Diamonds

The Diamonds are a plot element featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony where in they are involved in many scenarios also involving the protagonists, Niko Bellic, Johnny Klebitz and Luis Fernando Lopez as well as many others. Detailed below are the many different scenarios that take place involving the diamonds and the different people that gain possession of them each time. The diamonds are the main purpose which led to the Impossible Trinity in GTA IV and Diamonds Forever in TBoGT achievements/trophies. Diamonds also appear in Grand Theft Auto Online, however, no longer as a major plot and they only play a minor role since they only appear in 3 missions.

Fate/Consequences
Nobody who struggled for the diamonds ever owned them permanently. From the beginning, the diamonds were stolen property, originally belonging to Ray Bulgarin. Almost everybody involved with the diamonds was at some point killed. Below are the consequences of the people that stole and owned them. The consequences are based on the storyline.

History
Sometime before the events of the Grand Theft Auto IV saga, The Cook had stolen the diamonds from Ray Bulgarin. He then smuggled them into Liberty City by hiding them into the batter of a cake he prepared while travelling into the city via ship, the Platypus.

Eventually, Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince, his boyfriend Evan Moss and Luis Fernando Lopez met with The Cook to buy the diamonds. However, Pegorino Family capo Ray Boccino discovered the transaction would take place and sent Johnny Klebitz and other members of The Lost Brotherhood to crash the meet and steal them.

During the deal, Luis noticed Johnny approaching and bundled Tony into a limousine, while shouting to Evan, who was holding the diamonds, to get them to Maisonette 9. Luis and Tony managed to escape, but Johnny managed to catch Evan, killed him and took the diamonds. Johnny followed Ray's orders to hide the jewels in two trash bags, which would later be collected by Niko Bellic, Luca Silvestri, Johnny Barbosa and Joseph DiLeo while disguised as trashmen.

Niko left Luca with the diamonds as instructed, so he could deliver them to Ray. However Luca and his crew plotted to steal them and flee to Las Venturas. Niko found out about their scheme and caught them before they left, killing them all in Middle Park.

Eventually, Ray struck a deal to sell the diamonds to the Jewish Mob. He sent Niko and Johnny to The Libertonian museum to finish the deal and sell the diamonds to the Jewish Mob's representatives, Isaac Roth and Mori Green.

Gay Tony got wind of the deal at the Libertonian and sent Luis Lopez to ambush it. During his attack, Luis successfully killed Green and stole the diamonds before escaping. In the shootout that ensued between the Jewish Mob and the Pegorino Family's men, Johnny also managed to escape with Boccino's money.

After he found out that Johnny had betrayed him, Ray sent Niko to kill Johnny's best friend, Jim Fitzgerald, after failing to do so himself. Johnny was simultaneously attacked by numerous groups of Pegorino hitmen, but he nonetheless managed to survive, only to be told that Jim had been killed. Despite his desire for revenge, Johnny was advised by acquaintance; congressman Thomas Stubbs, to stay away from Ray, as Stubbs correctly predicted that Ray would be either be dead or in jail within a month.

Furious over the botched museum deal and convinced that Boccino had set him up, Isaac Roth began threatening Ray with retribution for his perceived betrayal. Preempting this, Ray promptly sent Niko to Roth's base at the Majestic Hotel to finish off Isaac and his associates. After the ensuing bloodbath, Niko refused to do any more work for Ray.

Around the same time as the ambush of the diamond sale at The Libertonian, Luis started working for Ray Bulgarin, who had arrived to the city to find and try to kill Niko Bellic with the aid of Dimitri Rascalov. After learning that Luis and Tony had gotten hold of the diamonds, Bulgarin sent Luis to an ambush at a rooftop, where he found The Cook's severed head and was then attacked by several of Bulgarin's hitmen, forcing him to shoot his way out.

Desperate for a way to recover the diamonds, Boccino came up with an idea after learning that his associates, the McReary Family, had kidnapped Giovanni Ancelotti's daughter, Gracie. Since Luis and Tony were heavily indebted to Ancelotti, the Pegorino Family threatened to have Gracie killed if Ancelotti didn't coerce Luis and Tony into handing over the jewels.

Eventually, Luis and Tony agreed to the hand off and the deal would have gone to plan, if not for the interruption of Bulgarin and his men, who were looking once again to retrieve his diamonds and kill both Luis and Niko. After one of Bulgarin's goons stole the diamonds, Luis, Tony and Gracie quickly fled the scene, but Niko and Packie McReary remained behind and fought to retrieve the stones. When Niko and Packie cornered him, the thug who took the diamonds drops them into a passing garbage truck to ensure that nobody could have them, reasoning that Bulgarin would have later killed him if he was to give them up.

A few weeks later, Luis was walking through Meadows Park to meet with Tony, shortly after killing Bulgarin aboard his private jet. He accidentally bumped into the homeless man Jerry Kapowitz, who fell into a nearby trash can. After apologizing and helping Jerry up, Luis continued on, but Jerry noticed that amongst the spilt trash lay the small pouch of diamonds. He examined them before running off, laughing with glee.

According to a Liberty Tree report, over 100 people contested Jerry and claimed ownership of the diamonds, but Mayor Julio Ochoa finally allowed Jerry to keep the money made from selling them. He later bought a mansion in Alderney, and also planned to move to Vice City and open a gun and liquor store.

Mission Appearances
The following missions are sorted in chronological order of the timeline.


