Southside Hoods

The Southside Hoods are a prominent African-American gang in Shoreside Vale, Liberty City who came to acquire their turf in Wichita Gardens while helping Toni Cipriani clear the Forelli family out of Wichita Gardens as payback for their part in having Salvatore Leone arrested. They are comprised of the Red Jacks and Purple Nines, both rival gangs. In GTA III, the latter is known to have supplied the SPANK drug on local streets.

The Red Jacks are a small scale street gang headed by D-Ice. Most of their missions provided in GTA III involve crippling Purple Nines activities. Eventually, the Purple Nines would be extinct, with their remaining members defeated in a mêlée battle.

The GTA III rendition of Southside Hoods members wear jackets of either red or purple, depending on which side they belong to, but are not seen attacking each other on the streets. Stranger yet, when a Red Jack is attacked, any nearby Purple Nines will rush to assist the gang member who is being assaulted; the same holds true in reverse. This is also suggested when D-Ice warned that Red Jacks would believe that they will also be shot at when they witness Purple Nines being killed by the player. In GTA:LCS, the Red Jacks and Purple Nines are apparently united, portrayed wearing brown jackets, over red hoodies with their hoods up (depicting a Red Jack) or purple shirts (depicting a Purple Nine), pants and boots.