Sweet Johnson

"You gotta love your hood like you love your homies; it's always been that way and ain't nothing ever gonna change! I done seen it all!"

- Sweet

Sean "Sweet" Johnson is a character who appears as the deuteragonist in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He is the leader of the Grove Street Families and the older brother of Carl Johnson.

Description
Sweet is the leader of the Grove Street Families gang, which is based in Ganton, Los Santos. He is the eldest son of Beverly Johnson and the older brother of Carl, Kendl, and Brian. Sweet is also shown to have an unnamed girlfriend in two missions.

Sweet is voiced by Faizon Love, who is best known for his role as Big Worm in the movie Friday.

Background
Sweet was born to Beverly Johnson and an unnamed father in Los Santos. He was later present at the births of his three younger siblings, Carl, Kendl, and Brian. After 1987 Sweet became the leader of the Grove Street Families  and recruited Big Smoke, Later on Ryder and Carl joined the gang. His younger brother Brian died in an accident, which Sweet blamed on his other brother Carl; this resulted in Carl leaving for Liberty City. Sweet then moved out into his own house, next door to his childhood home.

Throughout the game, Sweet is seen to have two different girlfriends, one of which Carl saved. However, since Sweet shows little to no attention when Carl throws his girl out near the end of the game, it is implied that Sweet and her are not in a relationship and he only has one girlfriend.

Beverly's Death
"No! Oh shit! Hell!"

- Sweet running to his mother's home, after the drive-by attack

"Carl, it's Sweet."

"Hey, wassup, Sweet? What you want?"

"I think you better come home. It's Momma... she's dead, bro."

- Sweet's call to Carl

Sweet continued to lead the Grove Street Families, whose influence began to decline as their rivals began to manufacture and sell drugs. His childhood friend, Big Smoke, attempted to convince him to start selling drugs to help the Grove Street Families, but Sweet refused. The Ballas, with whom Big Smoke and Ryder (another childhood friend) are now connected with, decide to kill Sweet and perform a drive-by shooting on the Johnson house. The gang, however, instead kill his mother, which results in Carl Johnson returning from Liberty City.

Carl's Return
"That's another funeral you ran away from, fool. Just like Brian's."

- Sweet to Carl

At the funeral, Sweet and his sister Kendl are reunited with their brother Carl. Sweet angered Kendl by insulting her boyfriend, and berated Carl for missing their brother's and mother's funerals. Sweet didn't trust Carl for a short time, but he later realized his true intentions of staying and helping the Grove Street Families. This resulted in a more brotherly relationship.

Sweet then decided to have Carl work for the gang, including to putting the gang tag across Los Santos' poorer districts, killing some Ballas drug dealers, killing some Ballas attempting a drive-by, and meeting an old friend and killing Ballas gangsters in Jefferson. He also had Carl meet Kendl's boyfriend Cesar Vialpando, leader of the rival Varrios Los Aztecas, with Carl reporting that he will be good to Kendl.

Sweet's leadership and the gang's continued decline began to lead to factions within the Grove Street Families agitating to break away. This is shown during Sweet's Girl, where Sweet phones his brother requesting help to escape from the Seville Boulevard Families, who are have cornered him and his girlfriend in Playa del Seville. Carl manages to rescue them and later Sweet organizes a meeting for the various factions, including the Temple Drive Families, which is interupted by the police. The gang, however, continue to do well despite the fractions with Carl taking control of Glen Park and killing Kane, a high ranking member of the Ballas.

Imprisoned
Sweet is later involved in a shootout with various Ballas gangsters, who attack in waves after arriving in vans. He is shot during the shootout but is not killed due to the assistance of Carl and three other Grove Street Families gangsters, although Carl does inform Sweet of the betrayal of Big Smoke and Ryder and their alliance with Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski of C.R.A.S.H.. The police again turn up and arrest both Sweet and Carl. Sweet is later taken to prison but Carl is taken to Whetstone by Tenpenny, Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez and begins his life in the state of San Andreas.

