The Families are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of South San Andrean. Founded in Los Santos, San Andreas, in 1969, mainly by James Williams and Robert Jefferson, the Families began as an alliance between two autonomous gangs, and developed into a loosely connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another. Its members have traditionally worn green clothing since around 1973.
The Families are one of the largest and most violent associations of street gangs in the United States. With an estimated 30,000 members in 2008, the gangs members have been involved in murders, robberies, and drug dealing, among other crimes. They have a long and bitter rivalry with the Ballas
History
Gang activity in South Los Santos has its roots in a variety of factors dating to the 1950s, including: post-WWII economic decline leading to joblessness and poverty; racial segregation of young African-American men, who were excluded from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, leading to the formation of black "street clubs". James “Stallion” Williams met Robert Jefferson in 1969, and the two decided to unite their local gang members from the west and east sides of South Los Santos in order to battle neighboring street gangs. Most of the members were 17 years old.
The alliance was formed to fight other street gangs (primarily against hispanic gangs, particularly the Vagos) Williams, who attended Davis High School, was the leader of the East Side Families, and James, who attended Strawberry High School, led the West Side Families.
It was also around this time that the Families would go on to begin repping the colour green, it is unknown why the Families began repping the colour, but rumour says, it was when member, Doctor, came to a meeting in Green. From then on out the Families would go on to flag Green, rolling with a Green Bandana on the left side of their hip, and tagging their turf in Green colour spray paint only.
By 1971, Jefferson, the leader of the West Side Families would go on to be arrested for attempted murder. Williams would eventually develop an addiction to PCP, these factors would lead to the downfall of the Families, many sets would form out of the Families, such as Chamberlain Gangster Families and Carson Avenue Families from the West Side Families, and Davis Neighbourhood Families, Orange Street Rancho Families.
After Williams arrest in 1982, the East Side Families leader's seat was taken by Sean "Sweet" Calvin Johnson. He reorganized East Side Families into Grove Street Families. Sweet began to promote policies against the use and sale of hard drugs. However, not all members of the gang supported this, which started a rift within the alliance.
Fam-on-Fam rivalries
Families have never been known for unity. Since the '70s, there have been conflicts between the sets, but Williams and Jefferson have always worked things out. After Jefferson went to jail and Williams became less and less involved in gang affairs, the alliance lost its leadership.
Since then, other conflicts and feuds were started between many of the remaining Fam sets. As well as feuding with Ballas, they also fight each other — for example, the Chamberlain Gangster Families and Carson Avenue Families. In Davis, the Davis Neighborhood Families and the Grove Street Families have feuded so much that the Davis Neighborhood Families even teamed up with a local Ballas set, the Original Covenant Ballas, to fight the Grove Street Families.
Sets:
Los Santos:
Carson Avenue Families | CAF (formerly West Side Families) (1969 - present) Chamberlain Hills side of Carson Avenue
Grove Street Families | GSF (formerly East Side Families) (1969 - 1996) Davis city (Deceased)
Rollin 30s Original Holland Families | R30F (1969s - present) Little Seoul/Downtown Los Santos
Chamberlain Gangster Families | CGF (1970 - present) Chamberlain Hills
Davis Neighborhood Families | DNF (1971-present) Davis
Orange Street Rancho Families | ORF (1971-1992) Rancho (Deceased)
Milton Drive Families | MDF (1972 - 1996) West Vinewood and Del Perro Beach (Deceased)
Puerta Boulevard Families | PBF (1973 - 1996) La Puerta (Deceased)
Prosperty Courts Mafia Families | PCMF (1977 - 1982) Del Perro city (Deceased)
Forum Drive Families | FDF (2012-present) Strawberry and Chamberlain Hills
W/S Cindy Street Families | CSF (1990-present) West Rockshore
Strip Village Families | SVF (1993-present) Old Stpir
Elvis Neighborhood Families | ENF (1994-present) Elvis
Rollin 30s Original Holland Families | R30F (1994-present) East Redsands
Tierra Robada County:
Cedar Town Neighborhood Families | CTNF (1992-present) The Town of Miranda
Liberty City Families | LCF
- Rollin 30s Original Holland Families | R30F (1999-resent) Algonquin and Broker
- South Bohan Families | SBF (2000-present) South Bohan
- 28th Bohan Families | 28BF (2000-present) Industrial
- West Park Families | WPF (2001-present) Middle Park West
- North Side Families | NSF (2004-present) North Bohan
NOTO Alliance
- 73 Gangster Families (Drive by Gang) | D7I3E (2005-present) Beechwood City
- 723 Gangster Families | 723GF (2007-present) Firefly Projects
- Killa Rock Families | KR9 (2012-present) Firefly Projects
KOO Alliance
- 7-Trey Families | 7TF (2004-present) Beechwood City
Vice City:
Rollin 30s Original Holland Families
Rollin 90s Neighborhood Families
Tre Tre Gangster Families
Lay Low Families
London:
South London Families
Hemerich Gangster Families (HGF)
Sheldon Town Families (STF)
South Seering Families (SSF)
Henna Park Families (HPF)
Influence
The Families in the HD Universe are based on the Crips.
