In Tommy Vercetti's room at the Ocean View Hotel, there is a poster featuring GTA III protagonist Claude. There are also some posters parodying famous movies.

If you have an RPG, go to the Ammu-Nation downtown and stand on the helmets on the counter and aim the RPG to the street. Turn the RPG around so it's facing the wall, and you will see a picture of Ronald Reagan shooting a picture of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Tommy Vercetti is heavily based on Tony Montana from the film Scarface. They both end up in exile, both rise to power in Miami using great amounts of violence, both build an empire from a large estate and mansion, both have short tempers and are prone to violence, both work as contract killers, and both killed their collaborators and took their ex-bosses' empires, and both engage in a battle with large groups of assassins at the end of their stories. However, Tommy survives his final gunfight with his enemies, while Tony is killed. Even the mansions in the games are similar.