Ray Boccino

"I got the feds all over me, I got a boss who's a paranoid wreck, and I got a guy above me in the foodchain with a brain like an overcooked artichoke. Things are great."

- Ray Boccino

Raymond "Ray" Boccino was a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a main character in Grand Theft Auto IV and secondary antagonist in The Lost and Damned. Ray was the only Capo working for the Pegorino crime family. He is also a major character in the Diamond Dealing in Liberty City along with Johnny Klebitz and Niko Bellic.

Ray Boccino is voiced by Joe Barbara.

Background
Ray was born in 1976 in Westdyke, Alderney. He is of Italian ancestry.

Little is known about Boccino prior to the events of 2008, before which he joined or got into the Pegorino Family and worked his way up the ladder to the position of Capo. He has developed a rivalry to Phil Bell (possibly jealousy at his better reputation), and even accuses him of being a rat. When it comes to Pegorino, he has a negative opinion on Ray due to his inability to complete his operations (including the Diamonds issue) and states in Pegorino's Pride that he doubts he will ever make it to the level he wants to reach due to his greed (possibly trying to become the Underboss or Boss of the Pegorino Crime Family). Ray is often brought up in conversations with Phil and Pegorino, and Niko even mentions he blames Ray for the Diamond issue because of his poor planning and the amount of people he would get involved. Ray's greed, selfishness and corruption would eventually lead to death.

He operates and gives his missions in Drusilla's in Little Italy in Algonquin.

2008
Boccino is first introduced chronologically while speaking to Billy Grey in the Lost MC Clubhouse after selling the biker gang some weapons, specifically grenade launchers. He is introduced to Johnny Klebitz and then takes off.

Later on, during the Lost MC's civil war, Brian Jeremy contacted Ray to ask him for help in defeating Johnny Klebitz and his faction but Ray, considering that Johnny is a much better businessman than Brian (due to the latter's irrational devotion to the imprisoned Billy Grey), betrays Brian's location to Johnny and tells him to do away with Brian so business between him and the Lost can resume as usual, which Johnny eventually does.

Ray gets orders from Jimmy Pegorino to begin cutting business into Algonquin by stealing business from the Ancelotti Family and the Algonquin Triads. In order to do so, he hires the McRearys and Niko Bellic to carry out several jobs for this purpose, such as stealing cloned meds from the triads, stealing an Ancelotti pay-off, sabotaging the Ancelottis alliance with the Albanian mafia and killing Ancelotti capo Frank Garone.

Ray gives Niko his first mission, kill Teddy Benavidez, who hasn't been paying him the money he owes.

Ray eventually gets word of some very valuable diamonds being sold to nightclub empresario Gay Tony in East Hook and, letting his greed take over, plots to steal them. Through his contact with Ashley Butler (with whom he was having an affair), Ray hires Johnny and the Lost to steal the diamonds.

Johnny successfully steals the diamonds, and Ray orders him to put the diamonds in two separate sets of trash bags in two separate alleyways in Algonquin. Immediately after Ray orders Niko, along with Joe DiLeo, Johnny Barbosa and Luca Silvestri, to pick up the diamonds from the trash bags Johnny had just hid them in. It is later discovered that DiLeo, Barbosa and Silvestri attempted to steal the diamonds for themselves and flee to Las Venturas; Boccino sends Niko to retrieve them. Niko kills Luca and his crew, and meets up with Ray in Middle Park to give him the diamonds.

He then waits for Niko at Drusilla's, giving him the diamonds and sending him off to the Libertonian to help with the deal, with the promise that Ray will help Niko find a man named Florian Cravic. After finding a buyer, Ray calls up Johnny Klebitz, and tells him to head to the Libertonian to wait for Niko.

Niko and Johnny attempt to sell the diamonds to Jewish Mob associates Issac Roth and Mori Green, however, Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince's best friend and personal bodyguard Luis Fernando Lopez ambushes the deal and takes the diamonds.

In the confusion of the ambush, Johnny decides to betray Boccino and steals all of the money for himself and the Lost MC, and Niko is left with nothing. Niko calls Boccino to inform him of the ambush, that Johnny has the money, and that he isn't sure who got the diamonds. Immediately after, Ray calls Johnny to confirm he still has the money, but Johnny denies this, having given the money to Jim Fitzgerald for safe keeping.

A short time later Boccino decides that Johnny did take the money, he kidnaps Jim Fitzgerald, has him tied up in the Drusilla's basement, and has a goon torture him with a blow torch, attempting to extract information on the two million. He uses Jim's cellphone to text Johnny and lure him to Drusilla's where he attempts to hold Johnny as well. After a brief argument, Jim cuts his rope loose with a hidden exacto-knife and grabs hold of Boccino's goon, Johnny kicks Rays gun away, Jim slits the goon's throat and the two escape Drusilla's.

Boccino immediately calls up associate Phil Bell for a sit-down and soon after sends Niko to murder Jim and orders his crew to find and kill Johnny. Waves of armed associates each wave in a car in different locations come to chase Johnny (Klebitz may call Terry or Clay to set up an ambush).

Johnny survives the attack, however Jim isn't so lucky. Ashley later tells Johnny that Ray has managed to kill Jim (unbeknownst to Johnny, Niko is the one who killed him). Johnny plans to retaliate (for Jim's death and how he's planning to help Billy arrest Johnny & Angus) but is told not to by Congressman Thomas Stubbs, who tells Johnny that Boccino and the Pegorino crime family are under surveillance and that half of the organization would be "either dead or arrested within a month."

