Ryder

For the mission see Ryder (mission)

Lance Wilson, better known as Ryder, is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a supporting character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (set in 1992). Ryder appeared as a high ranking member of the Grove Street Families who later joined forces with the Ballas, Los Santos Vagos and Russian Mafia. He is voiced by MC Eiht, a rapper who has appeared in films such as Menace II Society.

Early life
Ryder was born in Los Santos, likely in Ganton due to his close relationship with Sweet and Carl Johnson, and he later became a member of the Grove Street Families. Ryder was once thrown out of school for beating up a teacher who was wearing Ballas colours, although Ryder claims this was because he was too intelligent for school. He rose up the ranks of the gang until becoming one of Sweet's closest allies, being helped by the departure of Carl Johnson in 1987 following his brothers death. The Grove Street Families, however, began to lose influence, power and money to their arch rivals, the Ballas, due to their stance against the sale of drugs, which was fueling the Ballas rise to prominence. Big Smoke attempted to convince Sweet about the benefits of selling drugs but failed, later meeting Ryder in his house where he convinces him to joins his newly formed alliance with the Ballas. The alliance is later expanded to include the Los Santos Vagos and Russian Mafia, while another was established with the Loco Syndicate, who began supplying the new alliance with drugs from their base in San Fierro, although they do not realise that an undercover government agent is involved in the operation. Ryder and Smoke also played a part in the murder of Beverly Johnson (the mother of Sweet and Carl), which was committed by the Ballas using a green Sabre, although they were aiming for Sweet.

Life with Carl Johnson
The death of Beverly Johnson brings her son, Carl Johnson, back to Los Santos from Liberty City. Johnson meets Ryder again shortly after the funeral where they are attacked by a group of Ballas gangsters performing a drive-by shooting, destroying Smoke's vehicle. Johnson, Sweet, Smoke and Ryder then use bicycles to flee the area. The four cycle to Mulholland Intersection where Sweet breaks away from the group, drawing the Ballas vehicle, allowing Carl, Smoke and Ryder to escape. The three are briefly followed again by a Ballas car, although the Ballas do not aim their guns at Smoke and Ryder due to their alliance, a fact missed by the Johnson brothers. Smoke also refuses to shoot at a Ballas car performing a drive-by shooting, claiming he did not wish to waste the food they had just ordered, although Ryder does start shooting the Ballas.

Ryder continues his life as normal with the Grove Street Families, often being seen with Sweet and Johnson. He begins to hire Johnson to do various tasks, the first being to drive to The Well Stacked Pizza Co. fast food restaurant in Idlewood, where Ryder attempted to rob the store but was thwarted by the manager, using a shotgun in self-defense. Ryder later assists Johnson to kill a drug dealer and then a number of Ballas gangsters who were associated with the dealer in a home in Idlewood. Ryder also hires Johnson to help him steal weapons from the home of Colonel Fuhrberger in East Beach, steal a weapons shipment from a train coming from Las Venturas and to steal weapons from the National Guard Depot in Ocean Docks.

Ryder later accompanies Johnson, Sweet and Smoke to the Cluckin' Bell fast food restaurant in Willowfield, where they see a group Ballas attempt a drive-by shooting. The four survive and destroy the Ballas car. Ryder is again seen when the four discuss the gangs weapons and later performs a number of drive-by shootings with the three in East Los Santos and Jefferson. He also attended a party thrown by OG Loc in Grove Street.

Sweet later arranges a meeting at the Jefferson Motel between the various sub-sects of the Grove Street Families, in an attempt to bring the factions back together to fight the Ballas. Ryder, upon arriving with Johnson, Carl and Smoke, criticizes the non-Grove Street gangsters, which Johnson and Sweet do not realize is an attack on the gang rather than the sub-sects. Sweet enters the motel on his own and, when the Los Santos Police Department ambush the meeting, Ryder and Smoke flee the scene in Sweet's Greenwood. The two, however, later re-appear at the side of the motel and drive away from the pursuing police, driving the car through a Sprunk billboard. The car explodes upon landing on the road below while the four, who had bailed out of the car, decide to go back home on their own.

