The Green Sabre is a mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, given to protagonist Carl Johnson by his brother Sweet from his home in Ganton, Los Santos, San Andreas. This mission is a major turning point in the storyline.
Mission
The three feuding families of the Grove Street Families have come together due to Carl's efforts and Sweet decides to finally get back at the Ballas. Sweet also makes good with Carl and calls him his running dog. He then orders everyone to get heated, and meet him under the Mulholland Intersection.
Carl, however, is side-tracked on the way by a call from Cesar, who has some important news for him. At first, Carl explains he is too busy to meet but Cesar is insistent, so Carl heads to the meeting place under the freeway north of Verdant Bluffs to meet Cesar, who is inside a Bravura with tinted windows. The two look ahead, as some Ballas exit a garage, followed by Ryder and Big Smoke, and finally Officer Frank Tenpenny. Eddie Pulaski then reverses a car out of the garage, revealing the same green Sabre that was used in the drive-by in Grove Street to kill Carl's mother.
Suddenly, Carl remembers Sweet and realizes that Sweet and the rest of the Grove Street Families are walking into a trap. But first, he orders Cesar to get Kendl to a safe place. Carl races over to the underside of the Mulholland Intersection to prevent Sweet and the homies from being killed.
Upon arriving, Carl sees a deadly shootout taking place. He also sees that Sweet has taken a hit. Out of loyalty, Carl stays to hold off the Ballas hordes. Numerous Ballas members will come and shoot at Carl and the rest of the gang. Carl holds them off until the police arrive, causing the remaining Ballas and GSF homies to flee. Refusing to leave his injured brother, Carl surrenders to the LSPD.
Both brothers are arrested, with Sweet taken to a prison hospital upstate, and Carl taken to Angel Pine in Whetstone by Tenpenny and Pulaski. Tenpenny explains what happened and what will happen. From now on, Carl will do what he wants him to do. His first task is to eliminate a former cop hiding on Mount Chiliad being guarded by the FBI.
Mission Objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
- Get to where Cesar is waiting under the freeway
- Get to the ambush before your brother is killed
- Hold off the Ballas until the police arrive
Reward
There is no monetary reward for this mission, but the Badlands mission is unlocked. Following the mission, Carl will be stripped of his weapons. The player may now buy any safehouse in the countryside (specifically Red County, Whetstone and Flint County), and save their game at the Angel Pine Save Point. The gang warfare element is disabled until completing the mission Home Coming. Additionally, the player can now traverse the countryside and enter San Fierro without any police attention, but cannot purchase any safehouses there yet until completing the mission Are You Going to San Fierro?.
Aftermath
- West Coast Talk Radio reports the following events:
- Richard Burns narrates a news report on the gang war between the Grove Street Families and the Ballas that happened under the intersection saying many senior Grove Street Families and Ballas gang members were killed, while others were incarcerated.
- It is also reported that the bridges connecting Red County and Flint County have finally reopened, with many delays, following the earthquake a few months ago. The governor has congratulated himself for the rebuilding of the bridges, even though he didn't help with any of the rebuilding of the bridges and even refused to give aid to rebuild them.
- There is no restriction on Carl returning to Los Santos, although there is no longer a Grove Street Families presence on Grove Street, and the cash point in front of the Johnson house no longer functions. If Carl is wasted close enough to Los Santos he will respawn at a hospital in Los Santos. It is worth mentioning that when returning to Los Santos, the player should be careful, as the city from this mission on is dominated by the Ballas, who are always hostile to the player, and Vagos, who are passively hostile.
- All other Los Santos-based activities, including dating Denise Robinson, are still available (although Denise will not call Carl, and his progress with her will not be affected from not dating her, as long as Carl is not in Los Santos). The Roboi's Food Mart asset also still functions, if Carl has completed the first courier mission.
- San Fierro is now accessible to the player without police attention, though safehouses are not available for purchase until completing the mission "Are You Going to San Fierro?"
Deaths
- Various Ballas gang members - Killed by Carl Johnson for attacking Sweet and the Grove Street Families members.
Gallery
Walkthrough
Video Walkthroughs
Trivia
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- No "Mission Passed" message appears and no sound is heard after the mission in the original version of the game. In the remastered version, this message appears.
- The song that is playing inside Sweet's house is Fuck wit Dre Day by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, a song that also can be heard on Radio Los Santos.
- Despite the bridges between Los Santos and Red County, and San Fierro and Flint County reopening, no vehicles will use them until Yay Ka-Boom-Boom, although there is one bridge located north of the Flint Intersection (just north of the RS Haul) where some vehicles may occasionally be seen driving across. However, only vehicles from the Red County side (especially the ones that spawn between the bridge and a nearby T-Junction north of it) will drive across the bridge to get to Flint County.
- It seems that Ryder was not due to appear during the part of betrayal. According to the mission's dialogue, Carl only notices Smoke and the C.R.A.S.H. officers taking the Sabre out of the garage, despite Ryder exiting in front of Smoke. Carl does not mention Ryder to Sweet nor do he and Cesar mention him during King in Exile. The first time Ryder's betrayal is discussed, is during Photo Opportunity when Carl utters "Ryder, sherm-head!" as Ryder arrives in Angel Pine with a Ballas member. Carl then photographs him. Carl only mentions Ryder during Photo Opportunity and briefly talks to him moments before his death, with Ryder showing no regrets.
- The officers who surround Carl at the Intersection aim their pistols in a sideways manner usually attributed to gang members. This is due to the officers being scripted as opposed to those who appear in regular gameplay.
- Pulaski's mouth does not move when he says "We want you to do a little favor for us Carl".
- The Camera Pulaski hands to Carl in the final cutscene is a different model to the one obtainable in the game.
- The Bravura that Cesar and Carl use cannot be damaged or moved by the player, at least before getting inside that car. It is however possible to drive the Bravura following the cutscene.
- Originally, there was a small cutscene that would play between Carl eliminating all of the Ballas and the police arriving. In the cutscene, Carl would tell Sweet that he defended him because "he wasn't gonna lose another brother", and Sweet weakly admits that he was wrong about Carl being a "busta".
- The scene where CJ and Sweet are arrested while the other Grove Street members run is inspired by the 1993 movie Blood In Blood Out. In it, Miklo and Paco, two members of the Chicano street gang Vatos Locos (Crazy Guys) get into a shootout with a rival gang and Miklo is wounded. After a police car chase Paco, Miklo and two other members of the Vatos Locos crash the car and while the other two gang members flee the scene, Miklo and Paco are arrested in a similar way to CJ and Sweet and the camera even pans up to an aerial shot. This scene can be seen here.
- Another striking similarity is that while Sweet and Miklo were sent to prison, Carl and Paco ended up working for law enforcements.