 * The Cousins Bellic (GTA IV) - Examined by The Cook, before being hidden in a batch of cake mix.
 * Diamonds in the Rough (TLAD) and Frosting on the Cake (TBoGT) - In Diamonds in the Rough, Johnny Klebitz, with the help of the Lost MC, ambushes the deal between The Cook, Luis Fernando Lopez, Gay Tony and Evan Moss; he sends his boys for Luis and Tony, while he chases Evan, killing him and stealing the Diamonds on the orders of Ray Boccino. He then hides the diamonds in trash bags. In Frosting on the Cake, Luis Lopez uses Sticky Bombs to kill the bikers and LCPD and escape with Gay Tony. Towards the end of the mission, Evan is revealed to be dead from a Bleeter.biz post reading "Cornered by bikerz. Eugh. Eugh. Eugh. 2 young 2 die."
 * Taking in the Trash (GTA IV) - Niko Bellic, with the help of Luca Silvestri and his crew, on the orders of Ray Boccino, picks up the diamonds Johnny hid in the trash. After evading a pursuing Oracle, Niko, assuming Luca will give the diamonds to Ray, leaves them with him.
 * Meltdown (GTA IV) - It is revealed that Luca and his crew stole the Diamonds in Taking in the Trash, so Ray orders Niko to steal them and get them back to him. Niko does, killing Luca and his crew (although Ray complains that he did not tell Niko to do so) and gives the diamonds back to Ray.
 * Museum Piece (GTA IV), Collector's Item (TLAD) and Not So Fast (TBoGT) - Ray sends Niko and Johnny to trade the diamonds with the Jewish Mob, who planned to buy the diamonds for $2,000,000 at the Libertonian. The deal is soon ambushed by Luis Lopez, killing several of the mob and Mori Green. Johnny steals the money and flees the museum, then gives the money to Jim Fitzgerald for safekeeping. At the same time, Niko flees the museum, killing many of the mob members and escaping the cops. Meanwhile, Luis knocks out Isaac Roth (later killed by Niko), who was carrying the diamonds and, using Yusuf Amir's Buzzard, escapes the cops and gives them to Gay Tony.
 * Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (GTA IV) and Ladies Half Price (TBoGT) - Niko Bellic and Packie McReary have kidnapped Gracie Ancelotti, and have demanded the diamonds for her to be handed over. Giovanni Ancelotti threatened to kill Luis and Tony if they did not rescue his daughter, so the deal proceeds. At the deal, Gracie is returned, but Ray Bulgarin and his men prevent Niko and Packie from getting the diamonds. While Luis, Gracie, and Tony escaped on a boat, Niko and Packie can only watch as one of Bulgarin's men drops the diamonds into a passing truck. They immediately gun down the rest of Bulgarin's men and escape empty-handed.
 * Departure Time (TBoGT) - Jerry Kapowitz finds them in a pile of trash, and is later allowed by the Mayor to keep them.

Unrelated to the events in Liberty City, different diamonds also make an appearance in Grand Theft Auto Online:
 * Diamonds are for Trevor (GTA Online) - Trevor Philips sends up to four players to steal diamonds at Paleto Bay and deliver them down the Calafia Bridge.
 * Last Chopper Outta LS (GTA Online) - Lester Crest recruits up to two players to steal a helicopter full of jewelry (including diamonds) from the Prosperity Street Promenade and deliver them to Lester's Warehouse.
 * Heist Prep: Vault Contents (GTA Online) - During special Events, diamonds can be randomly selected as the target.
 * Casino Heist (GTA Online) - If diamonds are the target.

Trivia

 * In the GTA IV trinity, everybody who touched or held the diamonds besides Niko, Luis, Tony, and Jerry Kapowitz have been killed. Ironically, Jerry Kapowitz was not involved with them in any way, and never even knew of their existence, but was eventually the one to have them for himself. The following are the people who touched the diamonds and died in order: Evan Moss, Joseph DiLeo, John Barbosa, Luca Silvestri, Mori Green, Isaac Roth, The Cook, Bulgarin's henchman (who throws them onto a truck), Ray Boccino, and Ray Bulgarin. Although Johnny Klebitz survived the events of GTA IV and its episodes, he was killed five years later by Trevor Philips. With the exception of The Cook (killed by Ray Bulgarin), all of these people have been killed by either Niko Bellic, Johnny Klebitz, or Luis Fernando Lopez.
 * Where the diamonds ended up is not chronologically correct. On the Liberty Tree website, the diamonds were supposedly heading to the dump (after which one of Bulgarin's men threw them onto the back of a truck). However, Jerry Kapowitz finds them in the trash at the Monoglobe in Meadows Park. Either they were somehow transported to the bin, or it is a minor retcon.
 * The diamonds are very similar plot devices compared to the Heroin:
 * They are worth a lot of money, and both are stated to be worth around 2 million.
 * They appear in, and play a plot role in the first three of the HD Universe games.
 * Virtually all of the people who came into contact/possession with the Heroin ended up killed.
 * The difference between the two is that the heroin was destroyed.
 * The role of the diamonds throughout the events of the games are similar to that of the 2000 crime comedy movie Snatch in which almost all who come in contact with the diamonds are either incarcerated or killed and the diamonds end up with someone who happened to stumble on them by chance, the main difference is that in GTA they are several small diamonds where with Snatch it is one big diamond.
 * The way The Cook holds the diamonds up to the screen in the first cutscene of GTA IV is the same way Jerry Kapowitz holds them up to the screen in the last cutscene of TBoGT, book-ending them and bringing their to a conclusion.

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