Iosif Sevchenko

Iosif Mykolayovych Sevchenko ( Иосиф Николаевич Шевченко; born February 20 1989), also known by the alias of Lyosha, is a soldier under the wing of the al-Najjar organisation operating across South Los Santos.
==Early life==
Iosif was born in what is presently the Russian Federation during the fall of the Soviet Union. As expected for a working class family of the time, they struggled amidst poverty, unrest and political turmoil as the Soviet Government fell into ruin and paved the way for a post-USSR Russia. Adding to these issues, Iosif's mother was of Ukranian birth and felt frequently unsafe amidst increasing nationalist sentiments and by the dawn of the 21st Century, the family decided that a fresh start would be for the best.
Via the aid of distant family who had defected to the United States several years before the fall of the wall, Iosif's family applied for and were granted US Citizenship and quickly moved to Los Santos to live with their Americanised relatives. Due in part to his youth and eagerness to blend in with the culture of his new-found homeland, Iosif quickly grasped the English language and began to shake off his accent.
==Crossing the threshhold==
Despite this all however, the family still lived a low-class lifestyle in an apartment close to the rougher 'Little Moscow' enclave in Eastern LS and Iosif himself had become somewhat fascinated with the media portrayal of criminal syndicates and the glorification of the money and power which they entailed, thinking of whether or not he could improve the quality of his life. With the aid of a distant cousin living nearby, the teenaged Iosif came into contact with a loose associate for the Russian Mafia operating in Los Santos and with the vouch of this cousin, found himself some work selling tax-free cigarettes and bootleg goods that might've caught the eye of the IRS every now and then. Initially it hadn't been anything especially appealing or profitable altogether, but it was a start and proved that Iosif wasn't just another dumb kid trying to play gangster.
Soon he found himself being granted enough trust to move onto activities higher up the ladder, fencing stolen goods and acting as a lookout for burglaries or narcotics deals, until eventually his associations brought him under the wing of Denis Atlahovics, a fellow Russian-speaker who had recently immigrated to the US from Latvia and had already established a name for himself working under the watch of another crew. Fascinated, Iosif offered to work for Denis instead after his Russian Mafia associate had attempted to fleece him off with goods nobody wished to buy and quickly found himself under the Latvian's wing.
==Rising up==
Together the two set about on small-time activities, cracking open loosely-guarded cargo shipments at the East Docks and breaking into the occasional apartment for cheap electronics to fence off, and it wasn't long before Denis finally introduced Iosif to one Nabil Zaafaran, an Egyptian-American who largely presided over the local crew of an organised crime syndicate, the Al-Najjar Gang. Iosif soon found work under Nabil's watch alongside his present association with Denis, and found himself becoming a closer-connected associate of the crew - even meeting Marouane al-Najjar, the head of the LS operation. Before long, Iosif found himself actively involved in the organisation's more notorious activities including robbery and weapons trafficking, earning himself a number of customers including the shotcaller of the Atlantica Disciples, a Bloods set operating in Willowfield.
It was also during this time thas with the money he had earned Iosif had been able to support his family - who had only held basic suspicions of his actions - and also found himself being able to afford a car, a 1997 BMW E38 730i which he came to cherish as one of his prized possessions. Shunning an apartment, Iosif rented out a room in Denis' Saint Marina beach house and remained close to his fellow associates and the al-Najjar hierarchy.
Yet, there were issues which arose during this time - another gang set by the name of the Crenshaw Boulevard Families had made a name for themselves in South-East LS in Sevile and whilst having originally been a reliable business associate of the al-Najjar crew, they had become more and more erratic to the point of attacking low-level criminal groups and other individuals with little reason other than to throw their weight around. It was during this that the Atlantica Disciples were largely wiped out by the CBF, leaving Iosif with a permanent hatred for their set due in no small part to the fact that he'd known a close friend in Atlantica. Out of spite and under the orders of the hierarchy, Iosif specifically avoided trafficking weaponry to those associated with the CBF and instead provided high-end hardware to their opponents.
Earning for the crew had placed Iosif on the map for the hierarchy, and soon enough under the watchful eyes of both Nabil and Denis he was elevated to a soldier, granting him better access to weaponry which could be trafficked in addition to placing him at a point of authority and respect over the lower level associates. He formed links with a local motorcycle club known as the Iron Horsemen and placed them in contact with Nabil and aided in arrangements to contribute to the downfall of Crenshaw. One Nagib al-Quarmoti, a fellow soldier within the organisation and a childhood friend of Nabil's, placed Iosif in contact with an up-and-rising Crips set and their leader, WT, whilst also working alongside him.
Soon enough, Iosif had enough funds to move into a house on the edge of Glen Park but at the same time he'd all-but fallen out of favour with his family over his involvement in what they'd figured out to be something illicit.
==Brutality==
During one of these jobs, Nagib mentioned a rumour pushed over to him by one of WT's subordinates regarding a number of cannibalistic murders in the hills above Las Colinas and admitted that he was interested in viewing the spot for the purpose of finding an isolated place to dispose of unwanted evidence or such. Travelling up to the hills, the two were met with grisly sights; a shack with blood, ropes and bottles of bleach scattered all over whilst nearby there was a rusted old muscle car with a warning scraped into the hood, 'GET OUT', alongside a torso which lacked limbs or a head resting in the driver's seat. Traumatised by what they'd seen and unable to simply walk away and forget the ordeal, the two plotted revenge. Burning both the shack and the car, the two later discovered the killers in the woods riding on a dirt bike, and after running one down in Iosif's car and beating the other to a bloody pulp, Nagib used a chainsaw borrowed from Nabil to dismember both men whilst Iosif kept them down with a shovel in the calf.