Los Santos (Los Angeles):
Chamberlain Gangster Families (CGF) / Forum Drive Families (FDF, FDG, FG): Based on the Rolling 60s Neighborhood Crips in Inglewood, CA
Carson Avenue Families (CAF): Based on the 8-Trey Gangster Crips due to beef with CGF
Orange Street Rancho Families: Based on the Grape Street Watts Crips in Watts, Los Angeles.
Grove Street Families (GSF): Based on the Tree Top Piru Bloods and Crips
Milton Drive Families (MDF): Based on the Temple Drive Families in GTA: San Andreas
Puerta Boulevard Families (PBF): Based on the Seville Boulevard Families in GTA: San Andreas
Liberty City (New York City):
NOTO Alliance in Broker (Brooklyn): Based on the woo and wooo alliances in Brooklyn, NY. NOTO consists of Families, Ballas, and Hustlers like woo and wooo which consists of Crips and Bloods. NOTO means "Never Off The Opps"
KOO Alliance in Broker (Brooklyn): Based on the choo alliance in Brooklyn, NY. KOO consists of GDs, Families, Hustlers, and Ballas like choo which consists of GDs, Crips, and Bloods. KOO means "Killing Off Opps"
73 Gangster Families (Drive by Gang) (D7I3E): Based on the 8 Trey (83) Gangster Crips (Movin Gang) (M8V3N) in Brooklyn, NY.
723 Gangster Families (723GF): Based on the 8 Deuce Trey (823) Gangster Crips in Brooklyn, NY.
Killa Rock Families (KR9/KRF): Based on the Gangster Stone Crips (GSC/GS9) in Brooklyn, NY.
7 Trey Gangster Families (7TF): Based on any Crip set in the choo alliance but loosely based on an 8 Trey Crip set in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY.
East Coast Families (ECF): Based on the East Coast Crips.
Rolling 90s Neighborhood Families: Based on the Rolling 60s Neighborhood Crips in Atlanta, GA.
Tre Tre Gangster Families: Based on the Tre Tre Gangster Crips in Atlanta, GA
Lay Low Families: Based on the Lay Low Crips In Atlanta, GA
Vice City (Miami)
Unknown Families Sets
South London Families: Based on the South London Crips in London, England.
Unknown Families Sets
Character Influence
Los Santos:
Rappers in Los Santos the families gang are loosely based on Chicago rappers.
LS Devil is loosely based on Chief Keef. This is by him being the person who started Los Santos Drill like Chief Keef started Chicago drill and drill rap period. He is also called Mr. Disrespectful in his early rap days but a matured person who no longer lives a gang banging lifestyle which is based on how Chief Keef changed as a person although LS Devil is far more disrespectful in his early years than Chief Keef. Devil also is the creator of NCE (No Chill Ent.) and the owner of NCR (No Chill Records), which are both based on GBE (Glory Boyz Ent.).
Lil CKB is loosely based on Fredo Santana. He has a close relationship with LS Devil by them growing up together as kids. This is based on Chief Keef and Fredo Santana being cousins but also the friendship of King Von and T.Roy. He is also part of the NCE Trilogy which is based one Chief Keef, Fredo Santana, and Lil Reese. R.I.P Fredo, Von, and T.Roy.
