Introduction
One of the most memorable things about GTA: San Andreas is its story. But, there can’t be a GTA story without many characters interacting with each other, making the game a storytelling masterpiece. The problem is that it might get complicated to follow all the characters’ activities in the story, and here’s when this GTA San Andreas characters guide is needed.
I know the story can be a bit complex sometimes; that’s why this character guide exists; in case there’s a certain character whose you don’t know what’s their purpose in the story, then this guide will help you out!
We have a lot of people to cover up here, so let’s get started! First, I will explain our protagonist’s life; then, I’ll take the important characters and explain their lives after and before San Andreas’ happenings.
Protagonist: Carl Johnson
Carl Johnson, or CJ for the friends, is the protagonist of this game. He was born in Grove Street and lived there with his mother, Beverly Johnson, and his brothers and sister, Sean “Sweet”, Brian, and Kendl Johnson. Also, thanks to “the introduction” (a 20-minute movie that works to set the situation up before starting the game), we get to know that CJ never knew his father.
CJ lived all his childhood in Grove Street, alongside his brothers and his friends, Melvin “Big Smoke” Harris and Lance “Ryder” Wilson. When he became an adult, Sweet became the Grove Street Families leader, including CJ and Brian into the gang.
There’s not much information about how Brian died, but it happened in 1987, and, from some dialog said by Big Smoke and Sweet, CJ was there, but he didn’t help his brother. From that moment, CJ decided to leave the gang life behind, moving to Liberty City, where he started stealing cars and people’s money while working alongside Joey Leone, son of Salvatore Leone, one of the most important mafia leaders of Liberty City.
In 1992, CJ received a call from his brother Sweet, telling that his mother got killed by a drive-by. That made CJ get back to his childhood place, Grove Street, to bury his mother and recover the respect of his family, who left him behind.
As soon as he arrived in Los Santos, officers Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski, and Jimmy Hernandez stopped CJ, stealing his money and leaving him in the enemy’s territory. The officers, known as C.R.A.S.H, threatened CJ with charging him with the death of Officer Ralph Pendlebury (who got murdered by Officer Hernandez, asked by Tenpenny) if CJ didn’t help with some tasks assigned by them.
Meanwhile, CJ got Sweet’s trust by helping him and his brothers with other tasks. During CJ’s first time in Los Santos, CJ met Jeffrey “OG Loc” Cross, a wannabe rapper that needed his career to explode. So CJ helped Loc by heisting Madd Dogg’s (a famous rapper) house and stealing his rhyme book. He also met Cesar Vialpando, Kendl’s boyfriend and leader of the Varrio Los Aztecas gang. Both CJ and Sweet were reluctant of Cesar, but Cesar worked his way onto CJ’s friendship.
Later on, Cesar Vialpando discovered that Big Smoke and Ryder, alongside Tenpenny and some Ballas, were responsible for CJ’s mother’s death. At that same moment, Sweet received the rumor that the Ballas leaders were about to meet in Downtown Los Santos, so he orchestrated a plan to kill them all, but the rumor was set to be part of an ambush to get the Families down.
Sweet got in the ambush and CJ went to the rescue. Nonetheless, Sweet got in prison while CJ got exiled to the Countryside by Tenpenny. CJ was in the Countryside as Tenpenny needed him to kill an important witness in Mount Chiliad. Then, CJ got to his luck.
Cesar and Kendl traveled to the Countryside to find CJ, who was without money in a foreign site, so Cesar helped CJ by giving him the contact of a cousin that would help CJ gain some money and respect, named Catalina Vialpando. Catalina’s objective was to do small heists to “weak” points in the Countryside; things like a liquor store, a small bank, or a gas stop.
Meanwhile, Cesar helped CJ get in a race against someone important on San Fierro, named Wu Zi Mu. CJ won the race, and his price was a car garage in San Fierro. CJ used that garage to gain force and money. CJ got to San Fierro thanks to a Marihuana charge he had to transport to there alongside an old man named The Truth. All of that was organized by Tenpenny.
In San Fierro, CJ followed the trace of Ryder, who was working with a group of gangsters named the Loco Syndicate, composed of Jizzy, T-Bone Mendez, and Mike Toreno. With some investigation, some help from the aforementioned Wu Zi Mu, and an ambush, CJ got to dismantle the Loco Syndicate by killing their members as well as Ryder.
