Dimitri Rascalov

Dimitri Rascalov (Russian: Дмитрий Раскалoв) is the 39-year old main antagonist in Grand Theft Auto IV, and a major character throughout the game. He begins the game as the second-in-command of the Russian Organized crime Syndicate, a powerful Russian mob in the city.

Moti Margolin provides the voice of Dimitri.

Biography
Dimitri was the best friend and second-in-command of Mikhail Faustin. The two met each other while serving in the Soviet Army during the Cold War, and eventually spent time in a Siberian prison together. The two were "closer than brothers", according to Mikhail; following the move to Liberty City, however, Mikhail became an alcoholic and cocaine addict, and no longer heeded Dimitri's advice. Dimitri himself developed an addiction to painkillers.

Volatile and paranoid, Mikhail would have people killed on a whim or out of spite and favored murder as the solution to most problems; Dimitri, by contrast, was more of a businessman, willing to use reason and non-lethal methods if such an approach would be more profitable. Dimitri warned Mikhail that their operation should keep a low profile and that they should "play by the rules", but Mikhail would not listen; his intemperance eventually led to them getting on bad terms with another Russian Mob boss Kenny Petrovic, after Mikhail had Lenny Petrovic murdered on the mere suspicion of betrayal.

Dimitri cut a side deal with Kenny Petrovic to save his own life — in exchange for the murder of Mikhail; Dimitri would live, and continue the operation of the Russian Mob without interference from Petrovic. Dimitri hired Niko Bellic to kill Mikhail — Petrovic allegedly requested that Niko kill Mikhail as atonement for his prior killing of Lenny.

With Mikhail dead, Dimitri took over the organization, and became partners with another powerful gangster, the European Ray Bulgarin. Once it was discovered that Bulgarin held a grudge against Niko, Dimitri lured the latter into an ambush; Niko escaped with the aid of his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes, but failed to kill Dimitri or Bulgarin -- both would continue to pursue Niko from then on.

Dimitri put out a contract on Niko and his cousin, Roman Bellic. Their apartment in Hove Beach was been burned down, as was Roman's taxi depot; the two were forced to flee to Bohan to escape the attention of the Russian underworld. Dimitri would be seen again throughout the course of the story, at one point successfully finding and kidnapping Roman after his gambling habit lured him back to Broker. Niko mounted a successful rescue of Roman; he would next encounter Dimitri's deputies when the Russian Mafia attempted to extort deputy mayor Bryce Dawkins over his gay affair with Niko's friend Bernie Crane. Later, mob boss Jon Gravelli revealed that Dimitri had made an alliance with the Ancelotti Family, and was attempting to seize control of activities usually conducted by the Italian Mafia; he also spoke of Dimitri's involvement in cocaine imports, a matter of grave concern to U.L. Paper's anonymous representative.

Relationship with Mikhail Faustin
Dimitri and Mikhail Faustin have twin tattoos on the palms of their hands, meaning "brothers for life" according to Mikhail. Dimitri appears to have become "the brains" of the Russian operation, Mikhail's cocaine addiction having eroded his business sense; eventually Mikhail's rashness risks the lives of himself, Dimitri and Niko, and Dimitri conspires to kill him with Niko's help (see The Master and the Molotov). At the Perestroika cabaret club, Niko ambushes Mikhail, killing his entourage and confronting him on the roof; Mikhail warns that Dimitri is treacherous, and will betray Niko just as he has betrayed Mikhail; Niko ignores this and shoots Mikhail dead. Although Dimitri's motives were obvious here, Mikhail's prediction turns out to be true.

Death
Towards the conclusion of the story, Dimitri becomes involved in a heroin distribution ring with the Pegorino Family, for whom Niko is working at the time. Jimmy Pegorino asks Niko to be his representative; the player can choose to conduct the deal as Jimmy wishes, thus gaining sizeable cash reward, or to ambush and kill Dimitri, taking revenge. If the player decides upon the Revenge path, Niko finds and kills Dimitri aboard the Platypus, the very ship which transported Niko to America. In which Niko, after phoning Roman, states: 'It ended where it started'.

