Ray Bulgarin


 * "Bulgarin" redirects here. For Russia Mafia see Bulgarin Family.'

"There is a price for everything in this city. You just have to find out what it is."

- Ray Bulgarin

Ray Bulgarin (Russian: Рэй Булгарин) was a character in Grand Theft Auto series that appears as a key antagonist in Grand Theft Auto IV and as the main antagonist of The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Ray Bulgarin is an extremely wealthy, powerful Russian crime lord operating across the Adriatic Sea (either Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro or Albania) and Liberty City until he was deported.

Background
Bulgarin was born in 1958 and had a sister named Galina Bulgarin. As a boy, he was in a wrestling academy, where his coach apparently made him take steroids.

He immigrated to Liberty City and began his life as an international criminal. In 1989, at age 31, he was arrested for receiving an entire ship full of Albanian sex slaves. Sometime after, he continued human trafficking across the Adriatic sea, where he also lived in a large mansion on the waterfront.

He employed Niko Bellic, who smuggled people into Italy from Eastern Europe, until one run in which the ship sank, and Niko was forced to abandon the ship. Bulgarin blamed Niko for this loss, and sought to hunt him down. Niko joined the merchant navy to escape Bulgarin's influence within Europe, and spent seven months on the Platypus before escaping to Liberty City.

Events of Grand Theft Auto IV and The Ballad of Gay Tony
In 2008 or sometime before, Bulgarin returned to Liberty City to expand his business interests, and met up with his old friend Dimitri Rascalov. Dimitri offered Niko, who was working for him by chance, to Bulgarin without hesitation; Niko escaped the ambush and Bulgarin still insisted on tracking him down, with Dimitri's help.

Much more about Bulgarin is revealed in The Ballad of Gay Tony; he is interested in buying the Liberty City Rampage hockey team from Marki Ashvilli, as well as the Maisonette 9 nightclub from &quot;Gay&quot; Tony Prince. More about his personal lifestyle is also shown - he owns an Oracle, a blue Landstalker (which he sacrifices to kill a crooked NOOSE team on his case) and a black Marbelle. In his spare time he enjoys playing rock music with his bodyguard Timur. He also has very impressive collections of arcade machines, sports and rock memorabilia (some of it used by famous rock stars, including a $50,000 guitar) and even fine art (he talks on the phone about wanting to pay $20 million for a painting). Bulgarin believes "everything has a price, you just have to find out what it is", going so far as to try to hire a woman at Maisonette 9 as a prostitute for the night. Bulgarin hired Luis Lopez to assist him with the hockey team acquisition by first eliminating some crooked NOOSE members. Eventually, Bulgarin and Ashvilli have an argument, and Luis must kill the team owner in a hectic ambush.

Eventually, Bulgarin discovers that Tony and Luis had obtained the diamonds that were stolen from him by a cook, (after Luis and Tony originally failed to buy them from him), which made him turn against Luis. In the mission during which he betrays you (In The Crosshairs), he (after potentially killing his sister) clearly had an upset tone with Luis; he then sent him to a Little Italy roof top to "help Timur". When he got there, he lead Luis to a box on that rooftop that had The Cook's severed head on it. Suddenly, a massive ambush of snipers, shooters, rooftop gunmen, cars of gunman and even a helicopter presents itself to Luis; but, roughly, he escapes.

Later, after Giovanni Ancelotti's daughter is kidnapped (and later found then moved, Giovanni coerces Luis and Tony to exchange the Diamonds for her life. Bulgarin finds Niko and Luis representing opposing parties and orders his men to fire. Bulgarin failed again, as Niko and Luis both escaped and his diamonds were lost for good when one of his men threw the diamonds into a truck when confronted by Niko and Packie.

After cooperating with Giovanni Ancelotti (a mob boss and the hostage's father) about the diamond situation, they send Vince and Rocco to tell Luis that he must either kill Gay Tony and become partners with Vince and Rocco, or else he and Tony will be heavily ambushed. After killing Vince, Luis survives the almost-comically-large amount of hitmen sent after him. At this time, Bulgarin -- after Dimitri Rascalov is killed by Niko Bellic -- somehow claims the Heroin from him.

During the mission Departure Time, Luis destroys all the gunmen -- including Timur -- and the Heroin -- at Funland. Later, after recieving help from Yusuf Amir, Luis is able to jump aboard the plane Bulgarin is taking to flee the country. Bulgarin demands Luis not kill him (as he is holding a grenade that will explode); but Luis kills him and Parachutes to the earth below, leaving Bulgarin, Timur and the Heroin all behind.

LCPD Database information
Surname: Bulgarin

First Name: Ray

Age: 50

Place of Birth: Unknown

Affiliations: Linked to Russian Organized Crime Syndicates throughout Liberty City

Criminal Record:
 * 1989 - Human Trafficking

Notes:
 * People smuggler and high profile figure in global Organized Crime.
 * Believed to be operating in Europe on the Adriatic.
 * Deported after being caught receiving a shipment of Albanian sex workers at the Liberty City Docks in late 80s.
 * Reports indicate that he may try to return to the US.

Mission appearances

 * GTA IV
 * Russian Revolution (Betrayal)
 * Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Boulevard Baby
 * ...Blog This! (Post-mission phone call)
 * Going Deep (Boss)
 * Dropping In... (Boss)
 * In the Crosshairs (Boss/Betrayal)
 * Ladies Half Price (Drive a car)
 * For the Man Who Has Everything (Post-mission phone call)
 * Party's Over (Post-mission phone call)
 * Departure Time (Killed)

Murders committed

 * The Cook - Murdered for stealing his diamonds.
 * Galina Bulgarin (possibly) - Possibly murdered by Ray for trash-talking about him.

Trivia

 * Ray is the only friend and partner of Dimitri Rascalov whom he did not betray.
 * Ray is one of four major characters in GTA IV to have the initials "RB" (the others being Real Badman, Roman Bellic and Ray Boccino). It is unknown if this was intentional, as the four have little else in common.
 * If the player looks him up on the LCPD database on libertycitypolicedatabase.com he will be marked as Deceased, even before he is encountered on "Russian Revolution" implying he may have faked his death in order to get past local authorities.
 * Bulgarin's appearance was altered between GTA IV and TBoGT. In IV, he had blond hair and harsher facial features. In TBoGT, he has dark hair instead and his skin is noticeably pale. His face is also more textured.
 * His name is often incorrectly stated to be "Rodislav". This fake name first appeared on Wikipedia's article List of Grand Theft Auto IV characters. This mistake has even spread to such external websites as IMDB.