Thanks to all of his help, Wu Zi Mu and CJ became great friends and partners. After the chaos, a mysterious man called CJ, telling him that he had some tasks and, in exchange, CJ would receive some information about Sweet. CJ agreed and went to the desert, where he met Mike Toreno.
Toreno set a decoy to trick CJ while he escaped in a different way, and later, he was revealed to be working in an unknown government agency, and he needed CJ’s help. Toreno helped CJ by making him learn to fly planes.
Wu Zi Mu called CJ as he needed help in some business-related tasks, so CJ traveled to Las Venturas and met with Woozie again. CJ’s adventure in Las Venturas was quick but intense, as he made a heist on Salvatore Leone’s casino, named Caligula, and built a great empire out of his own casino. CJ also met Madd Dogg, who was trying to kill himself by jumping off a roof because his career was destroyed and he lost his mansion because of a drug debt.
CJ rescued Dogg and took him to the hospital, and, in retribution, Dogg made CJ his manager. Dogg needed to recover his rhyme book and his house, and CJ helped him with that, and CJ got back to Los Santos. As CJ got back to his home city, Mike Toreno also got back, tasking CJ with some GTA missions that involved stealing military equipment.
To thank CJ for his help, Toreno got Sweet out of prison. With CJ and Sweet reunited again, they planned to kill Big Smoke and Tenpenny. They had to get information about where was Smoke hiding and to get it, they had to recover territories. After a lot of gang wars, CJ and Sweet learned that Smoke was hiding in a drug factory building in East Los Santos. All of that happened while the city was in a riot, as Tenpenny got free of any charge against him in the court.
CJ assaulted the drug factory and killed Big Smoke. Tenpenny tried to run away with all the money in a firetruck, but he had a crash, also dying. There’s not much information after CJ’s adventure in San Andreas. In the final cutscene, it is said that CJ, alongside Madd Dogg, Paul, and Maccer (two musicians CJ met in the desert and helped Madd Dogg’s career to get a new impulse) went to do a world tour, but that’s not confirmed.
There’s no information about CJ’s death either, so CJ’s current status is alive.
Main Characters
Now that you know all about Carl, it’s time to see the stories behind all of those CJ’s partners and enemies through San Andreas and learn about what happened to them after 1992.
Sean “Sweet” Johnson
Also known as Sweet, Sean Johnson is the oldest of Johnson’s siblings. As he never knew his father, Sean was the one that played the role of “Man of the house,” taking care of his mother and his older brothers. He used to bring money to his house by robbing, which made him get into many problems when he was young.
In 1987, Sweet became Families’ leader and included Big Smoke and Ryder alongside Carl and Brian. Shortly after getting the leadership, Brien died, CJ ran to Liberty City, and Sweet got very angry and disappointed. Because of Sweet getting down, the Families split into three different gangs which were fighting; Grove Street, Seville Boulevard, and Temple Drive.
Sweet didn’t do much to avoid the situation; instead, he forgot about the Families and tried to live his life caring for his hood. When Beverly Johnson, Sweet’s mother, got killed, Sweet called his brother CJ to get back to Los Santos. After CJ got back, Sweet started re-activating the Families by cleaning the hood out of drug dealers and recovering some of the lost territories. Sweet tried to reunite all the Families from Seville and Temple, but a failed meeting in the Jefferson Motel ended in an ambush probably but not confirmed to be organized by C.R.A.S.H.
Sweet’s plans didn’t stop reuniting the Families; he also stole territory from Ballas by raiding their places alongside CJ. Sweet got to a point where he was about to get rid of the Ballas and was organizing a raid to Downtown Los Santos as he got some information of the Ballas’ leaders meeting there, but it was a trap.
Sweet barely got to call CJ, and he got to the rescue. Unfortunately, Sweet got severely injured and in jail, while CJ got exiled to the Countryside. Sweet spent his time in jail while CJ was finding a way to get him out and eventually did, thanks to Mike Toreno, an undercover agent that worked for the government alongside the Loco Syndicate. CJ and Sweet met again, and Sweet wanted revenge.
