I thought Toreno’s role in the story wasn’t bad - it’s very clear he’s using CJ and only pulls the strings to free Sweet after a dozen missions of increasingly unreasonable demands. He’s even introduced as a member of a drug smuggler syndicate that indirectly helps the Ballas and Big Smoke expand their criminal empire for the sake of geopolitical squabbles and fed infighting.

He’s basically the guy that allowed Tenpenny to become a powerful man and let various of the more unscrupulous gangs get rich off of narcotics he probably turned a blind eye to the Nicaraguan Contras selling.