The Santa Maria Families also know as South Sunrise Families are a set of The Families gang in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Description[]
Their territory consists of the whole of Santa Maria Beach, hence the name. They originally split from the Temple Drive Families and are classed as a subset of the aforementioned gang. They are currently at war with the Beachside Shoota Ballas, due to the BSB owning Verona Beach and the SMF owning Santa Maria Beach. They are often seen hanging in groups of 3-8 talking about their gang lives and/or smoking cigars or weed and driving around their territory. Their cars consist of the Savanna, the Voodoo and the Tornado. They will greet CJ when he goes towards them, but they will become hostile when a gun is pointed at them, this stops after the mission Reuniting The Families.
When in a shootout, they wield normal Colt 45's. They will wield tec-9's after all the tags are sprayed. They are noticeably more accurate with weapons than the other Families sets, barely missing any shots. By the end of the game, they will use Desert Eagle's and AK 47's.
CJ is able to recruit members of this gang once his respect has reached halfway, this is probably because they are more accurate with weapons than the other sets. They have more models than other sets, one is named Fam4 and another one named Fam5.
History[]
In Early 1989 The Santa Maria Families were formed by Temple Drive Families members that moved down south, they stayed in Santa Maria due to high Balla concentration. The SMF decided to expand their businesses their such as Pimping, Illegal street racing and selling Weed. They gained a following from YG's in the area and started to gain a steady growth. To make money, the gang decided to start selling hard drugs, they knew that other Families sets would disagree with this idea, so they went to the Temple Drive Families OG's to make a compromise, the TDF disagreed with the whole idea, which led to hostility between them, eventually SMF split from TDF, to avoid war between the two sets.
In Summer 1989, Santa Maria Families were going strong, they were making the most money they ever could, and they were growing rapidly, they were at the height of their power. They also made sure that their members knew how to use a gun, they would often bring YG's to emmet's to train their aim. They were making triple the money of other Families sets because they were selling Hard drugs such as, Heroin, Ecstasy and new drug on the streets called Cocaine. They had established themselves as a separate gang. Everything was going great for SMF, until some dope fiends squabbled to some Beach Side Ballas OG's, BSB was a neighbouring gang set in Verona Beach, the BSB OG's knew that if SMF kept growing it was, they would eventually expand into BSB turf. BSB planned multiple drive by's on SMF, killing 30+ members and 4 civilians. SMF knew they could only take so many hits before they would crumble, but they couldn't fight BSB head on, as they outnumbered them in members, and BSB had many YG's willing to put their life on the line for their gang. So they had to think of a plan fast.
During Late Autumn/Winter 1989, Santa Maria Families OG's went to Temple Drive Families to discuss a truce, the TDF accepted this offer, but on one condition, the SMF could no longer sell hard drugs on the streets, SMF reluctantly agreed. Santa Maria Families were making a only fraction of the money they were during Summer. But on the bright side, SMF gained 250+ members from TDF more than enough to go to war with BSB and SMF were smart and saved most off their money for an emergency, though this was not an emergency, so they kept on adding more money. The SMF were ready for with the BSB. SMF performed multiple hits on the BSB, weakening the gang, BSB retaliated. Multiple drive by's and shoot outs happened over this time.
During 1990-1991, Santa Maria Families now with 1,500+ members decided to have a final war with Beachside Shoota Ballas, Temple Drive Families promised to help if Santa Maria Families needed it. On November 15th 1990, Santa Maria Families went to war with BSB, it was a bloodbath, killing 43 members of SMF and 61 members of BSB and 29 civilians in the process. TDF stuck to their promise and aided SMF, killing another 22 members of BSB, but losing 17 members in the process. It was so bad the armed forces had to get involved. Since then the war has been at a stalemate, declaring SMF as the winner, since they loss less members. Beachside Shoota Ballas suffered a major loss, but they are still active and were aided by the Rollin Height Ballas.