At first, CJ just wanted to get out of all the problems by living in Las Venturas, but Sweet eventually convinced him of helping with the final hit to the Ballas by, again, stealing territory and killing them. Sweet was waiting outside of the drug factor\y where CJ killed Big Smoke. And Sweet also helped CJ by chasing Tenpenny through Los Santos when Tenpenny was trying to escape in a firetruck and therefore died by falling off a bridge in Ganton.
There’s no information about Sweet after the game story, but probably he got to live all his life in the hood, managing the Families.
Melvin “Big Smoke” Harris
Big Smoke was born in Ganton and quickly became childhood friends of Sweet, Ryder, and CJ, which made him get into the Families. When Brian’s death happened, and CJ left, Smoke took CJ’s place as one of the most influential Families.
Shortly before Beverly Johnson’s death, Smoke got the visit of C.R.A.S.H, who offered a big amount of money in exchange for the Families selling crack cocaine in the streets.
With the money, Smoke bought a house near Idlewood, Ballas territory, getting out of the hood. He started by convincing Ryder about the new deal, obviously without talking about C.R.A.S.H, and then went to try to convince Sweet about it.
Smoke did his best trying to convince Sweet to sell crack, but Sweet didn’t agree, saying that the crack was so powerful that it could break all the neighborhood. C.R.A.S.H had to act quickly to make their plans work, so they sent a Drive-by car to Sweet house. But the Ballas in charge of the Drive-by didn’t know that Sweet changed his house, so they killed Beverly Johnson instead.
When CJ arrived, Smoke tried not to look suspicious and covered his deals with C.R.A.S.H, but Cesar Vialpando discovered the car used for the Drive-by alongside Smoke, Ryder, and Tenpenny, so CJ discovered all the plans. With CJ exiled and Sweet in jail, Smoke had free space to mess around the hood, selling crack cocaine and getting money. He even destroyed the Families, letting the Ballas dominate the territory.
When CJ got exiled to the Countryside, Cesar Vialpando started investigating to stop Smoke’s plans and discovered that Ryder and the Loco Syndicate had a deal; The Loco Syndicate produced the drugs, and Smoke bought and distributed it to the Los Santos streets.
When CJ stopped the Loco Syndicate, Smoke activated his “B” plan, building his own factory in East Los Santos. When CJ got back to Los Santos, he started cleaning the hood by taking out the Ballas while discovering the exact place where Smoke hides. CJ eventually found the factory in East Los Santos, so he started a riot there, killing Big Smoke.
Lance “Ryder” Wilson
Ryder was born in Ganton, alongside CJ, Sweet, and Big Smoke. It is said that CJ and Ryder used to be best friends in childhood. Ryder’s way of life was drug dealing since he was a kid. All his life was about dope, and school wasn’t important to him.
He even got expelled from school because he fought against a teacher who was using Ballas’ colors. Before Beverly Johnson’s death, Smoke convinced Ryder about the crack selling in the streets, so he allied to Smoke, becoming his right hand.
Ryder was in charge of the drug movement between San Fierro and Los Santos, working as a link between the Loco Syndicate and Big Smoke. Finally, Cesar Vialpando and CJ discovered the modus operandi and then ambushed him in Pier 69 in San Fierro, finally killing him.
Kendl Johnson and Cesar Vialpando
Kendl is depicted as an intelligent woman with a great capability for maths. She tried to help her family through studying; that’s why CJ got her help to run CJ’s business. Cesar Vialpando is the leader of Varrio Los Aztecas and Kendl’s boyfriend. There’s not much info about Cesar before 1992, but he joined Los Aztecas and quickly became their leader thanks to his great attitude and ability with low riders.
At first, Sweet and Carl didn’t approve of Kendl and Cesar’s relationship, but Cesar became a close friend of Carl as Kendl asked for it. CJ and Cesar met first in a Lowrider competition that CJ won. Then, CJ participated in a race that also won, achieving respect from Cesar.
Cesar had his men through the street, and one of them discovered Big Smoke and Ryder’s betrayal. Cesar quickly called CJ to discover it by himself. After the police’s ambush and Sweet incarceration, Cesar and Kendl ran away to the Countryside, meeting CJ.
