Josh Kovaks

### Goals

Steal Arthur Shaw’s reserve money as payback for Shaw stealing and losing all The Tower’s staff’s pensions and redistribute it back to the employees
Force the federal government into letting his colleagues walk free

### Crimes

Theft
Conspiracy
Obstruction of justice
Vandalism

### Type of MB

Successful Benevolent Boss

**Josh Kovaks** is the main protagonist of *Tower Heist*.

He was the building manager of the luxury apartment complex, The Tower, who deduced that his “friend” and board member Arthur Shaw betrayed him and was really guilty of embezzling billions of dollars and swindling all the pensions of the employees of the Towers that Kovacs entrusted to Shaw to invest. He proceeds to enact a plot to rob Shaw’s apartment to find and steal Shaw’s secret $20 million in reserve to give back to all the employees.

## What Makes Him Magnificent?

* He is a charismatic, benevolent boss who runs the apartment complex, The Tower, with precision and efficiency, knowing all the ins and outs about the building and tenants.
* He deduced that Shaw really was guilty of what the FBI accused him of after Shaw didn’t even care to ask if his “good friend” Lester was alive or dead after they informed him that he stepped in front of a subway train due to losing all his money by investing with Shaw.
* Although initially a rookie criminal due to lack of experience, he quickly evolves into a true mastermind and acts as the voice of reason within the main characters.
* After Agent Bennett drunkenly told him about Shaw’s secret $20 million in reserve, Kovaks rallied a set of completely different people, with relevant skills, to agree to help him steal the money.
* He correctly deduced that Shaw was hiding a secret safe in a wall in the penthouse which was the only part of the penthouse he didn’t remodel back in 2003.
* When it turned out his childhood friend turned petty thief, Slide, never actually broken into a safe before, Kovaks improvised and convinced Tower staff member, Odessa, to join their plan, remembering Odessa had experience working with her locksmith father and that she likely could break into the lock.
* He impersonated the clerk of the judge in Shaw’s case to trick the FBI into thinking the court date was moved up to Thanksgiving, getting Shaw and nearly every agent but one out of the tower at once and where the large Thanksgiving parade would stall them from coming back once they realized Kovak’s deception and allow the team to blend in to sneak into the building.
* Improvising for the fact that Charlie had abandoned the team beforehand and had taken his old job as building manager, Kovaks had Enrique steal his sister’s/Charlie’s wife’s phone to text Charlie and trick him into thinking she was having the baby now, making him to rush out the building.
* Knowing some security guards would go out to see the popular float of Snoopy, he and his team slipped in from behind right after security and others went out to see the float.
* He had Odessa distract the entire staff by throwing a birthday party for staff member Huang, who couldn’t speak English and thus inform the others that it wasn’t his birthday, so the rest of the team could sneak across the room and into the elevator to the penthouse.
* He improvised for the fact that the traitor Slide was attempting to steal the money for himself and took the elevator the team to the penthouse was supposed to use, by having them go up the stairs to get there and on the way, going to the elevator control room and manually shutting it down to stall Slide.
* He successfully deduced where Shaw’s hidden safe was using the other end of a sledgehammer before smashing the wall to reveal it.
* Unlike Enrique and Mr. Fitzhugh, he refused to cow to Slide when he pulled a gun on them and showed no fear.
* After all hope seemed loss when the safe was revealed to be empty and a brief fight broke out and single gunshot was fired and hit Shaw’s Ferrari, Josh deduced from the bullet wound that the entire car was made out of gold, which was how Shaw had hidden the stolen money (worth approximately 45 million) all along.
* He thought up an ambitious plan on the spot to successfully take the whole car out of the penthouse and into the elevator shaft.
* Upon finding Shaw’s secret ledger and Agent Bennett and the FBI returning after realizing they were being played, Josh had Lester drive Slide’s stolen truck out right out of the building onto the parade as a diversion, buying enough time for the rest of the group to hide the car and leave the building.
* Knowing he would be arrested by Agent Bennett, Josh reveals to a smug Shaw that they found his ledger, wiping the smug look off his face and mockingly telling him that he learned the chess move Shaw told him of “sacrificing his queen”.
* When interrogated by the FBI, he revealed the ledger as bombshell evidence, detailing all of Shaw’s fraudulent business practices before using it to blackmail the FBI into letting all of his colleagues go in exchange for the ledger and him getting two years in prison.
* Ulitmately, what the FBI failed to realize was that Josh and his team never left The Tower with the car, but instead hid it under the pool cover of the penthouse all along, allowing the rest of the team, once Josh secured their release, to melt down the car into golden parts and distribute them back to The Tower’s employees. In the end, Josh succeeded in his goals despite going to prison and the final scene is him going to prison with a triumphant smile.

## What Makes Him a Baddie?

* He stole from a store as part of his first criminal lesson from Slide.
* He impersonated a judge’s clerk to scam the FBI into thinking Shaw’s court date was getting moved up, so Kovaks could enact his robbery plan.
* He was willing to shoot an FBI agent, only not doing so for pragmatic reasons.
* He had Lester drive a stolen truck onto a parade as a diversion, putting several civilian lives at risk.