Lil Clover is based loosely on Lil Durk and a bit of Lil Reese. He is based on Lil Reese in the sense of which he is apart of the NCE Trilogy and the close friendship with LS Devil. He is based on Lil Durk in the sense of which he is in the prime of his career but has been rapping for a while.
King Dre is based loosely on Lil Durk also. He is based on Durk in the sense of which he is also in the prime of his career and has a group turned record label called KLS (Kingz of Los Santos Records) based on OTF. He is also around the same age as Durk only being younger by about a year.
Liberty City:
Broker rappers in the families gang are heavily based on Brooklyn drill rappers.
Cooka H is based on Sheff G. Their names have similar meanings because Sheff came from to word chef meaning to "cook someone up" while Cooka is obviously from the word "cook". The G in Sheff G means "Gangster" while the H in Cooka H means "Hitman". He is also from the set "D7I3E" which is based on the set Sheff G comes from which is "M8V3N". He also had rivalry with GD rapper 44gz who is clearly based on 22gz.
Sixshot Murda is based on Fivio Foreign. They both have names affiliated with a group or gang. The "Foreign" in Fivio's name likely comes from "800 Foreign Side" while the "Murda" in Sixshot's name comes from "700 Murda Side". The name "Sixshot" is also a play off of the name "Fivio". Sixshot also comes from the KR9 set which is based on GS9, the set Fivio is from.
Shot King is based on Pop Smoke. While their names have only a small relation, those being "shot" and "pop", they are from similar sets and have similar voices. Shot King is from the 723 Gangster Families set which is based on the set Pop Smoke is from, the 823 Gangster Crips. They both also have unique and raspy voices. R.I.P Pop Smoke.
Mikey Famurda is based on Bobby Shmurda. They have similar names "Shmurda" and "Famurda". The set Mikey Famurda is from is KR9 which is based on the set Bobby is from, "GS9". Mikey was born in Vice City which is based on Miami and Bobby was born in Miami. They both got locked up for similar reasons in the same year.
Rough Runna is based on Rowdy Rebel. The name "Runna" means to "run down on someone". The set Runna is from is KR9 and has a close friendship with Mikey Famurda. This is based on Rowdy Rebel being from the GS9 set and having a close friendship with Bobby Shmurda. Rough Runna was like Rowdy Rebel, just released from prison in 2020.
Terms/Slang and Signs
BK: Balla Killer
VK: Vago Killer
AK: Azteca Killer
CK: Chief Killer
TK: Tec Killer
NOTOk: NOTO Killer
KOOk: KOO Killer
GDK: Gang Disciple Killer (Broker Only)
Fam: Greeting
Famdem: Greeting (London)
Loc: Greeting to fellow gang members
OG: A well-respected original gangster.
Fam (sign): Formed by sticking out the thumb and index finger as seen on one of Franklin's tattoos. This is used by all families.
NOTO: Formed by keeping the index and middle fingers together while creating an "o" like shape with the ring and thumb fingers. This is used by any families in the noto alliance.
KOO: Formed by making a "K" with the index, middle, and ring fingers. If done correctly, it makes a "K". This is used by any families in the koo alliance.
Cracking L's: Formed by keeping the thumb, index, and pinky fingers down while bending the middle and ring fingers. This is used by any families set beefing with any ballas set to show disrespect.
Dropping V: Formed by making a v with the index and middle fingers and flipping it upside down. This is used by any families set beefing with any vago set to show disrespect.
Dropping A: Formed by making a v with the index and middle fingers then crossing the thumb in the middle which forms an A , then flip it upside down. This is used by any families set beefing with any ballas set to show disrespect.
Dropping Horns: Formed by keeping the middle finger, ring finger, and thumb down and leaving the index and pinky fingers up, then proceeding to flip it upside down. This is used by anybody beefing with GD's.
Dropping NOTO: Formed by keeping the index and middle fingers together while creating an "o" like shape with the ring and thumb fingers, then turning it upside down. This is used by any families in the koo alliance and beefing with noto.
Dropping KOO: Formed by making a "K" with the index, middle, and ring fingers, then dropping it upside down. If done correctly, it makes a "K". This is used by any families in the noto alliance and beefing with koo.