Life while imprisoned
"Sweet is alive. Alive and inside. He's in a prison hospital being treated for gunshot wounds, awaiting trial."

- Frank Tenpenny

Carl continues to work his way up the criminal underworld in San Fierro and becomes aware of the Loco Syndicate, led by Jizzy B., T-Bone Mendez and Mike Toreno, who are selling drugs to members of the Los Santos Vagos, who are in alliance with Big Smoke, the Ballas and the Russian Mafia. Carl begins working for them, allowing his new Triad allies to find out more about their dealings. Carl later kills Jizzy, T-Bone Mendez and, or so he thought to be Mike Toreno, along with now enemy Ryder. He later receives a phone call from an unknown man who reveals himself to be Mike Toreno, who had sent another man as a decoy during Toreno's Last Flight. Carl begins to work for the government agent and his work is rewarded, as Toreno helps secure the release of Sweet, who is paroled during Home Coming.

During his imprisonment, Sweet was taken 'upstate' and placed in D-wing cell 13 according to Mike Toreno in the mission Interdiction. The prisoner in the cell to the left was a child killer who wanted to rip his throat up and on the right a white supremacist who wanted to eat his heart.

Release from prison
"This is home, man. Get these fuckers out of mom's house. You was born in there, Damn!"

- Sweet

Carl tells Sweet of his and Kendl's new life in San Fierro and Las Venturas, trying to convince him to move away from the hood. Sweet, however, insists on returning to Ganton and, upon on their return, they re-take control of the area. Sweet then accompanies Carl as the two re-take Glen Park and rescue Big Bear from the clutches of the drug dealer B Dup, with Sweet taking him to rehab. Carl is then instructed to take control of Idlewood, one of the districts neighbouring Ganton.

During this time Frank Tenpenny had been arrested and put on trial. He, however, was found not guilty and released from prison, resulting in riots across Los Santos' poorer districts. Sweet, who had joined Carl, Kendl, Cesar, The Truth, Maccer and Madd Dogg at Madd Dogg's mansion, is then driven home by Carl. Sweet then begins to think about ending the war between the Grove Street Families and the Ballas, but allows Carl to help Cesar and the Varrios Los Aztecas re-take the El Corona district, in order to re-pay his debt to Cesar.

End of problems
Shortly afterwards, however, the two brothers decide to take on the Ballas, stop their drug manufacturing and kill Big Smoke. Sweet has Carl break into the manufacturing plant and kill Big Smoke, which he manages despite Ballas, Los Santos Vagos and Russian Mafia gangsters attempting to stop him. After killing Smoke, however, Carl is interrupted by Frank Tenpenny, who sets some of the machinery on fire. Carl, however, manages to make his way out of the building in time to see Tenpenny escape in a fire truck.

Sweet, however, grabs hold of one of the truck's ladders. Carl then drives after his brother in an open-top Feltzer, which Sweet eventually drops into. Sweet takes the wheel and the two give chase, fending off the police. The two continue to chase Tenpenny until he crashes his fire truck, which goes over a bridge and into Grove Street. Sweet and Carl, along with Kendl, Cesar and The Truth, then watch Tenpenny die after he climbs out of the trucks cabin. The five then return to the Johnson House and are joined by Madd Dogg, Ken Rosenberg, Maccer and Kent Paul as they celebrate their success.

Personality
Sweet is described in the CRASH dossier (viewable in the instruction manual) as "naive, but powerful". He is intensely loyal to his neighborhood, but he can be harshly judgmental of people. As leader of the Grove Street Families he idealistically thought of using them as a means to keep crack and other hard drugs off the streets, and even when GSF's influence began to wane he refused to compromise. family and friends, and originally founded the Grove Street Families as a way of keeping his hood safe. When CJ leaves for Liberty City after Brian's death, he views it as a betrayal of both the gang and his family, and is reluctant to forgive him. Once CJ has proven himself, however, Sweet angrily stands up for him when others insult him.

