Simon Gruber is the older brother of the villain from the first movie, Hans Gruber. Simon destroys a building in New York City. He says that he will destroy another one unless the police do what he tells them to do. His first task is to have John McClane to go Harlem and stand around for 15 minutes with a sign that says "I hate niggers" with his gun taped to his back so that he cannot reach it. A group of black men attack McClane. A shopkeeper named Zeus Carver saves McClane by grabbing the gun and getting into a taxicab.