Avi

*"Russian cocksucker!"*
—Avi's parting words to Viggo
**Avi** was the counselor, personal assistant, and close friend of Russian crime lord Viggo Tarasov who worked as a high-level member of the Tarasov Mob. After Viggo's son Iosef antagonized John Wick by stealing his car and killing his dog, Avi became entangled in the resulting chaos and was ultimately killed by Wick as the latter vengefully dismantled Viggo's entire criminal empire.

## History

### *John Wick*

After Viggo Tarasov was informed that his son Iosef killed John Wick's puppy and stole his car, Tarasov headed back to his flat. He was welcomed by Avi, who tells him that business partners of his have agreed to Viggo's terms. When Avi congratulated Viggo, he realized that Viggo's mind is elsewhere. Viggo does not react to the news at all but only asked whether Avi saw his son around.

When Iosef was called before Viggo, Avi was present as well and jovially asks Iosef how his trip was. Avi was shocked when Viggo started beating up Iosef for his idiocy and makes half-hearted attempts to stop Viggo. When Avi wanted to leave the room, Viggo told him to remain where he is.

Avi was present when Viggo later called John to make amends and witnessed John hang up on Viggo. Viggo then told Avi to round up a crew. When Avi asked how many men Viggo needs, Viggo replied by asking Avi how many he has. The men were sent to John's house to kill him before he can start hunting down Iosef, but John brutally killed all of them. When Avi tells Viggo, Viggo ordered him to put a bounty of two million dollars on Wick's head. He also ordered to send Iosef to the club *Red Circle* as bait for Wick.

Avi was contacted by Ms. Perkins, an assassin of the Continental. She tells Avi that John is at the hotel and that she was willing to take him out, despite the Continental's rules stating that no "business" may be done on the premises. When Avi tells Viggo, he decides to reward Perkins' bold offer by doubling the price of the bounty.

The next day, Avi and Viggo are informed that Wick has attacked Viggo's private money stash and has burned it down. When they arrive at the church where the money was hidden, they are ambushed by John on the way out. Avi dives for cover immediately, hiding until Viggo's henchman Kirill takes out Wick by driving his car into him.

After Iosef has been killed by Wick, Viggo, Avi, and some henchmen head to the house of Marcus, one of the assassins who was sent after John, and deliberately failed all attempts to kill Wick as the legendary assassin is an old friend of his. They ambush Marcus when he comes home. Avi waits outside while Viggo beats up Marcus, who is eventually killed by Viggo and Perkins. When Viggo is done, Avi calls one of his men and tells him to fuel the chopper. Avi, Viggo and Viggo's remaining men then head to the docks where they intend to escape John's wrath by leaving the city via helicopter.

Arriving at the docks, they notice that they are followed by Wick. While Viggo laughed insanely when he sees this, Avi panicked. He also asked for a gun. Eventually, they were forced to stop the car and send out the remaining men. While Wick takes out henchman after henchman, Avi frantically searched the car for a gun until he was handed one by Viggo. Taking the gun, Avi left the car, leaving the almost frighteningly calm Viggo behind. Avi made a run for the helicopter and fires his gun at John but was shot in the side by Wick. Wick then drives his car towards Avi, drifting so that he slams into Avi with the side of his car. While Avi almost dies of the impact, Viggo frontally drives his car into Wicks' car, causing it to slide over the dying Avi and killing him.

## Abilities

* **Marksman**: Some pistol skills as he almost shot John from a distance of over 20 meters.

## Notes and Trivia

The actor who plays Avi, Dean Winters, is also a stuntman. Winters is also known for playing the character "Mayhem" in Allstate insurance commercials [1].

## External links

* Avi at IMDB.com
* Dean Winters at Wikipedia