The Animal

**⚠ This page contains canonical information added by Ima Crook which has not yet been mentioned in the Ima Crook Universe (ICU). This page contains spoilers.**

## Biographical Information

### Affiliations

* Siobhan Boyle
* Raul Krueger
* Ezekiel Boateng
* Ryker Tyler
* Steve Hearn
* Phil Foreman

## Additional Information

### Appearances

Vice Part One

James Ibrahim (known only as "The Animal") is Raul Krueger's top lieutenant and leader of Da Bois in the Ima Crook Universe (ICU).

## Biography

### Early Life

Little is known about The Animal's upbringing but he grew up somewhere in London with his younger brother Tommy Ibrahim. At some point before the events of Vice Part One, The Animal joins Raul Krueger's crime syndicate, eventually rising to become his top lieutenant. According to Steve Hearn, Raul often worries The Animal is becoming too powerful, suggesting his influence may even rival Raul's.

### Events of Vice Part One

During the events of Vice Part One, Steve promises The Animal a considerable slice of his earnings from the W.M. Pharma heist he committed with Phil Foreman, Rose McClane, Casey Russo and Ricardo Moreno Vega, likely to win favor with The Animal. Upon hearing this, The Animal sets up a multi-million dollar arms deal with the Rattlesnakes MC and Al-Husan using Steve's cut of the heist to buy a cache of military weapons to resell to either Al-Husan or The Makarov Family, promising Raul a hefty slice of the profits.

When The Trio fail to pay Steve, The Animal and his crew fly out to Miami to confront them. The trio fail to pay on time causing The Animal to use his own money to finance the deal. However, unbeknownst to The Animal, Steve and Phil are acting as double agents for the trio and sabotage the arms deal. The trio show up to the meeting and start shooting, trying to steal the guns. The Animal makes it out alive and returns to England but leaves Siobhan behind to ensure they get the money from the trio by any means necessary, which they eventually do.

Steve later tells Rose that Raul was enraged at The Animal's failure and exiled him from London, sending him to head his smuggling operation from Wales; something Steve sees as a promotion for The Animal. Steve suggests that the move, which is bound to only further increase The Animal's wealth, was a way for Raul to get The Animal away from him because he was growing paranoid at The Animal's influence, fearing a hostile takeover. While we don't know for sure what the reason was, Steve thinks The Animal's failure, which came at no expense to Raul, was just an excuse for Raul to kick him out of London.

## Personality

The Animal is an aggressive character prone to bouts of rage which may be how he acquired his nickname. Despite this, he's constantly described as highly intelligent and calculating with some characters going as far as to suggest his head is more dangerous than his fists.

The Animal doesn't place his trust in many people, but when he does trust somebody he trusts them with his life. Because of this, The Animal keeps his crew small and looks after those he trusts very well. For such an ambitious and intelligent character, The Animal's refusal to carry out a hostile takeover of Raul's empire, even when his power and influence rivals Raul's, may be down to blind loyalty. Loyalty is the trait The Animal values most and he appears to return loyalty to those who are loyal to him, even when it comes to his detriment. The Animal keeps his close circle small but it's clear he'd die for anybody in it (much as they would do the same for him). When bullets start flying in High Hills, The Animal's main priority was getting his crew out of there. He wasn't concerned with keeping the guns or returning fire - he just wanted to get his crew to safety, even at the expense of his reputation. This could suggest his fearless reputation is overblown, or it could show that nothing in more important to The Animal than his close circle, all of which were with him at the time of the ambush.

The Animal doesn't seem particularly interested in acquiring influence and power and is more interested in accumulating wealth for himself and those around him. Interestingly, although The Animal is described as a highly aggressive character, and we do witness a flash of this aggression in Vice, he seems far more level-headed and business-minded than many of the people around him (such as Raul and Siobhan).

The Animal appears to be a very good judge of character and excellent at reading people. He's fluent in English, Spanish and Arabic.

## Relationships

### Friendships

#### Siobhan Boyle

The Animal is closer to Siobhan than he is to anybody. He trusts her with his life and would both kill and die for her, much as she would do the same for him. Despite how close the two are, Steve makes it very clear their close friendship isn't romantic or sexual. It's unknown how the two met or why they became so close but it's evident that Siobhan stands out as The Animal's right-hand woman and he has trust in her that he doesn't have even for people within his circle.

### Acquaintances

#### Raul Krueger

Although little is known about The Animal's relationship with Raul Krueger, he quickly rose to become his top lieutenant. In Vice Part Two, Double Barrel Darrell mentions a stick-up he did with The Animal in 2015-2016 (when The Animal was 15 years old), suggesting The Animal has been working for Raul for at least eight years as of the events of Vice. Given The Animal's young age at the time, it's possible Raul helped groom him into the perfect lieutenant, though this is just speculation. The dynamic between Raul and The Animal mirrors Rose McClane's statement about the Miami Police Department's vice department - Raul is the hot-headed leader while The Animal is his smart, (mostly) level-headed second in command.

What is known about The Animal's relationship with Raul mostly comes from the opinions of Steve Hearn, who thinks Raul feels threatened by The Animal's influence. Raul is also known to be disapproving of Siobhan Boyle with Steve suggesting Raul would've had her killed a long time ago if it wasn't for The Animal. This suggests Raul may bend to The Animal's wishes. This could be because Raul understands The Animal's value and doesn't want to risk losing him or it could be because Raul was worried The Animal, who is known to be extremely protective of Siobhan, might try to dethrone Raul if Raul brought harm to Siobhan.

It seems like The Animal's relationship with Raul is a temperamental one and survives only because The Animal seemingly has little desire to turn on Raul. Despite this, both Raul and the people close to The Animal seem to understand there is a very real possibility The Animal could dethrone Raul if he wanted to. This information, however, mostly comes from the opinions of Steve Hearn and the true measure of Raul's power is unknown.

#### Steve Hearn and Phil Foreman

***"The Animal ain't a geezer to fuck about."*** *- Steve Hearn*

The Animal is rather passive-aggressive to Steve and Phil, even seeming annoyed at their presence. The fact The Animal refuses to let Steve and Phil have a role in his criminal operations, despite their skills and proximity to Raul, suggests he may have been suspicious of the pair, sensing their loyalties weren't with him completely (which ultimately turns out to be the case).

## Trivia

* The Animal was the first ICU character Ima Crook conceptualized.
* Before she began writing Vice, Ima Crook was working on a limited series screenplay titled Murder Street which saw The Animal as one of the central characters.
	+ The entire Vice story was already planned and Murder Street was going to take place around three years after Vice with The Animal heading up his operations on Murder Street and the surrounding locations. Many characters from Murder Street ended up featuring in Vice.