Casing the Jewel Store

"Well, mapping the options and showing you all the angles, that's my area of professional expertise. But making decisions, that is your domain, my friend."

- Lester Crest

Casing the Jewel Store is a mission in Grand Theft Auto V, given to Michael De Santa by Lester Crest.

Mission
Michael meets Lester at his garment factory before the duo drive to the Vangelico Jewelry Store. Once on location, Lester instructs him to walk in and use a pair of camera-glasses to take pictures of the displays, ventilation and alarm system.

Afterwards, the player must drive around the block and go upstairs to the roof via a building in renovation in order to scout for the store's ventilation sources.

Back at the garment factory, Lester sets up a planning board and offers two ways to execute the heist to Michael:

Choosing the Loud approach will unlock the following setup mission:
 * Carbine Rifles

Choosing the smart approach will unlock the following setup missions:
 * Bugstars Equipment
 * BZ Gas Grenades

Crew
The following characters are available to complete Michael, Lester and Franklin's crew.

Driver

 * Eddie Toh - If chosen, he'll give directions and bring dirt bikes, making it easier to drive in the tunnels. In the Loud approach, he'll manage to get all the jewelry. 14% cut.
 * Karim Denz - If chosen, he won't give directions while escaping and will have to stop inside the tunnels to get his bearings (only if Norm was chosen and fell off his bike), and the street bikes he provides will handle poorly in the mud. Also, in the Loud approach, he'll miss some of the jewelry. 8% cut.

Gunman

 * Gustavo Mota - If chosen, he won't drop any diamonds in the Smart approach and won't crash his bike. However, he'll competently keep the customers in check if the Loud approach is taken, thus, if you chose Karim as the driver, he won't get all the jewelry, leaving you with $4.5M. 14% cut.
 * Packie McReary* - If chosen, he won't drop any diamonds in the Smart approach and won't crash his bike. He'll also competently keep the customers in check if the Loud approach is taken. 12% cut.
 * Norm Richards - If chosen, he misses a lot of diamonds during the heist, bringing down your maximum take to about $4.5M in the Smart approach and in the Loud approach, one of the hostages tries to escape and Michael is forced to deal with them. Also, with either approach, he crashes his bike before reaching the tunnels, dropping his bag and adding casualty expenses. However, it is possible for Franklin to grab Norm's bag while riding over it. 7% cut.

Hacker

 * Paige Harris - If chosen, the player will have 90 seconds to grab the jewels. 15% cut.
 * Christian Feltz - If chosen, the player will have 60 seconds to grab the jewels. 8% cut.
 * Rickie Lukens** - If chosen, the player will only have 50 seconds (30 seconds in original console edition) to grab all the jewels. 4% cut.

* The player must first complete the character's stranger task. ** Only if Michael receives his call after the mission "Friend Request".

For maximum cash, the best choice is the Smart approach with Karim Denz for the driver, Rickie Lukens for the hacker, and Packie McReary for the gunman, rewarding Michael with well over $1.2M.

For efficiency, use Eddie Toh for the driver, Paige Harris as the hacker and Patrick McReary as the gunman. The Smart approach works best as the quickest it can be done is in 46 seconds, but Loud usually takes a minimum of 49 seconds.

Choosing Norm Richards for the gunman, even if you collect his bag after his crash, is still a worse choice because he adds casualty expenses and misses a lot of diamonds during the actual heist, meaning even if you smash all cases you still get only about $4.5M (the maximum take is $4,946,153).

Also, if you choose Loud, the gunman will have to keep all the hostages down and only the driver will collect the jewelry with Michael. If Karim is the driver, he won't get all of the jewelry, leaving you with $4.5M.

Mission Objectives

 * Go to Vangelico Jewel Store.
 * Take a picture of the alarm system.
 * Take a picture of the ventilation outlet and the security camera.
 * Speak with the attendant.
 * Go back to Lester.
 * Find a way to climb the jewelry.
 * Go to the highest point of the building.
 * Take a picture of the ventilation system.
 * Go back to Lester.
 * Return to Darnell Bros..
 * Choose the heist method.
 * Choose your crew.

Gold Medal Objectives

 * Time - Complete within 08:00.
 * Skip the cutscenes.
 * Picture Perfect - Capture all three security features in one picture.
 * Look directly at the keypad and all three features will be visible in the corners.

Phone Calls

 * Lamar Davis - Franklin can call Lamar after being called by Michael. Lamar chastises Franklin for not being more involved in the work he and Stretch are doing, however, Franklin will counter-argue that he is "working with professionals" now.

Trivia

 * At the beginning of the mission, Michael says that they need a crew, stating that he could "round up some of the old guys." Lester tells him "there are no old guys". Lester then mentions "that crew from the south" (a possible reference to the Vercetti Gang or Diaz' Gang in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City), "an Eastern European guy who was making moves in Liberty City" but subsequently "went quiet" (a reference to Niko Bellic). Lester also tells Michael that "all those Irish crazies, they just disappeared" (a possible reference to the McReary Crime Family) and that he's been "working with someone, but they're too unpredictable" (a reference to the GTA Online Protagonist).
 * When Michael and Lester discuss Michael's old crew, Michael indirectly mentions Trevor, asking Lester where he ended up, with Lester replying, "North. South. East. West. Wherever there were liquor stores to turn over and hitchhikers to disappear.", referring to Trevor's tendency to deliver hitchhikers to the Altruist Cult against their will and his meth lab which happens to be a liquor store. While Lester did not directly answer Michael's question regarding Trevor, he did know about Trevor's whereabouts, having referred the GTA Online Protagonist to him months prior.
 * If Michael is not wearing a suit and the player tries to start the mission, Lester will turn him away and tell him to change into "something nice". The player can then explore the factory's interior.
 * When Michael enters his car after taking all of the pictures, the song playing on the radio will be from Los Santos Rock Radio.
 * If this mission is replayed, Lester will not be wearing glasses.
 * The building being renovated is a Max Renda retail shop.
 * In the beginning cutscene, Lester is wearing grey pants. However, in the final cutscene, he wears his basic blue jeans.
 * Michael foreshadows the non-canon Ending A when he asked Lester if Trevor ended up as a burnt body on the side of the road. Similarly, Lester foreshadows the non-canon Ending B when he tells Michael it will be his funeral for bringing in Franklin.
 * Doing the mission too early will result in the player failing to get Rickie as a heist member, which can make getting a gold medal difficult to outright impossible, while also making getting the most cash impossible due to the high cut percentages of the other two hackers.

Glitch

 * If the player causes a mission fail during a replay before scoping the jewel store, sometimes the attendant and the doorman will fail to appear on the following attempt. The mission will now be impossible to complete as the player needs to speak to the attendant to progress.

Navigation
Inspektion des Juweliers Inspección de la joyería Repérage de la bijouterie Sprawdzanie jubilera O Reconhecimento da Joalheria Casing the Jewel Store