The Professionals

The Professionals are a crime syndicate featured in Grand Theft Auto Online. As their name implies, they are a professional group of criminals that deal in drug trafficking and arms smuggling. They operate all throughout San Andreas. The Professionals appear in several missions and Gang Attacks.

The Professionals appear to be a drug distribution network, dealing with various other gangs such as the Ballas, the Vagos, and The Lost. The Professionals seem to be affiliated with the Federal Investigation Bureau, since they were making a deal in a parking garage. They are in control of many different fronts, including the Mile High Club construction site, as seen in a Gang Attack.

The Professionals also seem to be providing courier and bodyguard services for a variety of valuable employers, thus making them potential competitors of Merryweather Security Consulting. Gerald describes them as "professional-type dudes" in text messages, hence the name "The Professionals". Lester, in one text message debriefing a mission, describes them as an "ex-military unit". Judging from dialogue during shootouts, they are apparently ex-Marines, shouting "Semper Fi!". This makes them even more similar to Merryweather, as Merryweather operatives are former servicemen as well.

The Professionals dress in suits, sports coats, or leather jackets with business attire, and are multi-racial, with white, black, and Hispanic members. Some wear black leather gloves, adding even more to their look of a stereotypical "hitman". Sometimes, they may be seen wearing black or white ballistic masks. They always drive blacked out vehicles.

Influences

 * The gang takes its name from the British detective drama from the '70s.
 * The gang's name could also be a reference to the 1966 movie The Professionals.
 * They also bear resemblance to the main group of antagonists in the movie Lethal Weapon called "Shadow Company." Like the Professionals, they are ex-military operatives and government spooks engaged in the drug trade.

Mission Appearances

 * GTA Online
 * A Boat in the Bay
 * Artificial Scarcity
 * Coveted
 * Death Metal
 * Dish the Dirt
 * Four Trailers
 * Gassed Up
 * Handle with Care
 * Hard Labor
 * High Priority Case
 * Landing Gear
 * Landing Strip
 * Last Chopper Outta LS
 * Mixed Up With Coke
 * Quarry Quarry
 * Rooftop Rumble
 * Sinking Feeling
 * Stick Up the Stickup Crew
 * The Los Santos Connection
 * Trash Talk

Trivia

 * In GTA Online, if you defeat them in five Gang Attacks within one session, they will put a bounty on your head. A man, presumably their leader, who goes by "The Boss", will send a threatening message prior to placing the hit: "You won't even see them coming".
 * In Capture Creator, the player can choose The Professionals as the "actors" in their custom jobs. This basically means that when placed, they either act as hostile or friendly towards the player (or neutral, which puts them as random bystanders), although this is be chosen by the player.