Carl “CJ” Johnson
Protagonist
Voice actor: Young Maylay
Young Maylay's first acting role. CJ is neither a professional criminal nor an avenger, but someone who returns home and finds that home no longer works.
A homecoming that goes wrong
San Andreas is the only GTA in which the protagonist has a family. Everything that gives this story its strength follows from that one fact.
Last checked on 20 August 2026.
How it begins
Without revealing what follows
Carl “CJ” Johnson returns to Los Santos in 1992 after five years in Liberty City. He has come to bury his mother, killed in a drive-by shooting.
He is the series' first protagonist with a family. Earlier heroes were taciturn or solitary; CJ has siblings, childhood friends and a neighbourhood where he belongs. That makes everything that follows hurt differently.
Immediately after arrival, C.R.A.S.H. officers seize him at the airport, take his money and leave him in rival territory. Within five minutes, the game establishes who is truly most dangerous.
This page covers the entire story, including the ending. Anyone yet to play should read only the first section.
Who is who
A cast that remains unusually strong for a 2004 game
Sean “Sweet” Johnson
CJ's older brother and leader of Grove Street Families
Voice actor: Faizon Love
The only character who accepts no compromise. Sweet wants to save the neighbourhood regardless of feasibility, making him the game's moral centre.
Kendl Johnson
CJ's sister
Voice actor: Yo-Yo
The only family member determined to leave from the start. Her relationship with Cesar ultimately connects the family to another neighbourhood and life.
Big Smoke
Grove Street member and CJ's childhood friend
Voice actor: Clifton Powell
The friendliest character in the first half, which makes his role in the second one of San Andreas's most memorable elements.
Ryder
Grove Street member
Voice actor: MC Eiht
Loud, brazen and always present. MC Eiht is a real Compton rapper, part of the casting that gives the game credibility.
Frank Tenpenny
Corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officer
Voice actor: Samuel L. Jackson
The main antagonist. He does not abuse the system from outside; he is the system. Jackson gives him the calm of a man who knows he is untouchable.
Cesar Vialpando
Kendl's partner and leader of Varrios Los Aztecas
Voice actor: Clifton Collins Jr.
Introduced as an unwanted outsider from another gang, he becomes CJ's most reliable ally and first shows him evidence of betrayal.
The Truth
Cannabis farmer and conspiracy theorist
Voice actor: Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda's casting is a joke in itself: the Easy Rider actor plays an ageing hippie convinced that the government hears everything.
Wu Zi Mu (Woozie)
Triad leader in San Fierro
Voice actor: James Yaegashi
A blind Triad boss who drives, shoots and wins at casinos. His blindness is neither weakness nor miracle, only an ongoing joke he makes about himself.
Mike Toreno
Undercover government agent
Voice actor: James Woods
He first appears as another blackmailer, then gradually reveals that he is playing an entirely different game.
Madd Dogg
Rapper
Voice actor: Ice-T
A side strand that concludes one of the few subjects in which CJ genuinely helps somebody rather than using them.
Five parts of the story
From the neighbourhood through exile and back to the burning city
- 1
Los Santos: a collapsing neighbourhood
CJ returns to Grove Street Families and finds the gang has lost territory, people and purpose. Crack and the rival Ballas have entered the neighbourhood.
Sweet wants to win it back. CJ helps, but gradually sees that the Ballas are not the underlying problem.
- 2
The betrayal
People inside the gang are implicated in CJ's mother's death and its collapse. Big Smoke and Ryder work with Tenpenny and trade the drug destroying the neighbourhood.
Sweet is shot and imprisoned, CJ cannot free him, and police take CJ out of town. The game removes everything from the player.
- 3
Countryside and San Fierro: rebuilding elsewhere
Exiled CJ restarts in Angel Pine and then opens a San Fierro garage with Cesar and Kendl. For the first time, he builds something rather than defending another's territory.
The Truth and Toreno enter, moving the story from street level into politics and intelligence agencies.
- 4
Las Venturas: money rather than honour
In the desert casino city, CJ confronts Triads and Mafia, culminating in a robbery of Caligula's casino.
This section is furthest from the original subject, clarifying what the eventual homecoming means.
- 5
Return to Los Santos
CJ frees Sweet and returns as the city burns. The final missions unfold during the riots.
The confrontations with Big Smoke and Tenpenny conclude both the family and police strands.
What it genuinely draws on
Four real subjects used by the game
1992 Los Angeles riots
The finale takes place in a burning city, directly referring to the real riots of April 1992. The game does not comment on them; it places CJ within them.
The crack epidemic
The drug is a cause rather than scenery. It drives the neighbourhood's collapse, the loss of people and betrayal within the gang.
The Rampart scandal
C.R.A.S.H. and Tenpenny draw on a real Los Angeles police scandal involving corruption and violence within an anti-gang unit.
Bloods and Crips rivalry
The gangs' colour division, green Grove Street against purple Ballas, reflects the structure of Los Angeles gang culture in the 1990s.
The game takes no position on these subjects, and neither do we here. It matters whether a background is invented or actually happened, and San Andreas uses the latter.
Why this story works
Our interpretation, not information from Rockstar
The loss comes in the middle, not the end
Most games save their greatest blow for the finale. San Andreas places it after roughly one third, making the remainder a journey back. That gives the game's length and return meaning.
The antagonist is a superior power, not a rival
Tenpenny does not want to defeat CJ but use him. An enemy who cannot be challenged to a duel is unusual in an action game and sustains tension longer.
The traitor is likeable
The game works to make Big Smoke pleasant before revealing his actions. Without that first half, the second would not work.
The character changes beyond the story
CJ can grow stronger, gain weight and learn to fly. Stats support the story's subject: this person genuinely progresses during the game.
Frequently asked questions
When is GTA San Andreas set?
1992. CJ returns to Los Santos after five years in Liberty City, and the finale coincides with the real Los Angeles riots of April that year.
Who betrayed Grove Street?
Big Smoke and Ryder, gang members and CJ's childhood friends. They worked with corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officers and participated in the crack trade damaging the neighbourhood.
Who voices CJ and Tenpenny?
Young Maylay voices CJ in his first acting role, and Samuel L. Jackson voices Frank Tenpenny. The cast also includes Peter Fonda, James Woods, Ice-T and MC Eiht.
Which real events inspired San Andreas?
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, crack epidemic, Rampart police scandal and Bloods-Crips rivalry. The game does not comment on them but places its story within them.
Why is San Andreas considered the best in the series?
There is no consensus. Specific reasons include a protagonist with a family, the largest map of its time, a stat system never repeated and a story whose greatest loss occurs midway, leaving the rest about returning home.
Where to go next
The story spans three cities, with the empty land between them that gave rise to so many legends about the woods.