Leaving the remains to be discovered as something of a memorial to the victims of the atrocities committed by the two serial killers, Iosif and Nagib quickly retreated to the former's home and found themselves severely affected by what they had witnessed and even more so by what they had done. Whilst Nagib initially slept easy, Iosif found himself drinking at night to avoid the nightmares and before long Nagib was unable to sleep either. Soon enough, the changes were visible; Nagib became more brutal and less sympathetic, willing to inflict pain on those who he viewed as problem people as a means to an end whilst also beginning to enjoy it to an extent, whilst Iosif slowly became unphased by the sight of bodies or violence.
As well as business partners, the two had become close friends due to the understanding of their ordeal and were seldom seen working apart, but Nagib's especially brutal and violent methods would soon catch up to them; one businessman by the name of James Crow had frequently refused to pay protection money to Nabil even after being harrassed by gang thugs and his property set alight, and Nagib's patience had run thin until he'd decided that the best option would be to kidnap and frighten the man into paying. Of course, this was not without difficulties; a witness saw Iosif and another associate, Nassim, dragging off Crow at gunpoint before fleeing and ironically enough, the man had been taken to the remains of the shack in the Las Colinas Hills as a show of force.
One thing led to another and Nagib ended up sawing off two of Crow's fingers before he finally promised to pay what he owed. Yet, as things never went to plan - Iosif, Nagib and Nassim were later pulled over by a police cruiser. Unfortunately for Nassim, he was found with the gun on his person and ultimately earned a lengthy sentence whilst Iosif and Nagib were lucky enough to be set free due to a lack of evidence, though both men knew the police would have eyes on them for some time.
Advised to lay low by Marouane and Nabil, Iosif was more than compliant to the suggestion whilst Nagib, unable to stand the heat and pressure, opted to flee LS without much of a warning except for a simple word with Iosif. Working solo again, Iosif was less than pleased at the departure of his business partner and close friend, but decided to press on if only to sustain his lifestyle.
Yet, only a month later did Nagib return - except the man had all but fallen out of favour with the organisation over his unexpected departure, not least with Nabil who'd personally took offence to a childhood friend leaving without warning. Nagib's aggressive tendencies became more obvious, he'd find himself provoked into open arguments with low-level associates of the organisation such as Abdullah Rehman and Anas Abdul Fattah, both of whom neither Iosif nor any of the others in the hiearachy regarded with any significant deal of respect outside of their occasional use.
In private, Nagib admitted that sometimes he thought as if there was an urge to kill someone for the sake of satiating his violent urges, but Iosif frequently tried to reassure him otherwise. And to make matters even worse, just as Nagib had been getting back on track, even moving in down the road from Iosif's home, both Anas and Abdullah ended any hopes he'd had of returning to the organisation and shot Nagib on his doorstep after a verbal confrontation.
It wasn't until a day later than Iosif learned of what had happened, but when he did he'd been close to personally kicking down their doors and tearing open both mens' ribcages, had it not been for Den's reassurances that there would be retribution. Greenlighted for removal by the hierarchy, Anas was dealt with first whilst Iosif personally oversaw Abdullah's execution, much to his satisfaction. In the following weeks, he mourned the loss of a friend and became prone to violent outbursts, but same as before he eventually overcame these issues by placing them behind him and thinking forwards, yet all the same he became that little bit colder towards those he viewed as enemies.
==Recent==
In recent times, Iosif became associated with an old friend of Denis', one Eriks Kocetovs, who had only recently arrived in the country. As it happened, Eriks became the new proprieter of the Hamam Dalai spa on the Saint Marina Pier and viewing it as an opportunity, Iosif earned himself a security contract. Also, in another effort to put the past behind him - as Abdullah had been executed close to his own home - Iosif moved out of Glen Park and into a new house by the Saint Marina canals, hoping to enjoy a better standard of living with his current financial situation.
==Personality==
Iosif is a man who could be viewed as friendly, loyal and outgoing towards those he trusts whilst particularly vulgar, crude and threatening towards those who he views as having wronged him or otherwise gone against his interests. He often spurs flashy sports cars such as Nissan and Mitsubishi - both of which he particularly despises due to the fact they're asian 'rice-cars' in his eyes - instead preferring cars he percieves as having a certain 'class' such as BMW and Mercedes, the former of which is a particular favourite of his. When pushed beyond the limits of his temper or otherwise required to do so as a means to an end, Iosif is quick to act violently whilst in other circumstances he might offer crude sarcasm or humour as insults. The only exception to this is in the presence of women and children, the former of which he takes disdain in harming unless it's a means to an end whilst the latter of which he outright refuses to involve. He often proves loyal and true to those he views as friends or trustworthy allies, often going out of his way to aid them even when it might be of little to no personal gain to himself.
Unlike most of his close friends, Iosif has so far shied away from a committed relationship due to the nature of his lifestyle and his fear of facing the same circumstances of dealing with a partner's mental instabilities as seen with Den and Nabil. He almost regards members of the opposite sex with a certain distrust, if only out of his past experiences in seeing so-called 'friends' turn on each other over petty issues.
Category:Character