Steve Haines

Steve Haines is a senior FIB agent who leads Dave Norton's unit and presents The Underbelly Of Paradise, a television programme about Los Santos crime. Behind the public persona, he works corruptly with Andreas Sanchez and maintains ties to Devin Weston. After the Vangelico robbery resembles Michael Townley's old methods, Haines discovers that Dave concealed Michael's survival and life as Michael De Santa. He uses Dave's secret to force Michael, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips into FIB work.

Haines first brings the three men into an operation against the IAA. From a helicopter above Los Santos, he monitors Michael and Franklin as they abduct the IAA prisoner Ferdinand Kerimov from the IAA Headquarters, while Trevor holds the helicopter crew. Haines later meets Michael, Trevor, Dave and Sanchez at an abandoned warehouse. He has Trevor interrogate Kerimov, then sends Michael and Dave after Tahir Javan. When Javan is dead, Haines orders Kerimov killed, but Trevor releases him instead.

At the Murrieta Oil Field, Haines lays out another operation intended to damage the IAA. Michael, Franklin and Trevor ambush an armored Securicar carrying government bonds, using a garbage truck and tow truck to stop it before escaping with the haul. At Haines' direction, the bonds go to Devin Weston. Haines treats the robbery as part of his contest with the IAA for government support, while the three criminals are left to bear the danger.

After Trevor's conflict with Martin Madrazo sends Michael and Trevor to Sandy Shores, Haines and Dave find them there. Haines says the IAA is developing a neurotoxin at Humane Labs and Research and orders its theft. The equipment needed for the job requires money, leading Michael, Franklin and Trevor to rob the Blaine County Savings Bank at Paleto Bay. Haines later joins the crew at Cape Catfish, where the absent support team leaves the FIB agents involved in the raid.

Inside Humane Labs, Haines enters with Michael and Dave while Trevor and Franklin handle the escape. IAA forces arrive as the neurotoxin is taken. Haines shoots himself in the leg and poses as an agent who tried to prevent the theft, distracting the IAA long enough for the others to get away. His presence at the facility draws FIB attention to his unsanctioned activities, and he becomes concerned that the Bureau will expose him.

Haines orders Michael and Franklin to remove the FIB's files on him from the agency's Los Santos headquarters. He promises to erase the evidence held over Michael and let the group go once the work is done. Michael and Franklin enter the building with a crew and wipe the records, including Haines' leverage. The deletion of material specifically concerning Haines instead makes senior FIB personnel suspect his involvement in the break-in.

Trying to protect himself, Haines summons Michael and Dave to the Kortz Center with Sanchez and attempts to place the blame for his operations on them. A rival FIB team arrives, however, and Haines realizes that he has been betrayed. Michael and Dave escape the confrontation, while Haines remains under pressure from the Bureau. He continues to appear in the conflict surrounding Michael, Trevor and Franklin, including the events set in motion by Lamar Davis's capture and the choices forced on Franklin.

When Franklin chooses to confront the people pursuing them, Michael, Trevor and Franklin turn the situation against Haines and Devin. After surviving the attack at the foundry, they find Haines filming The Underbelly Of Paradise at Del Perro Pier. The three men kill his camera crew and shoot Haines. He falls from the pier's Ferris wheel into the water below and dies.