| “ | So, Niko Bellic. You think it's OK to kill my employees? (Niko Bellic: If he is an asshole, yes.) *Gunshot* I agree. | „ |
| ~ Faustin meeting Niko |
| “ | You doing this for Dimitri? America made him greedy. Not the other way around. He will turn on you too, you shall discover this. | „ |
| ~ Faustin informing Niko that Dimitri betrayed him |
Mikhail Faustin In His Club Perestrokia
Mikhail Faustin (1963-2008) (Russian: Михаил Фаустин) is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a central character and the scenery antagonist in Grand Theft Auto IV. Faustin was the notorious founder and leader of the Faustin Bratva. Faustin was known for his very short temper due to his use of drugs, he became extremely violent and murderous, this led to him making decisions that led to his own execution.
After the death of Vlad Glebov, he was the main antagonist at first for the rest of the overall story. However, this the plan to hide and later reveal the true main villain before his downfall and after his demise.
Mikhail Faustin was born and raised in 1963 in Russia (then Russian SFSR, USSR). He met his "brother for life" Dimitri Rascalov while serving in the Army during the Cold War as early as 1987, and were later cellmates in a Siberian prison camp. Both he and Dimitri have tattoos on the palms of their hands which represent that they are "brothers for life", according to Mikhail. Also by Mikhail's record, he protected Dimitri from being raped in prison, which he will sometimes remind him of to guilt him into following orders. In 1988, when Mikhail was 25, he had a baby girl named Anna with his future wife Ilyena, who was only 18 at the time. Ilyena reminisces that Mikhail was "beautiful" at this time, before he became possessed by anger. Dimitri also says of Mikhail back then, "he had a temper, but he was fair". After the Cold War ended in 1991, they were both "selling hash to tourists in Red Square" according to Dimitri, and both men had multiple murder convictions.
Mikhail "exploited a loophole in the immigration treaty to gain US residency in the late 90's", arriving in Hove Beach with Dimitri, Ilyena and Anna, then under 10 years old. He was living in Liberty City and situated into a criminal life by 1998, when he was arrested for extortion. Mikhail built a criminal enterprise based in Hove Beach, made up of several investments - the Perestroika cabaret, protection rackets, cocaine distribution, pornography, stolen goods (which he was arrested for in 2002) and more. This afforded him a lavish lifestyle consisting of a large Beachgate home, two luxury cars (a Turismo and custom black Schafter) and being able to raise his daughter in the upper-class American fashion (she speaks in a perfect American accent and Mikhail says he has "spoil[ed] her rotten").
Mikhail began abusing cocaine and alcohol - likely since 2005, when he was arrested for holding cocaine, as well as Ilyena and Dimitri having grown accustomed to Mikhail's disturbing new personality by 2008. After attaining his new personality he became abusive of his wife, slightly easier but still extremely harsh of his daughter, and also cheats on his wife (with employee Vladimir Glebov's sister which he told Niko in the mission Crime and Punishment saying that "You are very lucky that Vlad was an idiot. The only reason I keep him around is because I fuck his sister" and two women at his cabaret). He refuses to take advice from Dimitri anymore, Dimitri saying he "never know[s] who he will shoot, who he will stab!". Examples of his violent streak include the deaths of Andrei (a member of his gang who Dimitri favored, killed randomly for interrogating Niko too sloppily) and Jason Michaels (a member of the Lost biker gang dating his daughter).
If the player calls Faustin to his cellphone and listens to the answering message, it's possible to hear what Mikhail may have been like before becoming agressive. In the voicemail recording, he is calm and respectfully tells the caller to "contact him at his home" when he is available or "as an alternative leave [him] a message".
Among other violent, rash moves, Mikhail ordered the death of Lenny Petrovic, son of the most powerful Russian mob boss in Liberty City, Kenny Petrovic, because he frivolously assumes that Lenny has snitched on him. This results in an all-out war before Kenny Petrovic contacts Dimitri about having Mikhail killed to create peace. Dimitri agrees, and they both decide on the condition that the "hired gun" who originally killed Lenny, Niko Bellic, would be the one to kill Mikhail.
Niko is immediately sent to Perestroika to assassinate Mikhail. After a bloody shootout, Niko confronts Mikhail on the roof and shoots him so that he falls to his death, ignoring Mikhail's warnings that Dimitri will betray him too, though these were proven true.