GTA Online: The Cayo Perico Heist | How to start the heist and find The Music Locker

The Cayo Perico Heist has been added to GTA Online, and for the first time ever, you can start it all on your lonesome. There’s no need for friends or unreliable online strangers this time around. However, the latest heist is set on a private island off the coast of GTA Online’s landmass, so you’ll need to put your hand in your pocket and meet a few criteria before you can start scheming.

In this guide we’re going to run through where to find the in-game quest giver that lets you start this new expansion and how to purchase the goods and services necessary to kick things off.

GTA Online - How to start the Cayo Perico Heist questline in The Music Locker

After downloading the latest update, the first thing you need to do when you load into GTA Online is head to The Diamond Casino & Resort in East Vinewood, Los Santos. It’s marked on the map by a diamond, so it’ll be easy to spot. Once there, you need to purchase a Penthouse suite above the casino.

This will cost you a minimum of $1.5 Million GTA Dollars, but it should be free if you have Twitch Prime and you’ve connected your Rockstar Games Social Club account. The reason you need a Penthouse is that it gives you access to the VIP nightclub in the basement of The Diamond Casino & Resort, which is called The Music Locker.

Once you’ve got your penthouse, use the elevator inside to head down there and shuffle your way to the private booth past the dance floor. Here you’ll meet Miguel Madrazo, the son of Martin Madrazo, who you may be familiar with from other GTA V missions.

Miguel will fill you in on the plan — you’re going to rob a private island controlled by a drug dealer called El Rubio. But first, you need a submarine!

GTA Online - How to find the Kosatka for the Cayo Perico Heist

Once you finish the cutscene with Miguel, you need to spend $2,200,000 GTA Dollars for the Kosatka Submarine to establish an offshore base of operations. You can find it by opening your phone, tapping the internet app and clicking on Warstock Cache and Carry.

Once you’re in there you’ll find the Kosatka right at the top. You can customize it to have a Weapons Workshop, a Moon Pool or even graft on Guided Missiles, but it gets mighty expensive very quickly.

Once you purchase the Kosatka, it will appear on the map denoted by a submarine icon. In my case it was just out from the shore near The Diamond Casino & Resort, where I’d spoken to Miguel.

You can use the services menu to send a dinghy to your location so that you can reach the submarine, but any sort of flying craft will also do. If you bought the Sparrow Moon Pool upgrade, you can land right on top of it and use a special entrance.

If not, you can use the dinghy or physically land on top of the submarine with any craft. Once there, hop off and approach the valve to be prompted to enter the Kosatka. You’ll get a cutscene with your comrade Pavel, who runs the ship.

GTA Online - How to start The Cayo Perico Heist Missions

Once that’s finished, you can sit at the radar station if you need to change your location. This isn’t so important right now, but it comes in handy later when you need to move around the map for the prep missions.

Then, if you want to actually start The Cayo Perico Heist, you need to register as a Motorcycle Club owner or a CEO. Both vocations require a separate building purchase, an Executive Office or a Motorcycle Club, which will cost you millions of GTA Dollars, depending on the scale of the building you wish to purchase from the Dynasty 8 property listings.

Now that’s done, hold the back button on either controller to pull up the in-game menu, and select the Motorcycle Club or Securoserv tab. From there you can register as an MC Owner or a CEO, and you’ll be able to activate the table in the centre of the submarine (marked with a H on the minimap) and finally start the heist itself. If you’ve followed all the steps you should be golden, and also in the hole for around five or six million GTA Dollars...

For more of what's new in GTA Online, here are all of the new vehicles dropping with the Cayo Perico Heist.