Vladimir Glebov

"And Roman... tell this fucking yokel here if he doesn't stop staring at me, I'll have his head chopped off and put a film of it on the internet!"

- Vlad Glebov to Roman Bellic, referring to Niko Bellic, in It's Your Call.



Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov (Russian: Владимир Глебов) is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as the quaternary antagonist in Grand Theft Auto IV, appearing as the first antagonist in the first half of the storyline and a cameo character in The Lost and Damned.

Vlad was a senior member of the Faustin Family operating in Hove Beach, a community in Liberty City with predominantly Eastern European residents. He made his income from loan sharking and racketeering in Broker, initially targeting weak Russians to intimidate. He was the owner of Comrades Bar, where he often carried out orders to those he employed. Vlad was also a frequent cocaine user, which was usually supplied to him by his boss, Mikhail Faustin. His demise occurred when Niko Bellic arrived in Liberty City. Niko was the cousin of Roman Bellic, whom was in debt to Vlad. Niko murdered Vlad after finding out he had been sleeping with Roman's girlfriend, Mallorie Bardas.

Early life
Vladimir Glebov was born in 1967 in Russia. His early life during his childhood and adolescence is unknown, although it is stated that he has a sister. During the late-1980s, Vlad affiliated himself with two Russian mobsters: Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov, and possibly served in Faustin's organization as an enforcer for a while.

Liberty City
In the late-1990s, the Faustin Bratva relocated to the United States of America, settling into the Hove Beach neighborhood of Liberty City. Vlad purchased and began operating in Comrades Bar, where he regularly held meetings with his associates. During his time in Liberty City, Vlad had become a high-ranked member of the organization, working as the Mafia's debt collector.

He was arrested in 2002 for public nudity, again in 2003 for sexual assault, and once more in 2004 for extortion.

In 2005, Vlad met a man named Roman Bellic who was in a large amount of debt from gambling. Roman borrowed money from Vlad, but was unable to pay him back for a while. Roman's girlfriend, Mallorie Bardas began having sex with Vlad to prevent Roman from being hurt for not being able to pay his debts.

Vlad and his crew protected Roman from Dardan Petrela and Bledar Morina, two Albanian loan sharks that he was also indebted to.

At an unknown point in time, Vlad began using cocaine, eventually becoming addicted to it.

Events of Grand Theft Auto IV
Sometime in 2008, Roman's cousin Niko moved to Liberty City; Vlad took an interest in Niko's ability to fight and forced him into paying off Roman's debts by participating in illicit activities. Vlad sent Niko to collect protection money from a Chinese shopkeeper, and later from a man named Muscovski, who owned a laundrette. Shortly after that, Niko stole a Blista Compact from a client called Jimmy, who refused to pay off his debt to Mikhail.

Ivan Bytchkov somehow angered Mikhail, and Vlad was ordered to take care of the situation. Niko was sent to kill Ivan, whom he can choose to spare. The latter option causes Ivan to appear in a random encounter in Alderney later on. Niko calls Vlad after the mission and claims to have killed Ivan, where Vlad suggests that he's had sex with Mallorie - this frustrates Niko, and he threatens to "break" Vlad if he said it to his face.

Death
Vlad is confronted by Niko at Comrades Bar after it is confirmed that he had been having an affair with Mallorie for the past three years. Following a brief, high-speed car chase across the neighborhood, Niko corners Vlad underneath the Algonquin Bridge. Vlad curses Niko for throwing his life away over Mallorie and threatens him that his boss Mikhail Faustin will most certainly track him and Roman down. Niko ignores the threat and shoots Vlad in the face, killing him instantly.

A shocked Roman argues with Niko over Vlad's killing and that they are going to be marked for death; Niko in turn talks about his experience in the war. Afterwards, Roman leaves and Niko dumps Vlad's corpse in the Humboldt River. Although Vlad's corpse isn't recovered, the news over his death quickly spread and true to his final words, Niko and Roman are kidnapped by Faustin.

Quite ironically, however, Mikhail decides to employ Niko and admits that he thought Vlad was an idiot, and claims that the only reason he kept Vlad employed was because he was having an affair with Vlad's sister.

Before Faustin and his men are killed by Niko later on at the Perestroika Club as part of a deal between Dimitri Rascalov and Kenny Petrovic for ordering Lenny Petrovic's death, he tells Niko that Dimitri is a treacherous rat and that he saved Niko's life because it was Dimitri, who insisted that Niko be killed for murdering Vlad in the first place.

Seeing as Vlad's body was never found, the LCPD database lists him as "missing".

Personality
Vlad is a bully with a short temper who shows little respect for anyone he comes across while also demanding an unreasonable amount of respect in return. As a debt collector, he instinctively threatens those who have not repaid him with violence, although he has enough self-control to not kill his debtors. He is also rather narcissistic, as he refers to both Niko and Roman as "serfs" and "yokels" while also referring to himself as good-looking, despite being similarly overweight to Roman and clearly unattractive. Nonetheless, he has a certain degree of charm which he uses to impress and seduce Mallorie Bardas, although this may have been due to her wanting to protect Roman from further physical harm as opposed to any liking for Vlad. Above all, Vlad is very arrogant and has an inflated sense of self-worth, as Faustin does not avenge his death, saying he only kept Vlad around so he could have sex with Vlad's sister.

Prominent Appearances in Missions

 * Grand Theft Auto IV
 * It's Your Call
 * Easy Fare
 * Bull in a China Shop (Boss)
 * Hung Out to Dry (Boss)
 * Clean Getaway (Boss)
 * Ivan the Not So Terrible (Boss)
 * Uncle Vlad (Killed)


 * The Lost and Damned
 * End Credits (Killed)

Trivia

 * In the first cutscene of Clean Getaway, there's a reference to the movie Midnight Cowboy where Vlad yells at the taxi "I'm walking here!". The part of the film which can be seen here.
 * This scene was seen in a trailer, which also showed that in the beta version of GTA IV, taxis were black instead of yellow.
 * There is a reference to another Rockstar game in one of his lines: he said "Bang Bang, you are dead" to Niko. This is a reference to Vladimir Lem from Max Payne, who often said this.
 * There is a possible reference to Vlad in a competing game, Saints Row 2. There is a commercial featuring a man named Vlad with an East European accent (Jason Zumwalt, the same voice actor that voices Roman), with hints that he is a human trafficker, and states that he is willing to have the radio listener’s family killed if they don’t buy a boat from the company the commercial is from.
 * Vladimir Glebov shares his name with the youngest son of Lev Kamenev, a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. Vladimir Glebov was the name of Lev's youngest son, and the only immediate relative to survive after Lev's execution, as the rest of his family was executed as well.
 * After the events of Weekend at Florian's, Mallorie calls Niko, saying that Roman confessed to her that he killed Vlad himself, and thanks Niko for helping him get rid of Vlad's body. Niko replies saying that the story is true and that Roman is "an old school romantic".
 * Aside from his distinguishable Russian accent, Vlad generally speaks grammatically poor English. A prime example is his answering machine message: "Hello, this is Vladimir's answer phone message. Be leaving a message for me after the buzz has been playing."
 * In Russian, "Vlad" is short for the name "Vladislav (Владислав)", not "Vladimir", where the short is "Vova (Вова)".

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