With Cesar’s disappearance, Varrio Los Aztecas almost dissolved. Cesar also helped CJ by introducing him to Catalina Vialpando, Cesar’s cousin. Then, CJ and Catalina did some heists in the Countryside.
CJ won a race against Wu Zi Mu and got a garage in San Fierro; CJ, Cesar, and Kendl moved there. Together, they investigated Big Smoke’s drug movement and discovered that they were working with a group of drug producers named the Loco Syndicate. With the new information, CJ and Cesar planned, killed, and ended the Loco Syndicate and Ryder.
Through CJ’s adventure in Las Venturas, Cesar and Kendl got in charge of the garage, which was successful thanks to Cesar, who started purchasing and selling sports cars. They stayed there until CJ recovered Dogg’s mansion in Los Santos. When Cesar got back to Los Santos, his first task was to recover his territory and regroup his men. With some of CJ’s help, Cesar recovered Varrio Los Aztecas’ territory from the Vagos, which invaded it as soon as Cesar left.
Towards the end of the game, Cesar asked for CJ’s approval on marrying Kendl. CJ agreed but also said that he had to ask Sweet first. It is said that they ended up marrying.
Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski, and Jimmy Hernandez, “C.R.A.S.H”
Tenpenny is known for being a sadistic, temperamental man with known anger issues. He was a corrupted cop, part of C.R.A.S.H alongside Eddie Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez. Eddie Pulaski was like Tenpenny as he was sadistic and offensive to anyone who talked bad about him. Also, Pulaski was always behind Tenpenny’s tail, always saying “yes” to any request Tenpenny had, demonstrating that Tenpenny was also a manipulator.
Sadly, Jimmy Hernandez was a humble man who got involved in the wrong unit. He showed himself as a man with good convictions; he always arranged to help people out. As soon as Tenpenny and Pulaski met him, Hernandez had no option but kept his mouth shut.
Tenpenny got into the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums or C.R.A.S.H, and, as soon as he got some power, he started to commit a lot of crimes. Tenpenny claimed he was “cleaning the streets” and was totally against drugs. Still, in reality, he was associated with the Ballas and the Vagos, working together to take Aztecas and Families out of the street through drug selling and money movement.
During that time, Tenpenny and Pulaski committed a lot of crimes. Tenpenny and Pulaski weren’t enough for C.R.A.S.H, so they asked for another cop in the unit, so Ralph Pendlebury got assigned there. Quickly, Tenpenny made Pendlebury get in dirty moves, and that made Pendlebury go to Internal Affairs to report everything. Tenpenny and Pulaski quickly knew who was the snitch, so they decided to kill Pendlebury. Tenpenny’s first move was to recruit a new man, Jimmy Hernandez, and then intercept Pendlebury, giving him a beating and then giving Hernandez the task of executing Pendlebury.
Shortly after Pendlebury’s death, Tenpenny went to look for CJ, who was arriving home. Tenpenny planned to incriminate CJ on Pendlebury’s death if CJ didn’t work for them. CJ agreed, so Tenpenny got him without his luggage and with no money in a Ballas’ territory. Tenpenny assigned many tasks for CJ; most of them were about killing witnesses to get away with his criminal behavior. When they got to Las Venturas, CJ got the task of getting a Dossier that contained all the information about C.R.A.S.H’s modus operandi.
Unfortunately, CJ stole the dossier, which was the last piece of proof against Tenpenny. Tenpenny decided to kill CJ as he knew all about him and also kill Hernandez, who snitched about Pendlebury’s death in Internal Affairs. So Tenpenny and Pulaski took CJ and Hernandez to the desert, Tenpenny knocked Hernandez out with a shovel, and CJ got the task of digging their grave while Tenpenny ran from the place, claiming he was going to get high and laid.
Luckily, Hernandez recovered from the shovel hits and attacked Pulaski, who instantly shot Jimmy in the chest, dying. The confusion moment was enough for CJ to attack Pulaski, stealing his weapon and car chasing Pulaski until he made him stop the car. CJ executed Pulaski, and Tenpenny was alone against the danger. With the lack of evidence against Tenpenny, the court had to dismiss his case, and the accusations of blackmail, possession and use of narcotics, assassination, and sexual abuse got useless. That caused a riot in Los Santos.
