Ryan Lazarow

[DWNFRC]

When asked, Ryan Lazarow would tell you that he was born with an unstoppable work ethic. It just took him almost twenty years to figure it out.

 

The household he grew up in was new money, his father running an environmental consultancy company that rode the wave of certain EU obligation programs and incentives. Essentially, all the councils and employers in the UK were held over a barrel by legislation unless they took certain steps to improve their safety and efficiency.

 

Because of the success of this business, Ryan grew up wanting for nothing. He had a Rolex at fifteen, a sports car at seventeen, he even arrived at his university prom in a helicopter. Yet among his friends, he never much liked to talk about where the money came from...largely because he didn’t entirely understand it. As far as he cared, it was there for him to enjoy.

 

Having an easy life did not suit Ryan at all. He acted out, pushing the boundaries and seeing what he could get away with. He had a penchant for organising parties in places he had not sought permission to do so. Other people’s houses, pre-booked wedding venues, a cider factory, etc. Naturally, this caused him to knock heads with the police on more than one occasion, but it seemed like his father always knew someone who knew somehow who could make all the trouble just...go away.

 

The embarrassment this caused his parents was exasperating. When he was about to graduate university with a degree in business studies, they told him that they could expect their funding of his lifestyle to stop as soon as he joined the real world. For reasons he could not explain, this did not worry him. He figured that perhaps they were bluffing and there was no reason for the party to stop now.

 

Then his father became ill. Mesothelioma, the doctors said. A chronic and, sadly, terminal lung condition for which there was no treatment. The condition was caused by asbestos. Ryan had heard the term. He knew it was a dangerous substance that was part of his father’s work. With idle curiosity, he decided for the first time to find out more about what his father actually did.

 

It turned out that asbestos was a big part of it. His company would simply take bags of the stuff away from building sites and other company facilities and dispose of it. And they charged a huge amount of money for doing it. However, because his father had been a salt-of-the-earth type of man, he had been involved in the day-to-day work and had not always taken the proper precautions. And that was how he had ended up with an asbestos related disease.

 

Even as his father was on his deathbed, Ryan couldn’t help but marvel at the simplicity of the business. All they had to do was remove and dispose of some dangerous crap that other people wouldn’t touch, and the money rolled in.

 

If that was true, how hard could making money be?

 

After Ryan’s father died, his mother made good on the threat and cut Ryan off from all funding, telling him that he had to make a go of living in the world by himself. Luckily, Ryan was just about ready to do exactly that.

 

He set up an environmental consultancy of his own, removing asbestos waste and other regulated materials and disposing of it however he could. He read up on all the related laws, but found them too onerous in practice and took a few opportunities to dump asbestos waste in quarries and other unacceptable places.

 

This caught up with him in 2012 when some children found several large pieces of asbestos insulating board blowing about the school playing field. The incident was widely publicised and Ryan was named as being responsible. It was serious. He could face jail time. Jail didn’t appeal, so Ryan fled the country instead.

 

He left the UK and settled in Los Santos. Older and wiser, he planned to apply the same work ethic and eye for opportunity in a new setting. He’d be a little cautious, but his experience had taught him that you didn’t win by playing exactly to the rules.

 

It was about that time that he crossed paths with a man named Bill Bacon, who was the CEO of a chemical company. Ryan took an interest in Bill, since there were many aspects of his work that sounded familiar. Bill, likewise, was intrigued by Ryan’s story (which he told quite candidly) and asked him if he would like a starter position at his company, Ardent Chemicals.

 

Things were looking up already.

 

The company seemed like a straightforward enough operation, but Ryan had met Bill and his sense for people told him that there was something going on under the surface. Something that was making the real money. When Bill was arrested in 2016, Ryan’s suspicions were confirmed. Unlike many of Ardents employees, Ryan chose to carry on working his best as though nothing had happened. He proved himself hardworking, resourceful and loyal. So much so that when Bill eventually came out of prison, he recognised that Ryan was a man he could count on.

 

That was when Bill introduced Ryan to the real Ardent Chemicals.

 

Positive and Negative Traits

 

Ryan exudes confidence, never really having known what it is like to have nothing. He adjusted seamlessly from having everything handed to him on a plate to being fearless and determined enough to take it for himself. He’s not afraid to trample the guy in front to get what he wants. At the same time, he is goal oriented and doesn’t fuck people over just for the sake of it.

 

Many of these traits of his are both a strength and a potential downfall. After all, the fact that he’s been riding the crest of success all his life - whether on the gravy-train or at the grindstone - means that he could well be due for a change in fortune, and it is yet to be seen how he would deal with that.

 

will add graphics/images/edit out as my time progresses within the city!

Edited March 2, 2021 by DWNFRC

[DomG]

 See you IC!