Avery Duggan

"I wanna lay my cards on the table. I don't give two fucks about who your family is or how many ninjas you got up your sleeve. Am I making myself clear?"

- Avery Duggan to Tao Cheng

Avery Duggan is a character in Grand Theft Auto Online, introduced in The Diamond Casino & Resort update as the main antagonist.

Background
Avery is the leader of a family of Texan petrochemical magnates who seeks to Asset Strip The Diamond Casino & Resort, but first tries to bankrupt it in order to force the owners to sell it at rock bottom prices.

He is a wealthy businessman, who is described as having multiple investments all over the world. In San Andreas, his investments are primarily in oil and natural gas. He has a reputation for being extremely ruthless in order to get what he wants.

It is stated that in the beginning the Duggans actually helped bail the casino's owners out of debt during construction because they were struggling financially. However, as soon as the Casino was completed, Avery viewed it as a waste of money and decided to asset-strip it and redevelop the land for other means, making a consistent profit in the process.

He has a nephew named Thornton Duggan who appears to be his direct successor to the family business. The two of them struggle to get along because Thornton is often appalled by the extent of his uncle's ruthlessness.

Events of Grand Theft Auto Online
In 2019, Avery Duggan and his associates began causing trouble for the newly opened Diamond Casino & Resort in Los Santos, seeking a hostile takeover of the business. The protagonist is contacted by both the casino's new manager, Agatha Baker, and the casino's owner, Tao Cheng, for help in attempting to make peace with Avery and thwart his attempts to force them into bankruptcy.

In the mission Casino - House Keeping, Avery pays several thugs to start brawls and vandalize casino property, in order to damage the Casino's public image and equipment. The Diamond's Head of Security, Vincent, asks the protagonist to help put a stop to this, and after defusing a fight and retrieved a Thrax from a group of "hillbillies", they earn a ton of gratitude from Ms. Baker.

In the mission Casino - Strong Arm Tactics, Tao agrees to meet with Avery to make a deal and avoid further interferences with his business. But Duggan is irremovable, as he states that there won't be any negotiation if not the decision of the price at which the Casino will sold, and states that doesn't fear at all the Cheng Family's triads. Tao, under effect of Brucie Kibbutz's steroids, and aggravated by his last sentence, angrily points his gun to Avery, which, outraged by this act and tired of Cheng's stubbornness, decides to get rid of his rival using legitimate defense, and orders his body guards to gun down Tao and his associates. However the protagonists fend off the ambush and make a getaway to the Pacific Bluffs Country Club to plan their next move.

Tao, now furious, decides to hire the protagonist to foil Avery's plans. In the mission Casino - Play to Win, the protagonist destroys most of Avery's gasoline supplying network. This prompts him to retaliate in the mission Casino - Bad Beat, where he hires a large crew of Professionals to shoot up the casino, in order to destroy all the equipment and cause a police lockdown of the Casino, compromising irredeemably the business. Thornton Duggan falls out with his uncle at this point and arrives at the casino shortly before Avery's mercenaries to warn everyone of the impending attack. Despite the overwhelming force, the attack is repelled by the protagonist.

Despite Duggan's plan has flopped, he managed to show his strength. Tao's uncle in Hong Kong contacts Ms. Baker and orders her to sell the casino immediately, fearing further retaliations from the Duggans and Police attention. Because Tao's uncle provided most of the funding to renovate the casino, neither Ms. Baker nor Tao can refuse him. As everyone is preparing to move their belongings and search for new jobs, Thornton suddenly shows up again with an offer. He offers to buy the casino at a 20% increase value per stock, and to not liquidate the asset. But, Thornton admits he won't have that kind of money to spend unless his uncle dies, which will result in Thornton receiving his full inheritance. Avery rented the La Fuente Blanca ranch and that's where he's residing.

Once again, everybody turns to the protagonist for help, so in the mission Casino - Cashing Out, the ranch is stormed. When Duggan's security guards aren't able to stop the protagonists, Avery calls in an evac helicopter to rapidly get out of the area. The protagonist gives chase and shoots down the helicopter, successfully killing Avery.

In the aftermath, Tao and his translator board a private jet heading "west" (implicitly China) and Thornton becomes the new owner of the Diamond Casino & Resort. He happily expresses his gratitude to the protagonist for killing his uncle. Thornton decides that the casino will remain the way it is with no significant changes (besides firing Vincent), but tells Ms. Baker that he expects to see twice the profit the casino already makes.

Personality
In his only appearance, Avery is shown to be a very acquisitive, vindictive and tenacious man. Despite his ruthlessness in business and the use of illegitimate means to obtain what he wants, even hurting people if necessary, he is shown to be a smooth-talker as well as well mannered, indeed he politely welcomes his guests, kindly reprimands his nephew when he inadvertently interrupts him, and doesn't mind Tao's rude behavior. But when he doesn't get what he wants he immediately becomes irritated and doesn't hesitate to intimidate whoever isn't collaborating.

He also shows a bit of misogyny towards Agatha Baker, as he describes her as a "Ball-Buster", and sends her away from the meeting, diminishing her saying that the deal was high above her pay grade, clearly annoyed by her managerial position. He is also hinted at holding some racist views, as he both ignorantly and mockingly told Tao Cheng that he does not care "how many ninjas he has up his sleeve", a remark disrespectful enough to prompt the offended and angered Tao into drawing his pistol.

Appearance
Avery appears as average height Caucasian man, with very light skin, short hair, trimmed Van-Dyke beard and light pale blue, almost grey eyes, in contrast to his nephew: Thornton, who is more tanned, and has light brown eyes.

He wears an informal broken suit, composed by a peak lapels brown blazer, blue striped business shirt, slim beige slacks and reddish brown loafers. He also has unique western wear items unobtainable in the game: an off white cowboy hat, a golden plated belt and a Bolo Tie.

Prominent Appearances in Missions

 * Grand Theft Auto Online
 * Casino - Strong Arm Tactics
 * Casino - Cashing Out (Killed)

Trivia

 * Avery Duggan is the third real estate developer in the Grand Theft Auto series to be named Avery. The others are Avery Carrington and Lenny Avery.
 * Avery Duggan is remarkably similar to Avery Carrington from the 3D Universe.
 * Both are real estate developers from Texas who use illegitimate tactics to manipulate property value.
 * They also both dress in a cowboy fashion (including a cowboy hat), have similar facial features, and even share the same first name. (However, while Avery Carrington only sports a bolo-tie in artwork, Duggan actually wears one in game; the first character in the series to do so.)
 * Both are also assassinated by a protagonist by order of their protégés.
 * Avery Duggan is the third major antagonist to be introduced in Grand Theft Auto Online, after Avon Hertz and Cliffford.
 * Personality-wise, he shares a couple of similarities with Avon, namely a lack of regard for law and order or human life. This is seen in the mission "Casino - Bad Beat", when his henchmen attack the Diamond Casino & Resort while civilians are present and resort to shooting anyone who gets in the way of their objective, which is to sabotage the building.
 * In the final missions where they are ultimately confronted, both attempt to get away in an aircraft, with Avon riding in a Thruster and Avery riding in a Frogger with their henchmen aiding them in their attempted escape. However, both would be ultimately shot down and killed by the GTA Online Protagonist.
 * Most of his "so-called" henchmen appear to be members of The Professionals gang.
 * In the mission "Casino - Bad Beat", one of his henchmen appears on the casino's roof wearing Ballistic Equipment. This implies that Avery might have connections with private military contractors, given that military-grade body armor is usually inaccessible to civilians.

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