Tenpenny then waited for CJ to do the next step; killing Big Smoke and destroying the former’s crack factory in East Los Santos. As soon as CJ killed Smoke, Tenpenny appeared, stealing the money and running away in a firetruck. CJ started chasing Tenpenny until the last lost control of the firetruck, crashing it onto a bridge in Ganton and finally dying.
Jeffrey “OG Loc” Cross and Madd Dogg
Jeffrey Cross, also known as OG Loc, was born in Ganton, probably after the Families’ leaders were born. Growing up, he wanted to be a rapper, so he started tattooing himself, using dope, and committing crimes. Jeffrey wasn’t accepted in the Families as he was weak.
Instead, Sweet advised him to continue studying instead of living the street life, but Jeffrey refused that life, so he started robbing and drug dealing. Meanwhile, Madd Dogg (whose real name is unknown) was a rapper born and raised in Los Santos who got famous through opening act presentations for other rappers.
Loc was still in prison when CJ arrived in Los Santos. Shortly after CJ arrived, the Families gang were to look for him as he got parole. Loc insisted on building his rapper empire, so he had a plan that involved CJ stealing Madd Dogg’s rhyme book in Madd Dogg’s house. With Madd Dogg’s book, CJ’s disappearance, and Sweet in jail, Big Smoke used the deluded OG Loc as a way to launder his drug money, being his manager.
On the other hand, Madd Dogg got into drugs and depression after losing his rhyme book, even exchanging his mansion to pay drug debts. Then, with anything left to lose, he went to Las Venturas, got drunk, and attempted suicide. Luckily, CJ was there, saving him from the fall and taking him to the hospital. After Dogg’s recovery, CJ and Dogg allied to recover his mansion and then get to Loc, recover the rhyme book, and get the royalties.
Loc’s career was very successful, releasing two albums, getting interviews, and even clothing and merchandising. But, while Loc was succeeding, CJ and Madd Dogg started working together, and CJ helped Dogg recover his rhyme book by chasing Loc through the Countryside and Los Santos. Loc accepted to give all the royalties to Dogg through death threats from CJ.
With Smoke’s death, Loc’s career fell, and he disappeared. Meanwhile, it is said that CJ, alongside Dogg, Kent Paul, and Maccer, did a world tour.
Catalina Vialpando
Catalina Vialpando is Cesar’s cousin. CJ met her in the Countryside as she needed help with some heists to get some money and run away from there. Catalina is mentally unstable. She had a very notorious anger issue and could become hotheaded in just some seconds. That’s why CJ tried to run away from her as soon as the heists ended.
Catalina fell in love with CJ through those heists, but he didn’t want anything with her, making her feel very angry. So she met a guy named Claude Speed, a runner in the Countryside runs. CJ won the two races and got rewarded with the garage, and Catalina ran away to Liberty City with Claude.
Catalina also appears as an antagonist in GTA III, betraying Claude.
Wu Zi Mu, and the Mountain Cloud Boys
Wu Zi Mu, also known as Woozie, is the leader of the Mountain Cloud Boys, a sub-division of the Chinese Triads that rule San Fierro and is spread all across San Andreas. Woozie is known with another motto, “The Lucky Mole.” This is because Woozie is blind, but he seems to have great luck, as he can drive without crashing or winning at video games against CJ.
Sometimes, he also needs some help on things from his assistant, Guppy.CJ meets Woozie in one of the two Countryside runs, and, after winning, he gives CJ his number to talk about business. Then, when CJ gets to the San Fierro garage, CJ asks him for some help, and, in exchange, CJ offers his help to Woozie. CJ does several tasks for Woozie, most of them investigating and exterminating a Vietnamese gang named the Da Nang Boys.
With the help of CJ, the triads expelled the Da Nang Boys from San Fierro. Woozie and CJ became close friends and partners, creating the Four Dragons Casino in Las Venturas. To make their casino work, CJ and Woozie planned a heist on the main rival’s casino, Caligula’s, owned by Salvatore Leone.
Some hints led people to think that Woozie is still alive and working in the Four Dragons Casino, which is very popular in San Andreas and the rest of the country, as it is the site where several important events happened.
