Carl Johnson

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“	After five years on the east coast... it was time to go home.	„
	~ Carl Johnson

Carl Johnson, better known by name as CJ, is the main protagonist of the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. CJ is a co-leader of the "Grove Street Families" (GSF), along with his brother, Sean "Sweet" Johnson, GFS is a criminal gang dedicated to the alleged marijuana trafficking, arms smuggling and bank robberies. Sweet suggested that CJ was born in the Johnson House, a two floor home in Grove Street, a cul-de-sac in Ganton, Los Santos, which was owned by the Johnson family matriarch, Beverly Johnson. Carl is the second child of a family of four (in birth order): Sean, Carl, Kendl, and Brian.

Five years prior to the beginning of the game, CJ left San Andreas and took up work in Liberty City out of discontent for the degrading situation of Los Santos. There, in Liberty City he earned his living working for the Family mob Leone. As the game opens, CJ arrives back in Los Santos following news of his mother's death, only to be located by corrupt police officers Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez, who immediately frame him for their recent murder of a fellow police officer who threatened to expose their illegal racketeering.

Biography

Backstory

Carl Johnson was born in the crime ridden Los Santos suburb of Ganton. He had three siblings, Sean "Sweet", Kendl and Brian. At some point his father left the family. At some point Sweet, CJ and Brian befriended Lance 'Ryder' Wilson and Melvin 'Big Smoke' Harris and joined the gang known as the Grove Street Families. 2 decades later in the late 1980s, Brian was killed and Carl was blamed for his death. After that he moved to Liberty City and did petty crimes and car thefts until 1992 when his mother Beverly accidentally got killed in a drive-by shooting.

Return to Los Santos

After arriving in Los Santos, Carl was kidnapped by members of the CRASH police force and was framed for the murder of a police officer. He returned to Grove Street and began to work for the Grove Street Families again. He also encountered a member of the Los Santos Aztecas named Cesar Vialpando, his sister Kendl's boyfriend. While on a mission to weaken the Ballas, Carl and Sweet discovered that Big Smoke and Ryder was working with Frank Tenpenny, the leader of CRASH as well as the Ballas.

Carl then helped Sweet fight of Ballas members but was arrested by Tenpenny and was exiled to the vast countryside.

Betrayed by Big Smoke and Ryder

During his time in the wilderness, Smoke, Ryder and the Ballas unleashes a wave of drugs onto the city. He befriends an aging hippie with a marijuana farm named the Truth and works with him for a while.

He also forms a partnership with Cesar's deranged cousin, Catalina and robs "soft targets" with her until Carl wins a race against her new boyfriend, Claude. He wins a run-down San Fierro garage from Claude and begins fixing the business up.

He also begins working for a blind triad leader nicknamed 'Woozie'. He and Cesar succeed in killing off Ryder when a corrupt government agent named Mike Toreno blackmails Carl into working with him, in return offering to release Sweet from prison.

Later Carl ventures to the desert town of Las Venturas where he becomes Woozie's partner at his casino called the Four Dragons Casino. He also helps Woozie to get rid of the various mafia gangs that is causing him problems and infiltrates Salvatore Leone's gang.

After some odd-jobs and a brief trip back to Liberty City Carl performs a daring heist on a casino Leone owns. He also becomes the manager of disgraced rapper Madd Dogg after thwarting a suicide attempt.

Final showdown

After Carl returned to Los Santos, he first went to the prison to pick up his brother Sweet. After Tenpenny was announced innocent, riots began all over San Andreas. Carl then takes control over most of the streets of Los Santos. Sweet then finds out where Big Smoke is hiding, then both he and Carl go pay him a visit.

After Carl killed Smoke, Tenpenny then appeared and tells Carl his plan to escape with the money. Carl and Sweet then chase down Tenpenny in a high-speed chase, which leads to the death of the corrupted officer. After everything is over, Carl and his friends get their first Golden Record.

