Grove Street Familes (GTA: SA)

The Grove Street Families ("Families" or "GSF" for short) are a street gang in Los Santos, San Andreas, the native gang of Carl "CJ" Johnson. As far as street gangs in San Andreas go, the GSF are depicted as more honorable than their rival gangs, as they are against hard drugs being sold on their turf,[7][8] despite the numerous other crimes and violent acts they take part in. The Grove Street Families were headed by Sean "Sweet" Johnson and his lieutenants Lance "Ryder" Wilson, Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris. Sweet is adamantly anti-narcotic, but Smoke believes the GSF have fallen from power because of Sweet's refusal to have the gang sell drugs.[9] Their unwillingness to enter the drugs trade has dragged the Grove Street Families out of prominence in the years leading up to the game's storyline. This coupled with the deaths of OGs such as Tony, Big Devil, and Little Devil, has led to the sorry state of the GSF upon CJ's return from Liberty City.

There are at least two other distinct sets of the Families: the Temple Drive Families and the Seville Boulevard Families, both of which were originally one with the Grove Street Families, but split up from the GSF during the five years of CJ's absence. The sets are not on good terms with each other,[10] which is why the gang has weakened. Carl will occasionally make reference to Orange Grove Families; gang graffiti tags with the initials "OGF" also exist in game. This was the gang's original name, though Rockstar changed the name before The Release of San Andreas.[11] Some references to this remain in the game, incluing graffiti that can be seen around Los Santos, tattoos that CJ can get with the name Orange Grove Families, and phrases that CJ will shout out while fighting other people.

The rivalry between the sets mainly had to do with Grove Street's opposition to [...] dealing, but later in the game, the Families were united into one gang. Grove Street member Carl Johnson was involved in a brief conflict with the Seville Boulevard Families, who were trying to pin Sweet while he was visiting his girlfriend in Seville. Following this incident, Carl and Sweet called for an end to "green on green" conflicts.

One of the former members of the gang is B-Dup, who is now a [...] dealer for money. He also enslaves Big Bear, another former GSF member. Later, Big Bear rejoins the GSF when he turned on B-Dup and punches him out.

While CJ's return helped revive the GSF to an extent, Ryder and Smoke's betrayal of the gang, coupled with an ambush on Sweet and other high-ranking members by the rival Ballas gang and the police, destroyed much of the gang's influence in the city. Consequently, the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos seize all of GSF's turf in Los Santos. Sweet was imprisoned, and CJ was forced to continue working for CRASH, consisting of a corrupted group of police officers. However, Sweet's release from prison, courtesy of Mike Toreno,[12] allowed the gang to rise again (now co-headed by CJ and Sweet) and regain most of their lost turf from the Ballas and Vagos. Depending on the player's actions, it is possible to take some or all of the Ballas' and Vagos' turf for the GSF.

Gang Identication

GSF members are always seen dressed in green clothing consisting of basketball jerseys, doo rags, hats, sweatshirts or plaid button-up shirts.

Other Family Sets

Seville Boulevard Families
Temple Drive Families

Notable Members

Carl "CJ" Johnson Co-leader
Sean "Sweet" Johnson Co-leader
Kendl Johnson
Barry "Big Bear" Thorne
Denise Robinson

Former Members

Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris
Lance "Ryder" Wilson
Mark "B-Dup" Wayne (Left before the game's release)
Tony (died before the game's release)
Big Devil (died before the game's release)
Little Devil (died before the game's release)

Allies

Wu Zi Mu
Cesar Vialpando
The Truth
Madd Dogg
Kent Paul (Because he's aligned with The Truth)
Ken "Rosie" Rosenberg
Emmet
Varrios Los Aztecas
San Fierro Triads

Enemies & Former Allies

Ballas
Los Santos Vagos
San Fierro Rifa
Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross (Former Ally)