The Big Score

Updated 30 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

The Big Score is the last and largest heist in Grand Theft Auto V (2013). Michael, Franklin and Trevor, with Lester Crest planning, steal about four tons of gold from the Union Depository in Los Santos. You choose a subtle plan that hijacks the armoured trucks moving the gold, or an obvious one that blasts into the vault. The take is around $201 million, and the final choice follows.

What is The Big Score in GTA V?

The Big Score is the final heist of Grand Theft Auto V, a raid on the gold bullion held at the Union Depository in central Los Santos. Wikipedia calls it the group's final heist and says it succeeds. It comes after Trevor learns the truth about Ludendorff and after the FIB raid, so the crew that pulls it off is held together more by money than by trust. For that part of the plot, see Trevor Philips and North Yankton.

The preparation runs over two story missions. gta.wiki says Lester names the $201.6 million total in Surveying the Score, and gives the weight, four tons, in Planning the Score, after which the setups for both plans open up. gta.wiki works out the figure as 672 gold bars at $300,000 each.

Subtle or obvious: which approach is better?

Both pay roughly the same gross amount, so the real difference is how the money is shared and how the job plays. The two plans, as gta.wiki describes them:

In both cases Lester takes 12%. gta.wiki warns that poor crew choices can cut each lead's share by as much as three quarters, and that the hacker's skill in the subtle plan decides how slowly the traffic lights respond. Crew members who survived earlier jobs, such as The Jewel Store Job and The Paleto Score, can be hired again with better skills, as covered on our GTA heists page.

What are the setup missions for The Big Score?

For the subtle plan you steal a police van carrying spike strips and then three Gauntlet muscle cars. For the obvious plan you take a Cutter, the giant drilling machine, steal a train with a Skylift helicopter in Sidetracked, and park a getaway vehicle near the Depository. gta.wiki lists these setups; our GTA V missions page shows where they sit in the story.

What film references are in The Big Score?

gta.wiki picks out several. The subtle plan borrows the traffic-light trick and the trucks at the end of the chase from The Italian Job, both the 1969 film and the 2003 remake. The obvious plan echoes Die Hard with a Vengeance in the vault drilling and Heat in the street shootout. The same page notes that several clues point to the subtle plan as the canon version, including the Gruppe Sechs uniforms the characters keep afterwards.

A few smaller details are recorded on the same page. Michael and the news both say the gold is unloaded in Mission Row, but the drop-off actually happens under an overpass behind the Vanilla Unicorn in Strawberry. During the job Trevor talks about four hundred million dollars, which does not match the real total; gta.wiki suggests he was expecting eight tons of gold until Michael corrected him to four. On the subtle drive back to Michael's house the radio always plays Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights".

What happens after The Big Score?

The money does not arrive straight away. According to gta.wiki, Lester only pays out after the final mission. First Devin Weston visits Franklin and orders him to kill Michael, and the FIB wants Trevor dead. This opens the final choice between Something Sensible, The Time's Come and The Third Way, and the ending decides who collects a share. Each one is explained on our GTA V endings page.

Completing the heist unlocks the Advanced Rifle at Ammu-Nation and the achievement or trophy The Big One!, gta.wiki adds.