Aftermath

After the final mission, Kendl tells Carl where he's going, Carl responds with saying Just going to hang out in the streets. He then gets a call from Catalina while having sex with Claude, witch leads to Carl calling her sick. Carl can then go roam the streets like all other GTA protagonists.

Personality

Carl Johnson is a pragmatic and quite charismatic gang leader (though his charisma can be enhanced throught the game).He can be extremely violent, ruthless and destructive when necessary. He manages his problems in a boss-like fashion, which often involves brutal shootings. That being said, most of his victims also tried to murder CJ as well. He has no problems hunting down or wiping out anyone that gets in his way - especially Ballas or cops, or committing petty crimes such as robbing houses and various places. The only characters he genuinely fears are those in a position of authority such as Frank Tenpenny, or utter psychopaths such as Catalina.

On the other hand, unlike his two predecessors (who were hardened criminals with no remorses) Carl Johnson displays much more decency and empathy. He is overprotective of his gang and his brother Sweet. He also displayed regrets immediately after defeating Big Smoke, despite the fact that Big Smoke coldly betrayed him and left him for dead somewhere in the countryside.

Some even question his intelligence, though Carl Johnson proved many times to be a skilled manager and strategist. Carl even use manipulation and deception in order to gain what he wants, an example is when he successfully tricked Millie into giving him the access key necessary to organize the raid of the Caligula.

Unlike Ryder and Big Smoke, Carl Johnson is not interested in drugs and actually despises them. This is shown multiple times throught the game, such as when he beat a crackhead attempting to give Sweet some PCP. Despite this however, CJ seems to get along pretty well with the Truth, who is a drug-addict and dealer. He also holds a grudge against the C.R.A.S.H. - especially Tenpenny - and the cops in general, often nicknaming them "bribe-taking assholes" or "bitches".

Quotes

"You an asshole to the end! Punk motherfucker!!"
"Hey, Smoke!"
"What's your problem now?! It's me!"
"Seeing my homie! What's up with you?"
"You callin' CJ a bitch?"
"Go! Run away, homie!"
"I'm a Grove Street gangster what you expect?!"

Heroic Deeds

During Free Roam

Make Taxi Rides for people.
Pick up injured peoples with ambulance to hospital.
Extinguish burning vehicles and pedestrians.
Doing Vigilante missions and killing criminals.

During the Storyline

In the mission Sweet's girl, he escorts and rescues Sweet and his girlfriend to Grove Street from Seville Boulevard Families.
In the mission Burning Desire, he saves Denise from Burning Vagos house that he burned.
In the mission House Party, he, along with other Grove Street members and Sweet protect Grove Street from being attacked by Ballas.
In the mission The Green Sabre, he saves Sweet from being killed by Ballas, though Sweet is later being held in hospital prison.
In the mission Jizzy, he saves the girl from being attacked by 2 men.
In the mission Air Raid, he defend Zero's transmitters from Berkley's bombers.
In the mission The Da Nang Thang, he rescues the refugees from the Da Nang Boy freighter.
In the mission Mike Toreno, he and T-bone Mendez save Mike Toreno from Da Nang Boys.
In the mission Outrider, he escorts and makes sure Mike Toreno is driving his van to safety.
In the mission Interdiction, he escorts and protects Mike Toreno's helicopter from being destroyed by other helicopters.
In the mission Don Peyote, he rescues Maccer and Kent Paul from the desert and takes them to Caligula's place.
In the mission The Meat Business, he helps and protects Ken from being attacked by Sindaccos and escorts Ken to exit the abattoir safely.
In the mission Madd Dogg, he saves Madd Dogg from suicide attempt by jumping off the building and then later takes him to a hospital.
In the mission End of the Line, he saves Sweet from falling to his death when his grips are stomped by a cop by driving his car closer.

External Links

Carl Johnson on the Villains Wiki
Carl Johnson on the Grand Theft Auto Wiki

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