| “ | You know if there is one thing I've learned, it's that we must obey the rules of the game. We can pick the game Niko Bellic, but we cannot change the rules. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri Rascalov to Niko Bellic |
| “ | But you messed up, and left a lot of bad debt. You left a good friend of mine out of pocket, big time. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's betrayal |
Dimitri Rascalov is a nefarious Russian criminal who became the leader of the Russian Mafia and the main antagonist of the video game, Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as being an unseen antagonist in the DLC The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. He acted out as the right-hand man to Russian mobster Mikhail Faustin, but would betray him by requesting protagonist Niko Bellic into killing him before going on to affiliate himself with fellow Russian crime lord Ray Bulgarin; ultimately betraying Niko as well.
Since then, he became the newly established Russian kingpin of Liberty City upon making new alliances with Irish mobster Jimmy Pegorino, Russian mob boss Kenny Petrovic, and Italian Don Giovanni Ancelotti. In doing so, Dimitri would later betray any asset he partners with so he wouldn't have to "share the spoils of the victory" and also make numerous attempts to have Niko killed, which eventually leads to his own death following some disastrous circumstances.
Biography
Dimitri was born in 1969 in Russia and fought in the Soviet Army during the Cold War and befriended Mikhail Faustin. The two spent time in a Siberian prison and was defended by Mikhail from rapists. They had matching tattoos on the palms of their hands and were made "brothers for life". Eventually, they became criminals in Russia, notably "selling hash to tourists in Red Square". Dimitri was apparently convicted of murder multiple times.
During the mid 90s, he "exploited a loophole in the US immigration treaty" and moved himself, Mikhail and his family to Liberty city, where Mikhail would extort various shops and people across the city as a major mobster with Dimitri as something of an assistant. According to the LCPD computers, Dimitri was arrested in 1998 for extortion and arrested again in 2000 for hijacking. Over the years, Dimitri noticed Mikhail's new addictions to alcohol and cocaine that got him really paranoid while Dimitri abused painkillers, yet remained much more calm than Mikhail. Dimitri preferred to "play by the rules", which was becoming really difficult due to Mikhail's constant lashing-out and his addiction and attitude not making him or Dimitri very popular among the wackjobs and gangsters and mobsters of Liberty City.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Main story
Dimitri first met Niko Bellic and his cousin, Roman, in 2008 when they are kidnapped and tortured for killing Mikhail's employee, Vlad Glebov. He is shown to be working with Mikhail himself as his always-calm assistant. Since then, Niko would be doing favors for them, with one job that Dimitri against doing being killing the son of Kenny Petrovic, a major crime boss in Liberty City who sought vengeance on Mikhail after he found out what Niko did in Mikhail's name.
Later on, Dimitri meets Niko secretly on a pier and orders him to kill his own boss so that Petrovic would spare the both of them. While doing so, Mikhail tries to warn Niko about Dimitri's backstabbing nature, but fails and is killed by Niko. It is proven true when he finally betrays Niko and is shown working for his old enemy, Ray Bulgarin. After Niko escapes the ambush at a warehouse where Niko was meant to recieve payment for the hit (helped by "Little" Jacob Hughes), Dimitri would try to turn his life into a living hell by burning down his cousin Roman's apartment and taxi depot.
In The Lost and Damned DLC, he was owed an unspecified amount of money by Johnny Klebitz's girlfriend Ashley, so now Johnny (working for the Lost Motorcycle Club) had to kidnap Roman so that Dimitri would leave her alone. After that, Roman was brought before minions of Bulgarin to be held hostage until Niko's arrival. However, Niko saves Roman from Dimitri.
He eventually became the top supplier of cocaine for the Ancelotti family, and has one of his boats stolen by the Pegorino family. Later, he discovered that deputy mayor Bryce Dawkins, a happily-married man, was actually a homosexual and extorted him.
Ending
Near the end of GTA IV, Dimitri is allied with Jimmy Pegorino during a heroin deal, and Jimmy asks Niko if he could join in on it, the reward being $250,000. While Roman encourages Niko to put his vengeance aside and go through with the deal, Niko's girlfriend Kate McReary tells Niko that he shouldn't sacrifice his principles for money. Niko can then choose to go through with the deal or betray Pegorino and exact revenge on Dimitri.
Deal
If the player goes through with the Deal, Dimitri is to deliver the heroin to a third party while Niko and Phil Bell go to the buyer's compound to retrieve the money from them. Dimitri betrays Niko again by killing the buyer's representatives and taking the heroin for himself. Niko and Phil fight their way through the compound, but retrieve the money regardless. After this, Niko cuts his ties with Pegorino, and Kate refuses to attend Roman's wedding. Later at the said wedding, Dimitri sends a hitman to kill Niko, but Roman is shot and killed during the struggle. Enraged, Niko and his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Dimitri and Pegorino are hiding. Inside, Niko witnesses Dimitri kill Pegorino, saying he "didn't work this hard to share the spoils of a victory". He then flees to Hapiness Island in a chopper, with Niko and Jacob pursuing in another. There, Niko mortally wounds Dimitri, and watches as he dies in front of the Statue of Happiness, criticizing his traitorous nature.
Revenge
If the player decides to exact Revenge, Niko tracks down Dimitri at the cargo ship Platypus, the ship that brought Niko to Liberty City. There, he shoots his way into the cargo hold and corners Dimitri there. After killing his remaining men, Niko backs Dimitri into a corner. As Dimitri begs for his life, his pleas fall on deaf ears as Niko executes him. Later, Niko and Kate attend Roman's wedding, where an angry Pegorino, enraged at Niko's betrayal and the collapse of his business, unloads an assault rifle and kills Kate McReary in a drive-by shooting. Later Niko, Little Jacob and Roman follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Pegorino is hiding. Pegorino flees to Happiness Island in a boat, with Niko, Jacob and Roman pursuing in a chopper. There, Niko kills Pegorino in front of the Statue of Happiness.
Trivia
- Dimitri Rascalov's Favorite Radio Station Is Vladivostok FM.