscle were responsible for setting off the conflict between the Ancelotti's and their Albanian hired muscle, and so he would've brought the information and proof back to Rocco, in order to help pay off Tony's debts to them.

 

Also, Ray Bulgarin's death at Luis' hands makes no sense to me. Ray Bulgarin was allied with Dimitri Rascalov, and from what I understand, Rascalov was doing business (specifically, they are running a nationwide cocaine distribution ring) with the Ancelotti family as per the mission Liquidize the Assets. If Dimitri Rascalov and Giovanni Ancelotti were in league with one another, then Rascalov wouldn't be too pleased about Bulgarin's death? It looks like they kind of nerfed Bulgarin for TBOGT. But still, they could've had missions involving Dimitri Rascalov's organisation, as this would've made sense.

 

What gives?

Edited December 14, 2014 by SlayerDarth

[SlayerDarth]

Honestly, they could've scrapped Mori's missions (if they wanted to stick to the 26-mission structure they had for this DLC), and replaced them with more missions for Rocco which targeted the Pegorino family.

[universetwisters]

Honestly, they could've scrapped Mori's missions (if they wanted to stick to the 26-mission structure they had for this DLC), and replaced them with more missions for Rocco which targeted the Pegorino family.

 

That would make more sense. Mori felt pretty damn tacked on for no good reason to me.

[SlayerDarth]

Exactly. I think they could've dedicated more missions to Rocco so that he could've been better established/developed as an antagonist. The Ancelotti vs. Pegorino conflict was one of the biggest storylines in the GTA IV series, particularly where The Ballad of Gay Tony is concerned, and yet no reference was made to this in the TBOGT DLC. They could've even had a mission revolving around the Albanians being framed.

 

Honestly, they forgot about the Ancelotti family being in business together with Dimitri Rascalov's organisation, they never had Ancelotti seek revenge for Gracie's kidnapping etc. TBOGT had a lot of potential, and failed to deliver.

 

Mori was not really memorable as a character to me. Rocco, on the other hand, was pretty good as an unlikeable antagonist, and the fact that he survived the events of TBOGT was a nice touch, as they used his made guy status to protect him. However, having those extra missions for him would've made all the difference.

Edited December 20, 2014 by SlayerDarth

[PhillBellic]

It would have improved the story much better. Furthermore, it would have linked to IV's story better as well.