Grand Theft Auto 5's Los Santos is a vast digital recreation of Los Angeles that includes a stunning level of detail, from its environments to the people who inhabit them. These include members of the city's various gangs and criminal syndicates that brush shoulders with GTA 5 protagonists Michael, Franklin, and Trevor throughout the game's story. Longtime GTA fans will recognize a handful of these from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but Rockstar Games actually left out many of the major gangs from the 2004 release.
While this might seem like a lapse in lore, GTA 5 and San Andreas take place roughly two decades apart. A lot has changed in Los Santos, suggesting once-prominent groups have been taken out by law enforcement or disbanded. Still, crews like the Aztecas and the Ballas remain thick as thieves, yet San Andreas protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson's gang, the Grove Street Families, is glaringly absent.
Rockstar only explains these gaps through hidden details in GTA 5's streets and a handful of Easter eggs only eagle-eyed players will pick up on. There are groups that have seemingly vanished without a trace, however. Here are nine San Andreas gangs GTA 5 left out.
[Warning: Spoilers for GTA: San Andreas and GTA 5 below.]
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: The Grove Street Families
The most obvious absence is the Grove Street Families, once host to major San Andreas characters CJ, Sean "Sweet" Johnson, and Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris. It might appear GTA 5's Franklin Clinton and Lamar Wilson Davis are part of the Grove Street Families because of their green clothing and location in the city, but they're actually members of the Chamberlain Gangster Families. The CGF is one of the four groups that make up The Families, a large criminal organization that primarily operates in GTA 5's South Los Santos.
Lamar briefly mentions the Grove Street sect abandoned the gang lifestyle, and the Ballas took over Grove Street before GTA 5. This potentially owes itself to Big Smoke's betrayal of the Grove Street Families in San Andreas, when he allies with the Ballas. Additionally, if players stick around the Chamberlain Hills area in GTA 5, they'll hear Families gang members reference "OG Johnson" or pick up the phone and answer, "What's good, CJ?" The Grove Street Families aren't completely ignored, but even diehard GTA fans will need to pay close attention to understand what happened to the gang.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: San Fierro Rifa
San Fierro Rifa, the T-Bone Mendez-led gang, is also nowhere to be found in GTA 5. The group butts heads with the Grove Street Families in San Andreas but does business with the Los Santos Vagos, another criminal enterprise - this time present in GTA 5. After T-Bone Mendez's death at the hands of CJ in San Andreas, the gang remains operational with the help of Big Smoke. The remaining members are later slaughtered by CJ when they attempt to defend Big Smoke. It's implied the gang disbands after the final events of San Andreas.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: Da Nang Boys
The Da Nang Boys is a gang based in San Fierro in San Andreas. The gang are headquartered on an anchored ship in the Easter Basin and is involved in human trafficking and narcotics. Da Nang Boys members are neutral to CJ for most of San Andreas' plot, but they become his enemies after they kidnaps high-ranking drug supplier Mike Toreno (who's later revealed to be an undercover government agent). Eventually, GTA: San Andreas protagonist CJ massacres the gang and takes out its leader, the Snakehead. There's no mention of the Da Nang Boys in GTA 5, so it's assumed the group was dissolved after those events.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: Butterfly Children/Shining Razors
Both the Butterfly Children and Shining Razors are mentioned multiple times throughout San Andreas but never seen in-game. During a story mission, CJ's hippie accomplice, The Truth, explains they're also based in the Easter Basin area of San Fierro, but no other GTA game expands on their origins or stories.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: Italian Mafia
GTA's Italian Mafia consists of several family sects. The prominent Leone Family is primarily based in Liberty City but has a presence in Los Santos during GTA: San Andreas. Headed by Salvatore Leone, the group operates in the Las Venturas area. It has a substantial stake in the Caligula's Casino, in partnership with the Sidacco and Forelli families. At some point after CJ robs the casino, though, the families abandon San Andreas.
The Mafia is a background organization in GTA 5, and none of the major mob families are mentioned. Enzo Bonelli is a minor character described as an "ex-mafia guy turned real estate developer" by GTA 5's Lester Crest. Eventually, Lester orders Franklin to kill the former mobster.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: San Andreas Bikers
The San Andreas Bikers is a loosely organized crew with no clearly defined territory, but its members can be seen occupying the Bone County and Red County areas. None of its members are named, and GTA: San Andreas provides little to no information about its origins or operations. Some fans believe Rockstar meant to flesh the Bikers out into a more detailed gang but abandoned the idea during development. GTA 5 includes The Lost Motor Cycle Club biker gang, which might be the finalized version of what the San Andreas Bikers were meant to be, but there aren't any direct links to prove that.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: Survivalists
This group of farmers operates in GTA: San Andreas' rural area. CJ encounters the Survivalists when The Truth orders him to steal a combine harvester from the gang, and he describes its members as "right-wingers and fascists." There are large swaths of rural areas in GTA 5, but they're the primary turf for Trevor Philips Enterprises and the O'Neil Brothers. The Survivalists gang has never been mentioned again after San Andreas.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: C.R.A.S.H.
The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums is a corrupt unit of the Los Santos Police Department and one of the main antagonist groups in GTA: San Andreas. The coalition was founded by Frank Tenpenny (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), who claims to want to combat street gangs but does business with criminal groups like the Ballas. The group consistently involves itself in CJ's life and tries to frame him for murder by planting evidence on him.
Eventually, Tenpenny is charged with numerous felonies but is acquitted in court, which sparks riots in Los Santos. The corrupt officer flees for his life and reappears at the end of the game, unsuccessfully attempting to kill CJ in a fire. This leads him to escape in a firetruck, but he crashes and dies. After Tenpenny's death, C.R.A.S.H. is disbanded, since its leader and members are all deceased.
GTA 5's Missing San Andreas Gangs: Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a minor organization that primarily provides guns-for-hire in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Its members become Big Smoke's allies after betraying the Grove Street Families, but the group is defeated by CJ later in the game. The gang is completely absent from Grand Theft Auto 5, which suggests it ceased operations in Los Santos after the run-in with CJ.