Later, Isaac Roth begins to blame the ambushed diamond deal on Boccino and threatens to have him killed. In retaliation, Boccino again orders Niko to murder Roth at Roth's penthouse at the Majestic Hotel. Afterwards, Boccino arranges an apartment in Alderney City for Niko so he can can "keep a closer eye on him." Niko refuses to do anymore work for Boccino from this point on. Before or after this mission, Ray will give Niko Bellic what he promised him in Museum Piece; the location of Florian Cravic (though Niko ends up sparing him as he realizes he is not the target).

Ray makes a brief cameo in the opening cut scene of Phil Bell & Jimmy Pegorino's first missions. He also tells Niko that he made the introduction (though Niko will once again confirm that he is not connected to Ray). He is often brought up in conversations with Pegorino and Phil -- in fact, in Pegorino's first mission, Niko will comment that Ray's poor planning and the amount of people (Johnny, Luca's crew and Issac) he trusted are to blame for his failure to get the diamonds. Ray can also be called after Payback, I'll Take Her & Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (provided that he hasn't been murdered yet). Interestingly, Boccino will later call Niko, telling him he knows that Gay Tony has the diamonds and tells him to steal them; Niko, avoiding what would have been a huge plot twist in both TBOGT and IV, refuses.

Death


Later in the game, as the Pegorino family's affairs fall further into turmoil, Jimmy Pegorino decides to send a message to any possible informants in the organization and orders Niko to murder Boccino, believing he is an informant. Niko goes to where Ray is hanging around, and while he and some associates are driving to his auto-shop, he and his associates are murdered by Niko (the player may choose how to go about this).

GTA IV originally called for the player to choose whether to kill Ray or Phil, however it was changed before the game was officially released. Ray became the only one who could be killed. This is likely in part due to the way Ray became the secondary antagonist of The Lost and Damned, and due to the fact that when Phil would've been dead, the mission If the Price is Right couldn't happen.

Arguably, the most significant detail about Ray is that he gives you the second most missions in GTA IV, giving you a total of 7 (with Roman Bellic being first with 10). This means that he gives you the third most missions in the era, with Gay Tony being first and Roman being second. Ray is also the character that initiates most of the crossover missions in the games: the first diamond deal, the only time all three protagonists are together at once, how Niko killed Jim and most of the events revolving around the Diamonds.

Personality
"Ray Boccino is a slimy motherfucker, the one thing you can rely on him for, is greed."

- Patrick McReary

Ray has been known to be an extremely greedy person, trying to find deals and jobs that worth a lot of money. He works with many thugs and mobsters, like the Irish Mob, in order to be favored by Jimmy Pegorino, trying to please him with every-way he knows. He is, however, un-trusted by his associates due to his greed.

He is also known to have an explosive temper, at some point in his past, he threw a man stealing money from him and his waste management business in a trash compactor, after nearly beating him to death.

Mission appearances

 * GTA IV
 * Harbouring a Grudge
 * Waste Not Want Knots (Post-mission phone call)
 * A Long Way to Fall (Boss)
 * Taking in the Trash (Boss)
 * Meltdown (Boss)
 * Museum Piece (Boss)
 * No Way on the Subway (Boss)
 * Weekend at Florian's (Voice/Boss)
 * Late Checkout (Boss)
 * Truck Hustle
 * I'll Take Her... (Post-mission phone call)
 * Pegorino's Pride
 * Payback (Post-mission phone call)
 * Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (Post-mission phone call, only if Pest Control is not completed yet)
 * Pest Control (Killed)


 * The Lost and Damned
 * Action/Reaction
 * Bad Standing
 * Diamonds in the Rough (Boss)
 * Collector's Item (Voice/Boss)
 * Was It Worth It? (Boss/Betrayal)

Trivia

 * Ray has been involved in criminal activity from an early age, securing his first arrest (for possession of stolen property) at just 14 years old.
 * During Pest Control, If Niko is able to get Ray out of the car, he'll start shooting the player with a Combat Shotgun.
 * Ray as a character is similar to Mikey Palmice from The Sopranos.
 * Thomas Stubbs makes references to Ray's eventual fate in TLaD. He remarks after Johnny Klebitz considers going after Ray, that he would "either be dead or in jail in the next few months", foreshadowing Niko's killing of him under Jimmy Pegorino's orders.
 * During Museum Piece, Ray will state "where the fuck have you been?" This will happen even if the player goes to the mission immediately after finishing his previous mission. Also, in the same cutscene, Niko will say to Ray "I keep doing these favors for you, and you pay shit". However, in consecutive order, the payments Niko receives for these misssions is 8500$, 9000$ and 9500$. Also, his dialogue with Niko in the same cutscene implicates that he has more-than-sufficient knowledge of Florian Cravic, hinting that he worked for or has associative ties with the Boccino and/or Pegorino crime organization.
 * Ray seems to stand very tall, as when next to Niko he towers over him similarly to Gerry McReary.
 * Ray is one of four major characters in GTA IV to have the initials "RB" (the others being Real Badman, Roman Bellic and Ray Bulgarin). It is unknown if this was intentional, as the four have little else in common.
 * Boccino means snitch or squealer in Italian, which might be fitting with Pegorino's suspicion that he was a rat working for the FIB.
 * His favorite Radio Station seems to be The Journey, as when you steal his Oracle this station will play everytime, but as this is the default station for the Oracle, it may not be likely.
 * Before the game's release, It is possible that Ray's Beta name was Raymond Alberga.
 * Ray has some unique quotes when you aim at him never used in-game, as he never appears during a mission as an ally. These include Pull the damn trigger!, You shoot me, I better die. and What're you waiting for, dumbass?.
 * Despite being accused of betrayal many times by other characters, Ray never betrayed anyone and was actually stabbed in the back by others. Two protagonists, Johnny Klebitz and Niko Bellic have betrayed him, Johnny by robbing him during the deal with diamonds, and Niko by killing him. More so, his own boss ordered his assassination for no reason other than suspecting him of being treacherous.

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