Betrayal and death
Cesar Vialpando, the boyfriend of Sweet and Johnson's sister Kendl, later phones Johnson to come to an alleyway in Verdant Bluffs. While there the two witness Smoke and Ryder, along with C.R.A.S.H. officers Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski, with the green Sabre used in the killing of Johnson's mother. Johnson finally realises the true allegiances of Smoke and Ryder but is forced to go to Mulholland Intersection to save his brother from a Ballas ambush during a shoot-out. Sweet is shot and later arrested, being taken to a prison 'upstate' (as revealed by Mike Toreno) while Johnson is taken to Angel Pine in Whetstone by Tenpenny, Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez, the third member of C.R.A.S.H.

In the absence of both Sweet and Johnson, Smoke and Ryder take control of the Grove Street Families and add them to their alliance. The Ballas take control of Ganton and other Grove Street Families turf in Los Santos. The Grove Street Families gangsters also begin to work for Smoke and Ryder by taking drug shipments from the Loco Syndicate drug manufacturing plant in Doherty, San Fierro back to Los Santos. Cesar Vialpando, however, later discovers this and informs Johnson, who stops a number of the shipments from reaching Los Santos. Johnson later moves to San Fierro but returns to Angel Pine with Vialpando to photograph the three leaders of the Loco Syndicate, who were meeting Ryder at the towns Cluckin' Bell.

After obtaining the photographs Johnson returns to San Fierro and has them developed. He meets with Wu Zi Mu, a leading member of the Triads in San Fierro and his assistant Guppy, who identifies the three leaders as Jizzy B., a nightclub owner, T-Bone Mendez, the leader of the San Fierro Rifa, and the gangs leader, although they are unaware that he is an undercover government agent. Johnson later kills Jizzy B. and later ambush a meeting between Mendez and Ryder, with help from the Triads. Johnson and Vialpando both kill Mendez but Ryder escapes, swimming to a nearby boat, although Johnson follows him and kills him on route back to Los Santos.

Influence

 * Ryder bears a striking resemblance to the late rapper Eazy-E, wearing a black baseball cap and sporting a Jheri Curls hair style, while constantly seen with a pair of blacked out sunglasses worn on occasions by Eazy-E.

Trivia

 * Ryder constantly chastises Carl Johnson for his driving, regardless of how carefully the player drives - citing his "East Coast" style, a reference to the fact he lived in Liberty City before his comeback.
 * Ryder is not seen without his sunglasses and only once, during the mission Ryder, without his cap.
 * Ryder continues to wear green after his betrayal of the Grove Street Families becomes apparent to Sweet and Carl Johnson.
 * Ryder is a drugs user, something known by both Sweet and Carl Johnson, and can usually be seen with or searching for his 'water', which is in fact PCP. During the mission Home Invasion he can seen frantically searching for it in his garden, having already dug numerous holes with a shovel.
 * Carl Johnson tells Ryder that "One day, you'll seriously wished that you hadn't have pissed me off." during the mission Home Invasion, a reference to the mission Pier 69 where Johnson kills Ryder.
 * Ryder owns a brown Picador with a license plate which reads SHERM, referring to his addiction to sherm, a cigarette that has been immersed in PCP.
 * In pre-release screenshots Ryder was shown to own a brown Sadler.
 * Ryder's favorite Radio station is Radio Los Santos.
 * Ryder can be seen, through a glitch, to have his eyes shut all the time.
 * Ryder has a poster of the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City game artwork on a wall inside his house.
 * Ryder's voice actor, MC Eiht, can also be heard during the song Hood Took Me Under by Compton's Most Wanted, which features on Radio Los Santos.

Mission appearances

 * GTA San Andreas
 * The Introduction
 * Sweet & Kendl
 * Ryder (Boss)
 * Cleaning the Hood
 * Drive-Thru
 * Nines and AKs
 * Drive-By
 * Home Invasion (Boss)
 * Catalyst (Boss)
 * Robbing Uncle Sam (Boss)
 * House Party
 * Reuniting the Families
 * The Green Sabre (Betrayal)
 * Photo Opportunity
 * Pier 69 (Killed)

Lance Wilson Ryder