14 DAY TRIAL // Karen Gravano, the daughter of a mobster who has retired from the criminal business, is launching legal proceedings against video game developer Rockstar because they allegedly used both her likeness and her life story without permission in their very successful Grand Theft Auto V.
The character that was inspired by the real-world mob daughter is called Antonia Bottino and is part of a mission called Burial, which gamers can only obtain via a random encounter in the open world.
Gamers can find the virtual character tied and on the verge of being buried alive, according to Eurogamer.
A player can choose to leave her to her faith or untie her, which leads to a story about her origins as the daughter of a retired mob boss.
In the real world, Karen is the child of Sammy Gravano, who worked for the Gambino crime family.
After renouncing his life and becoming a government witness, he and his family were relocated.
Karen Gravano was also featured in a reality television program that Rockstar allegedly used as inspiration in order to create her GTA V counterpart.
The text of the lawsuit she has filed against the video game development studio states, “Notwithstanding the fact that plaintiff has the utmost respect for the writers and creators of the Grand Theft Auto 5 video game, her story is unique and is hers to tell.”
Apparently, the mob daughter plans to also launch a new book that will offer more details about her life story and she says that she would have been happy to license it to Rockstar if they simply asked.
It’s unclear what sum she is seeking to recuperate in damages and the video game developer has so far offered no comment on the issue.
The success of GTA as a franchise means that the company has been hit with a lot of legal actions over the year, including from rappers and other personalities, but it has traditionally managed to come out on top.
The only actual problem was linked to the Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which allowed players to experience some age-restricted content that the company failed to remove from the launch version of the title.
At the moment, Rockstar is working on adding more content to GTA V, focusing on delivering more events and more jobs for the Online mode.
Fans are also expecting for at least one single-player expansion for the open world title to be revealed before the end of the year.