John Wick Codexery

Assassination of Viggo Tarasov

The end of an old war signals a new era for the underworld.

The Assassination of Viggo Tarasov marks the definitive end of one of the saga's most formidable antagonists. As the boss of New York City's Russian Mafia and the father of Iosef Tarasov, Viggo became John Wick's target after Iosef's gang killed John's puppy and stole his car.

Quick Facts

Subject
Viggo Tarasov
Affiliation
Russian Mafia
Status
Deceased
First appearance
John Wick (2014)

Lore & Background

Viggo had once employed John as a hitman and set him the 'impossible task' that earned John his freedom. When his son provoked John, Viggo put a $2 million bounty on him and enlisted John's former mentor, Marcus, to kill him; when Marcus's duplicity was revealed, Viggo had him tortured and killed.

Reader's Guide

After John destroys Viggo's cache of cash and blackmail material in a church and kills Iosef at a safe house, Winston tells him that Viggo is preparing to leave the city by helicopter. John races to New York Harbor, where he fights and mortally wounds Viggo at the climax of the first film, John Wick (2014). In John Wick: Chapter 2, John recovers his stolen Mustang from Viggo's brother Abram, who is shaken by the recent deaths of his nephew Iosef and his brother Viggo at John's hands.

More in Story & Timeline

Elsewhere in John Wick

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