The Truth
The Truth, whose real name is unknown, is an old, paranoic, drug addict, conspiracy-believer hippy who helped CJ through CJ’s exile in the Countryside. CJ and Truth met in Countryside thanks to Tenpenny, who used CJ’s service to pay Truth for some marihuana to discredit a senator who was studying Tenpenny’s crimes. Then, Truth asks CJ to steal a combine harvester for his farm.
Later on in the Countryside, Truth and CJ cross their paths again, as Truth needs to move the marihuana to San Fierro to put it in the senator’s car. Meanwhile, the police discovered Truth’s marihuana farm, so they had to burn it down before the police got to the place.
In San Fierro, The Truth introduced some friends to CJ to help him in the car garage; Jethro, Dwaine, and Zero. When CJ got to Verdant Meadows and bought the airstrip, The Truth appears again, asking for some help, this time robbing some government equipment, like a jetpack and something called the Green Goo. After that, The Truth sticks with CJ until the end of the game, congratulating him for getting rid of Tenpenny.
“I mean, far out, man. You know, I mean, you beat the system! I tried for 30 years to cross over, but you’ve managed it, man.”
“T-Bone” Mendez, Jizzy, and Mike Toreno, “The Loco Syndicate”
“T-Bone” Mendez and Jizzy, whose real names are unknown, are part of the Loco Syndicate, a crime syndicate dedicated to drug traffic and distribution. Mendez is the San Fierro Rifa’s leader, and he protects the deals while Jizzy is in charge of recruiting people for hits, heists, and drug deals. Lastly, Mike Toreno is the group’s brain that organizes the deals and plans everything.
Mendez is another character with anger issues, almost stepping on paranoia as he disbelieves on anything that he doesn’t understand, while Jizzy is a power-abuser man that runs away as soon as he feels in danger, like a coward. Mike Toreno is a cold-minded man that doesn’t hesitate to make decisions when needed.
CJ saw them for the first time when they held a secret meeting with Ryder in the Countryside. CJ took pictures of them and then asked Wu Zi Mu for some information. After knowing that they are sending drugs to Los Santos and giving Big Smoke a lot of money, Cesar and CJ plan to dethrone the Loco Syndicate by working as an infiltrate.
The first step was to convince Jizzy to work with him, then Mendez, and lastly, Toreno. When CJ had enough information, he decided to chase and kill Jizzy in his brothel. CJ got to know that Mendez and Ryder were doing a meeting in Pier 69, so CJ and Cesar did an assault, killing most of the San Fierro Rifas, alongside Mendez and Ryder, and definitively cutting with the drug traffic to Los Santos by burning their drug factory down.
The last objective was Mike Toreno who was trying to escape in a helicopter. CJ went to the place and exploded Toreno’s chopper, killing him there. Shortly after ending with the Loco Syndicate, CJ receives a call from a mysterious man, saying that he had information about Sweet. CJ had to travel to the desert and pass some tasks to discover the identity behind the mysterious man; none other than Mike Toreno.
The man who died in the helicopter was a decoy, and Toreno escaped through another way. Also, Toreno was an undercover agent working for an unknown government agency. He was about to dismantle the Loco Syndicate when CJ arrived and did it by himself.
Now, Mike Toreno had some tasks for CJ, like recovering some packages, escorting a tanker truck, learning to fly planes, and buying an airstrip in Verdant Meadows. So CJ passed through hell only to help Toreno. In the last mission CJ did for Toreno, he had to infiltrate and steal a hydra jet from the government to send some missiles to some ships placed in Las Venturas’ dam.
Mike Toreno asked for the very last mission, but CJ got tired of the situation, so he gun pointed Toreno and threatened to kill him if he didn’t disappear. But, Toreno’s last mission was to look for Sweet, who got free thanks to Toreno’s influence. After that, Toreno didn’t appear anymore.
Ken Rosenberg, Kent Paul, and Maccer
In The Introduction, we get to know Ken Rosenberg, who recovered from drug addiction, and then looked for his friend, Tommy Vercetti, as he needed help, but Vercetti ignored him. Meanwhile, Salvatore Leone and Johnny Sindacco got to build Caligula’s Casino and needed a decoy to run the business; they needed an easy-to-control man, and they chose Rosenberg.