If the player decides to do business with Dimitri, then Niko and Pegorino ally Phil Bell visit the drug warehouse, which is the venue for the deal; Dimitri phones Niko, telling him that he is happy to work with the latter again, but that he has killed the people who were supposed to take part in the deal. Niko pledges to come after Dimitri later; he and Phil ambush the warehouse and steal the money. Later, at Roman's Wedding, Dimitri sends an assassin to kill Niko; when Niko struggles with him, the assassin accidentally shoots Roman dead instead. Outraged at his cousin's death, Niko and Little Jacob track Pegorino and Dimitri down to an abandoned casino; Niko then sees Dimitri kill Jimmy out of mere greed, betraying yet another business partner. Dimitri escapes in a helicopter; Niko and Jacob pursue him in an Annihilator, and both choppers crash on Happiness Island. Niko fights his way through the last of Dimitri's henchmen, and confronts him near the Statue of Happiness. Dimitri then succumbs to his injuries; his death is later been announced on Weazel News.

Mission appearances

 * GTA IV
 * Crime and Punishment
 * Do You Have Protection?
 * Final Destination
 * Rigged to Blow
 * The Master and the Molotov (boss)
 * Russian Revolution (boss, and betrayal)
 * Roman's Sorrow (On the Phone only)
 * Hostile Negotiation (On the Phone only)
 * Union Drive (On the Phone only)
 * Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (On the Phone only)
 * If the Price is Right (On the Phone only)
 * A Revenger's Tragedy (killed, Deal)
 * A Dish Served Cold (killed, Revenge)

LCPD database record
Surname: Rascalov

First Name: Dimitri

Age: 39

Place of Birth: Russia

Affiliations:
 * Known associate of Mikhail Faustin.
 * Linked to Russian Organized Crime Syndicates throughout Liberty City.

Criminal Record:
 * 1998 - Extortion (Age 29)
 * 2000 - Hijacking (Age 31)

Notes:
 * Prior murder convictions in Russia.
 * Exploited a loophole in the immigration treaty to gain US residency in the mid 90s.
 * Believed to be the right hand man of Mikhail Faustin, the Russian national in control of organized crime in the Hove Beach area.
 * Reported dealings with Russian mobster Kenny Petrovic and members of the Ancelotti Crime Syndicate.

Trivia

 * Dimitri is a Bulgarian name, not Russian. A more exact transcription for a Russian name is Dmitriy. This mistake may be due to Rockstar's poor knowledge of most non-English languages or it may be due to out of story reasons.
 * During the game's final battle, Dimitri has 100 body armor as well as 200 health, allowing him to sustain about 3 times as much damage as a standard enemy. He is also armed with an Assault Rifle. This does not apply if he is been confronted in the "A Dish Served Cold" mission in the "Revenge" story path, where he has normal health, no armor, and carries a Sub-Machine Gun.
 * Like many other characters, Dimitri features distinctive models for cutscenes and in-game sequences. However, Dimitri's in-game model is inconsistent with that of the cutscenes in that his tie is been fused with his shirt and textured to match its color, when cutscences depict his tie in pink and capable of swinging in motion. Despite these differences, the shape of the "fused" tie can still be seen on Dimitri's in-game model, particularly during "A Dish Served Cold". After Niko has executed Dimitri in this mission however, the tie does not appear on Dimitri's corpse. The frame of his glasses is also different: Black in cutscenes and yellow in-game.
 * Dimitri's cousin was a girlfriend of Lenny Petrovic before his death. This is probably the reason why Dimitri could make a deal with Kenny Petrovic after Mikhail Faustin's hit.
 * Dimitri's favorite radio station is Vladivostok FM.
 * After completing Union Drive, a Weazel News report on the radio will say that Russian businessman Dimitri Rascalov was held by police but released without charges though this event has nothing to do with the story. Although it does show that the police suspect him or know what he's up to and that he knows how to cover his tracks.
 * If the Revenge option is taken, Dimitri, along with Vinnie, is the only antagonist not to be killed in the final mission.
 * Dimitri seems to have become very powerful after taking control of Faustins gang as he has managed to set up numerous drug operations in Charge Island and Alderney and has become a serious problem for various powerful criminals and politicians, such as Jon Gravelli, Bobby Jefferson and Bryce Dawkins.
 * Maybe his surname is wordplay, Rascal+ov(means "son of ~" in Russian, see Ivan Bytchkov).

Murders committed

 * James Pegorino (only in the "Deal" storyline)