Ballas (3D Universe)

"OG comin' through, OG comin' through!"

- Chore coat Balla

The Ballas are a Los Santos street gang featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

History
The Ballas are the Grove Street Families' primary enemy and have been around since 1975 In the beginning of the game they are the most powerful street gang in Los Santos. They are involved in drug dealing, gang banging, gang-releated homicide, arms dealing, vandalism, and the crack cocaine trade.

The Ballas are rivals with Grove Street Families going back for several years. When the rivalry started isn't known, but the rivalry between the two gangs was in full swing as early as 1987. They are also enemies with the Varrios Los Aztecas, and the Los Santos Vagos. They have ties with the San Fierro Rifa, and the Loco Syndicate for narcotics (mainly crack cocaine), and the Russian Mafia for weapons. The Ballas also collaborate with CRASH. In addition, Big Smoke defects against the GSF to associate with the Ballas along with Ryder for money and drugs. Unlike the GSF, the Ballas have no reservations about making money by selling drugs; the spread of crack cocaine into the Grove Street community is part of their strategy to wipe the GSF out.

Events of GTA San Andreas
By 1992, the Ballas controlled most of the streets of Los Santos, with Grove Street Families being driven back to Grove Street itself and a few surrounding neighborhoods. After Grove Street leader Sean &quot;Sweet&quot; Johnson was gunned down and arrested they briefly controlled the entirety of what had been Grove Street territory - including Ganton and Grove Street. The Ballas then cemented their control over the area by distributing crack cocaine through the area. However, following the release of Sweet from prison and the return of Carl Johnson, the Grove Street Families won back their territory. That same year the Crack Palace operated by Big Smoke is destroyed and Smoke is killed, causing the Ballas to lose a lot of influence on the streets and if the player chooses, can take over all of their territories in Los Santos, completely wiping out the Ballas for good.

Description
The Ballas have three members that walk and drive around their territories.


 * The first member wears a black skullcap, a purple ProLaps jacket, beige khaki pants, sunglasses and black and white sneakers.


 * The second member is overweight, wears a purple bandana, a Chore Coat (similar to what GSF member B Dup is wearing), black jeans and white shoes.


 * The last member wears a purple bandana, white T-shirt, purple shorts, knee high white socks and sandals.

They carry weapons such as Micro-SMGs, 9mm, and in some missons, shotguns and Tec-9s. They are occasionally seen smoking marijuana and drinking malt liquor. During a gang war, the Ballas also carry SMG's and the AK-47 assault rifle.

There were also 3 other Ballas members that were featured in the beta version of the game.
 * The first beta Ballas member had on a thick purple jacket, a purple cap, khakis, a beard, and wide-set low tops.
 * The second one was slightly overweight, wore a thick, dark purple jacket, had on black jeans, a dirty purple cap, and had white sneakers on.
 * The third member wore a gold chain, wore a white t-shirt, purple shorts, high socks and black sandals.

Sets
There are four known sets of Ballas:
 * The Front Yard Ballas: Idlewood, East Los Santos
 * The Rollin' Heights Ballas: Jefferson, East Los Santos
 * The Kilo Tray Ballas: Willowfield, Glen Park
 * The Temple Drive Ballas: Verona Beach, Temple (Formerly)

Each set is differentiated into different territories and neighorhoods. Apart from this, they are all the same and are all represented under the "Ballas" banner, all wear purple attire, are all enemies of all Grove sets, and are all heavily involved in the drugs trade. All sets are also strongly allied throughout the events of San Andreas - unlike the Grove sets at that beginning of 1992.

The Front Yard Ballas are the largest and most active set. The Front Yard Ballas are also Los Santos' most notorious drug dealers, the primary enemy of the Grove Families. The FYB are also the primary source of spreading drugs into Grove Street territory from their crack houses in Idlewood.

The ballas employ a drug/hit strategy to wipe out their main enemy - the Grove Family sets (especially the Grove Street set). This strategy involves the Front Yard Ballas supplying their territory with large amounts of drugs (mainly crack cocaine) to weaken them, while the other sets perform hit and run tactics such as drive-by shootings.

All Ballas are recognizable by their mainly purple attire, which is the identifying color for the gang and each set.

The Ballas primarily make money by selling drugs (especially crack cocaine) - which they primarily get from the San Fierro Rifa and the Loco Syndicate. They then use this money to acquire various weapons; primarily from the Russian Mafia. Any remaining drug supply is then sold to other dealers who have no gang affiliation in Grove territory in an attempt to weaken them (as it would be too dangerous for a Balla to sell in enemy territory).

Gang Cars
Although they are seen with Voodoos in some missions, the Ballas only have two gang cars, the Tahoma and the Majestic. The Tahoma is a lowrider and sometimes appears with Hydraulics. On one very important occasion the Ballas use a green Sabre to murder Beverly Johnson in a drive-by shooting. The Ballas' favorite radio station is Bounce FM.

Trivia

 * In "The Introduction" there is a scene where Ballas gangstas are in an alley near Grove Street smoking weed, discussing Grove St.'s weakening and that they'll become the top gang in Los Santos. One of them pulls out a bag of crack and says that "this shit changes everybody, even OG's wanna slice of this!". The members have very different facial appearances (while wearing similar clothing) than Ballas in the game.
 * One of the aforementioned Ballas members that wears the white tee and holds the crack bag looks very similar to the in-game Grove St. member that wears the green jersey and black hat. The GSF member's facial appearance also slightly changes in mission cutscenes looking exactly like the mentioned Balla member. This could mean that either he was switched at the last minute to GSF during game development or that he's implied as a snake and contributed to Sweet falling into a trap and causing GSF to fall out.
 * Their rivalry with GSF is based on the rivalry of Los Angeles gangs the Bloods and Crips. Violence hit a peak in Los Angeles in the early-nineties due in part to the crack cocaine epidemic.
 * When CJ wears a full green attire representing the Grove Street (as said by Sweet after the completion of Nines and AKs "Go get yourself some family colors".) Ballas gang members on the area will immediately attack CJ when seen and would comment on his green attire.
 * The Ballas were originally going to be called The Flats.
 * The beta Ballas dressed different than they did in the final version.
 * The member in the white tee and purple khaki shorts originally did not wear a bandana on his head and his shirt was tucked into his shorts. Also, he did not wear a cross chain.
 * The member with the dark blue jacket and purple bandana looked more like the GSF member with the green bandana and sweater except the outfit was purple, the shoes were different and he wore another bandana covering his face.
 * The member in the purple windbreaker, sunglasses, and black beanie originally wore a purple flannel shirt and gray khaki pants. He also had more noticable facial hair.

Mission Appearances

 * Introduction
 * Sweet & Kendl
 * Tagging Up Turf
 * Cleaning the Hood
 * Drive-Thru
 * Drive-By
 * Catalyst
 * House Party
 * Doberman
 * Los Sepulcros
 * The Green Sabre
 * Pier 69
 * Home Coming
 * Beat Down on B Dup
 * Grove 4 Life
 * End of the Line