Faustin Mafiya

The Faustin Mafiya, later known as the Rascalov Mafiya, is a gang featured throughout the Grand Theft Auto IV story arc, appearing as the main antagonist gang as the Rascalov Mafiya in GTA IV, as well as making a short appearance in The Lost and Damned.

Description
Members of the mafiya can be encountered in Hove Beach, Firefly Island and Beachgate, wearing suits, leather jackets, casual clothes and sport attire and driving Rebla, Schafter, Uranus and Ingot. They are armed with knives, pistols, Micro SMGS, Assault Rifles and shotguns. Like almost every gang in Grand Theft Auto IV, if the player walks or runs into a member, hits a member with a car, starts a fight, aims a weapon at them or shoots a weapon in their territory they will often react with hostility. However, during the time Niko Bellic works for Faustin, Russians will defend him, like members of the Jamaican Mafia. They will eventually turn hostile after Russian Revolution.

Background
The foundation of the Faustin Mafiya dates back to the late-1980s/early-1990s. The Mafiya's founders, Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov, met whilst serving in the Soviet Army, with both spending time in a Siberian prison. After leaving the Army, Faustin and Rascalov began their criminal lives in Russia by selling hash to tourists in Moscow's Red Square.

Eventually, prior to 1998, Faustin, now married with a daughter, and Dimitri, still single, moved to Liberty City in the United States. They settled in Hove Beach, where they formed a Russian crime outfit, soon to be known as the Faustin Mafiya. Also based in Hove Beach was another Russian crime outfit: the Petrovic Mafiya, led by the strongest Russian mobster in the city, Kenny Petrovic. The two gangs managed to co-exist, although the relationship between the two worsened as Faustin began to suffer from drug addiction and paranoia.

Between the late 1990s and 2008, several men joined the ranks of Faustin's outfit, including Vladimir Glebov, Ivan Bytchkov, Sergei and Andrei. Using his money, Faustin opened the Perestroika club and Comrades bar as fronts for his gang's members, the latter being directly managed by Vlad. Faustin also got shares from Joseph Kaplan's sex shop, The Peep Hole.

Early connections with Niko Bellic
In 2008 Vlad begins employing Niko Bellic as his hired gun as Niko's cousin, Roman, owes money for Vlad. Niko is forced to do several missions for the loan shark, including collecting protection money from a Chinese shop and a laundromat, stealing a Blista Compact, and murdering Ivan for insulting Faustin. However, upon discovering that Vlad slept with Roman's girlfriend, Niko chases down and murders Vlad.

Vlad's death is eventually discovered by Dimitri and Faustin, who send Andrei to capture the Bellic cousins. Faustin murders Andrei in rage for bringing the two to his house, while giving Niko a choice to work with the Mafiya, to which Niko agrees so Roman will live. At this point Dimitri sees Niko's usefulness to help him become the new leader of the Mafiya.

Fall of Mikhail Faustin
After several missions, Faustin orders Niko to murder Lenny Petrovic, Kenny's son, much to Dimitri's dismay, as such act will cause an all-out war between the two factions. Dimitri fails to stop Faustin while Niko successfully murders Lenny, causing Petrovic to call death on Faustin. Meanwhile, Faustin ignores Petrovic's threats and sends Niko to do one final attack against the Russian kingpin; destroying one of Petrovic's fronts in Bohan.

Seeing this as an opportunity to take over the organization, Dimitri makes a deal with Petrovic as a way to spare both him and Niko; Faustin has to be murdered by Niko. Niko storms into Faustin's club, murders his guards and then Faustin on the club's roof, not before Faustin warns Niko of Dimitri's eventual betrayal.

Rise of Dimitri Rascalov
True to Faustin's words, Dimitri betrays Niko during a meeting at the docks, selling him over to Niko's old boss Ray Bulgarin (who Dimitri made an alliance with). Their combined forces fail to murder Niko, but manage to force him and Roman out of Broker, leaving them in Bohan. Dimitri then re-creates Faustin's old gang in his own image - founding the Rascalov Mafiya.

Dimitri then begins to seek more power and money, as well as killing Niko once and for all. He orders one of his men to kidnap Roman as to lure Niko and execute him, but this attempt fails as Niko executes every single member in the ambush.

He also blackmails Deputy Mayor Bryce Dawkins for money, but Bryce's lover is discovered to be Bernie Crane - an old friend of Niko. Niko once again stops Dimitri's men from revealing Bryce's homosexuality. A Rascalov Mafiya unit also attacks Niko and Bernie when they have a boat trip, yet is murdered as well.

A while later, when Niko works with the Pegorino crime family, Niko's associate Phil Bell decides to steal drugs from the Rascalov Mafiya in the docks of Charge Island. Dimitri later sends his men to protect Ancelotti crime family's Underboss, Charles Matteo, from a Pegorino attack, but Niko manages to murder the Underboss.

Jon Gravelli, dying Don of the Gambetti crime family, is not pleased with Dimitri's rise of power, and sends Niko to destroy cocaine-loaded vans owned by Rascalov. This is also the first notable act of a family associated with The Commission against Dimitri and his Mafiya. Before this hit, the family blocked Bobby Jefferson's convoy, leading Niko to murder a lot of members of the family, in order to save Mr. Jefferson so he can talk at the Civic Citadel.