Ken Rosenberg used to be a corrupt lawyer in Vice City, who got the job of handling all of Vercetti’s business when he had to run away, but the drug addiction made Ken neglect all of the business and lose money. About his personality, Rosenberg is a paranoic man who’s always worried about being killed.
Also in The Introduction, we briefly see Kent Paul and Maccer in Salford, England, planning to get to the USA to get recognition and fame. Paul and Maccer were born in England. While Paul is a music producer with a chill attitude, Maccer has many mental problems, including drug and masturbation addiction.
The Gurning Chimps got to Las Venturas, and on their first day, they met The Truth, who took them on a desert trip, with drugs included. Unfortunately, all the band got lost except for Paul and Maccer, who asked for help. So The Truth contacts with CJ went to the desert to look for the lost guys. That’s how CJ met Paul and Maccer.
Paul had Ken Rosenberg’s contact as they were old friends; that was how CJ infiltrated in Caligula’s, getting Salvatore Leone’s trust to later betrayal him by heisting their casino. Rosenberg wanted to run away after being in Caligula’s for a long time, as he was tired of having debts and the constant feeling of someone wanting to kill him. So Leone asks CJ to kill him, but instead, CJ lets Rosenberg run away. CJ saw him for the last time in his house when celebrating Madd Dogg’s first gold record.
Lastly, Paul helped CJ and Madd Dogg to produce new songs and, at the end of the game, it is said that they went on a world tour.
FAQs
Question: What’s The Introduction?
Answer: The Introduction is a 20-minute long machinima that tells the GTA: San Andreas’ characters’ story before CJ’s mother’s, Beverly Johnson, death. We can tie loose ends there, like Pendlebury’s death, why Big Smoke and Ryder betrayed the Families, what CJ was doing before getting back to Los Santos, and why he knew about Salvatore Leone before meeting him, etc.
I strongly recommend seeing this machinima as it is well-produced, and it will help you easily understand the GTA: San Andreas story.
Question: Can CJ have girlfriends?
Answer: Yes, he can, but they are not important story-wise, besides the one he made in Las Venturas, Millie Perkins, as CJ used her to get a key to enter Caligula’s casino. These can be Denise Robinson (Los Santos, CJ’s girlfriend after Burning Desire, where CJ saves her from dying), Helena Wankstein (Countryside), Katie Zhan, Michelle Cannes, Barbara Schternvart (San Fierro), and Millie Perkins.
Question: What happened to CJ and his friends after San Andreas?
Answer: There’s not much info about CJ and his friends after the game, but there are a lot of theories about the topic. The most famous one says that CJ was killed by Tony Cipriani, the protagonist of GTA: Liberty City Stories. This theory comes from the fact that GTA: LCS started with Tony Cipriani getting back to Liberty City after being forced to abandon San Andreas for killing an important gang leader. Something that gets the theory stronger was that Cipriani worked for Salvatore
Leone.As you might remember, if you decide to do the heist at Caligula’s (which is canon in the story, this means that it happened regardless of what you decided to do), Salvatore Leone does a death threat to CJ, saying that he’s a dead man. But, of course, CJ completely ignores the threat.
The problem is that there’s no proof of CJ being dead. There’s no mention of that happening in the following games, so the theory gets weak from there. The last thing we knew about CJ and his friends was that they were about to do a world tour to celebrate Madd Dogg’s gold record. Woozie kept administrating the four dragons casino, Cesar and Kendl married, The Truth and Mike Toreno disappeared, and Sweet got in charge of the Families.
CJ probably did the world tour as a manager with Dogg, Paul, and Maccer and then returned to Las Venturas or lived in Grove Street with his brother, but that’s just guesswork.
Conclusion
Understanding GTA: San Andreas’ characters’ actions before and after 1992’s happenings are important as San Andreas is part of a bigger story that started in 1984 in Vice City and ended in 2001 in Liberty City; everything is connected, and it is part of a bigger story.
For example, we can’t know where Catalina, GTA III’s antagonist, came from and why the betrayal to Claude Speed is so important if we don’t know that they were connected before GTA III happened. Or we can’t understand how a weak guy like Ken Rosenberg was in charge of the Caligula’s casino if we never knew that he was important in the ’80s.