While in prison, Sweet becomes despondent and gives up hope of ever getting out. After his release from prison, Sweet becomes angry at CJ all over again over CJ's decision to abandon Grove Street. He refuses to go see any of the properties CJ has acquired, and returns to his house in Ganton.

Unlike the leaders of the Ballas and the Los Santos Vagos, Sweet is not a coward and often leads attacks on the rival gangs' home turf.

Weapons

 * Colt M1911 - A standard 9mm pistol commonly used by gangs and standard issued weapon for Police Officers, he is seen using it in the mission Sweet's Girl to kill Seville Boulevard Families and destroying their cars. It also briefly used in mission Sweet & Kendl to against Ballas. A Glock 17 is seen in sutscenes of End of the Line.
 * IMI Desert Eagle - A powerful pistol that use .50 caliber and deals higher damage than a normal pistol, it is only seen in the cutscenes of End of the Line.
 * TEC 9 - A fully automatic machine pistol that has slow rate of fire, he is seen using it in the mission Drive Thru, Drive-By and House Party to kill Ballas.
 * Micro Uzi - A fully automatic pistol that have high rate of fire, he is seen using it in mission Los Sepulcros to kill Ballas.
 * Heckler Koch MP5 - A submachine gun that have good accuracy and higher damage than machine pistol, he is seen using it in mission Reuniting the Families and The Green Sabre against Ballas and SWAT officers.
 * AK-47 - A powerful assault rifle that deals high damage but slow rate of fire and high recoil, he is seen using it in mission Home Coming, Beat Down on B Dup and Grove 4 Life to kill Ballas.

Vehicle
Sweet owns a bright blue Greenwood. The licence plate on Sweet's Greenwood is GROVE4L.

Sweet's Greenwood is destroyed during the mission Reuniting the Families, after being driven through a Sprunk advertising board, falling onto a highway and hitting a gas tanker. Sweet later purchases another blue Greenwood, and, when Carl complains that he "I can't believe you bought that same bucket-ass car", tells Carl that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Development
The beta version of Sweet wore a black t-shirt, a long sleeved white undershirt, black trousers and black skully, which can be seen in a picture inside the Johnson House. He is seen with Kendl. Note that there is a very similar pedestrian in the game as well.

The "final" version of Sweet also wore a white, long-sleeved undershirt, as seen from the first trailer.

Mission appearances

 * GTA San Andreas
 * The Introduction
 * First Mission (Voice)
 * Sweet & Kendl
 * Tagging Up Turf (Boss)
 * Cleaning the Hood (Boss)
 * Drive-Thru (Boss)
 * Nines and AKs (Boss)
 * OG Loc
 * Drive-By (Boss)
 * Sweet's Girl (Boss)
 * Cesar Vialpando (Boss)
 * Doberman (Voice/Boss)
 * Los Sepulcros (Boss)
 * House Party
 * Reuniting the Families (Boss)
 * The Green Sabre (Boss/Arrested)
 * Badlands (Post-mission phone call)
 * Saint Mark's Bistro (Post-mission phone call)
 * Home Coming (Released)
 * Beat Down on B Dup (Boss)
 * Grove 4 Life (Boss)
 * Riot (Boss)
 * Los Desperados (Boss)
 * End of the Line (Boss)

Trivia

 * The license plate on Sweet's car is GROVE4L, or "Grove 4 Life".
 * Sweet's disliking of Carl, prior to his return to Los Santos, is seen during The Introduction where he states that Carl "has his own life, more than he deserves", and that he "can rot in hell for all I give a fuck".
 * Sweet's favorite radio stations are Bounce FM, CSR 103.9, and Radio Los Santos.
 * Sweet gives you the second most missions in one game, giving you 15 missions. (Salvatore Leone gives you 19 missions)
 * In a Grand Theft Auto V easter egg men resembling C.J., Sweet, and Big Smoke can be seen riding bikes down Grove Street in the mission Hood Safari. This is a reference to the first mission of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

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