Ending
Jimmy Pegorino, the Don of the Pegorinos, desires in one desperate act, to join forces with the Rascalov Mafiya and strikes a heroin deal with Dimitri. Despite knowing Niko's history with the man, Pegorino pressures him to do it. Niko is then given the choice to either strike a deal with Rascalov, or execute him at the Platypus - where the heroin is located. Regardless of the outcome, the Faustin Mafiya is defeated and disbanded.

Deal=Niko decides to work again with Dimitri, and Phil Bell joins him as a support gun. Dimitri decides to kill the men which they had to deal with, leaving Niko and Phil to fight against their associates. Eventually they manages to secure the money, and Niko is given his share.

Dimitri, however, wants Niko dead and sends an assassin to kill Niko during Roman's wedding, but during a struggle between Niko and the killer, Roman is shot and killed. This leads Niko to attack the Rascalov-Pegorino members at Alderney Casino, where Dimitri kills Pegorino as he doesn't want to share money with anyone.

Niko chases Dimitri down to Happiness Island, where the two have one last stand during which Niko kills every single member that remained in Dimitri's gang, before finishing Dimitri off next to the Happiness Statue. Revenge= Niko attacks the Platypus and fights his way through Dimitri's men. He eventually finds Dimitri, defeats him in a shootout, and executes him. The deal between the Pegorinos and Rascalov is finished with Dimitri and the Mafiya's demise.

Influence
Under Faustin's leadership, the Faustin Family appears relatively small-time, mostly operating in Broker, where they are not even the strongest Russian organization (Petrovic's Mafiya being stronger). The leaders of the group get involved with fairly small-scale activities, like stealing a van with TVs or extorting money from a porn shop.

After Rascalov takes over, the organization gains power incredibly quickly. By the end of the game, they have extensive drug running operations set up in Alderney and Charge Island. They also cause serious problems to the powerful Gambetti family, and blackmail Bryce Dawkins in attempt to gain more influence in the city. The fighting capabilities of the gang have also increased considerably - toward the end of the game, Niko has to fight against large and well-armed forces of Russians, much stronger than the bodyguards protecting Mikhail Faustin (though it is possible that Dimitri has diverted most of Faustin's forces before Niko attacks Faustin).

The family's rather surprisingly quick rise to power happens behind the scenes and is not explained in the game. It is unclear how Dimitri managed to expand acquire incredible numbers of well-armed henchmen, or connections to set up numerous large deals and distribution rings. A possible explanation would be an alliance with Ray Bulgarin who recently arrived in Liberty City (an "old friend" of Dimitri as seen in Russian Revolution). It might even be possible that Dimitri was working for Ray behind the scenes, or the two have become equal partners in a newly formed unified crime family. This is because the Rascalov Family and Bulgarin Bratva are closely working together, and the latter inherits the heroin after Niko kills Dimitri.

It is unclear what happens to the organization after Dimitri's death. Its prospects seem extremely grim, however, as it has lost the man who took it to new heights and suffered heavy casualties and economic losses at Niko's hands; in addition, the authorities of the city may be focusing their efforts against them due to Bobby Jefferson's speech. In The Ballad of Gay Tony, the Rascalov Mafiya does not appear and is instead replaced by Ray Bulgarin's men, who hold the heroin after Dimitri's death.

Known Members

 * Members
 * Mikhail Faustin - Boss  (Deceased)
 * Dimitri Rascalov - Underboss/Later Boss  (Deceased)
 * Vladimir Glebov - Debt collector  (Deceased)
 * Ivan Bytchkov - Member  (Determinant)
 * Sergei - Soldier
 * Wedding Assassin - Soldier (Determinant)
 * Andrei - Enforcer (Deceased)
 * Roman's Kidnapper - Enforcer (Deceased)
 * Andriy Maximov - Enforcer


 * Associates
 * Niko Bellic - Hired gun (Formerly)
 * Jimmy Pegorino - Leader of the Pegorino Family and associate. (Deceased)
 * Ray Bulgarin - Associate of Dimitri (Deceased)

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * It's Your Call
 * Easy Fare
 * Bull in a China Shop
 * Hung Out to Dry
 * Clean Getaway
 * Ivan the Not So Terrible
 * Uncle Vlad
 * Crime and Punishment
 * Do You Have Protection?
 * Final Destination
 * No Love Lost
 * Rigged to Blow
 * The Master and the Molotov (Wiped Out; as the 'Faustin Mafiya')
 * Russian Revolution (First appearance as the 'Rascalov Mafiya')
 * Hostile Negotiation
 * Union Drive
 * Buoys Ahoy
 * Catch the Wave
 * Trespass
 * Entourage
 * Liquidize the Assets
 * A Dish Served Cold (Revenge only/Wiped Out)
 * Mr. and Mrs. Bellic (Deal only)
 * A Revenger's Tragedy (Deal only/Wiped Out)

The Lost and Damned

 * Roman's Holiday