Ballas

GANG Ballas
Games:	GTA San Andreas
Locations:	East Los Santos Idlewood Jefferson Willowfield Glen Park Verona Beach
Leader:	Unknown
Type:	Afro-American Street Gang
Enemies:	Grove Street Families Varrios Los Aztecas Los Santos Vagos
Affiliations:	Los Santos Vagos San Fierro Rifa Loco Syndicate Russian Mafia C.R.A.S.H. Big Smoke Ryder Alan Crawford
Colors:	Purple
Vehicles:	Tahoma Majestic Voodoo (missions only)
Weapons:	Pistol Micro-SMG Tec-9 (missions only) Baseball Bat (Gang war/missions only) Pump Action Shotgun (gang war/missions only) AK-47 (gang war/missions only) MP5 (gang war/missions only)
Businesses:	Drug dealing/manufacturing Gun-running/Arms dealing Prostitution Protection
Fronts:	Big Smoke's Crack Palace Idlewood Crack House B Dup's home in Glen Park
Members:	Kane (Deceased) Little Weasel (Deceased)

The Ballas are the Grove Street Families primary enemy and most influential gang in Los Santos, having been around since the 1970s. In the beginning of the game they are the most powerful and influential street gang in Los Santos. They are involved in drug dealing/manufacturing (especially the crack cocaine trade), gang-banging, gang warfare, prostitution, gun running/arms dealing, street violence, vandalism, and degeneracy.

The Ballas are rivals with Grove Street Families and the Varrios Los Aztecas, and have ties with the San Fierro Rifa, and the Loco Syndicate for narcotics, and the Russian Mafia for weapons. Their relationship with the Los Santos Vagos is largley "hit-or-miss" and presumably rocky; this is becuase the Ballas and Vagos are natural enemies on the streets (and will act with hostility upon spotting each-other), but briefly collaborate for mutual interest in the drugs trade - especially in relation to Big Smoke's crack empire. The Ballas also collaborate with CRASH, primarily for street intelligence. In addition, the Ballas are hired by Big Smoke to act as protection and security for his crack empire. Unlike the GSF, the Ballas have no reservations about making money by selling drugs; the spread of crack cocaine into the Grove Street community is part of their strategy to wipe the GSF out.

The Ballas briefly control the streets of Los Santos alongside the Vagos after Grove Street leader Sean "Sweet" Johnson is gunned down and arrested. They control the influence of the Families by using crack cocaine to turn GSF members into hopeless addicts totally dependent on them. However, following the release of Sweet from prison and the return of Carl Johnson, the Grove Street Families dominate the Ballas. The Ballas' Crack Palace is heavily demolished by Officer Frank Tenpenny, resulting in significantly reduced influence by the Ballas in Los Santos. The Ballas are seen with purple bandanas, black skullcaps, knee high socks and flip-flop sandals, khaki pants and dark blue chore coats.

Sets

There are four known sets of Ballas:

• The Front Yard Ballas (FYB)
• The Rollin' Heights Ballas (RHB)
• The Kilo Tray Ballas (KTB)
• The Temple Drive Ballas (TDB)

All Ballas are recognizable by their mainly purple attire, which is the identifying color for the gang.

Gang Cars

Although they are seen with Voodoos in some missions, the Ballas only have two Gang Cars, the Tahoma and the Majestic. The Tahoma is a lowrider and sometimes appears with Hydraulics. On one very important occasion the Ballas use a green Sabre to try and murder Sweet in a drive-by shooting at the Johnson House, however, Sweet was not home and instead they end up killing his mother Beverly Johnson. The Ballas' favourite and default radio station is Bounce FM.

Trivia

• The Ballas were originally going to be called the "Flats". It is unknown why Rockstar changed this.
• The Ballas originally looked different in the beta version of the game.
• An additional three different Balla skins can be seen in The Introduction video.
• The rivalry between the Ballas and the Grove Street Families is loosely based off of the rivarly between the Bloods and the Crips in Los Angeles. Violence between the two gangs hit a peak during the early 1990's - largely due to the crack cocaine epidemic. A situation mirrored in early 1990's Los Santos.
• Their name is a play on the slang term "baller"; meaning a street thug that has made it big-time.
• Ballas means "Bullets" in Portuguese and Spanish.
• When involved in road accidents Ballas members can be heard saying some of the following:
  • "Awww man"
  • "You broke it, you fix it"
  • "Hey this is my momma's car man"
  • "This ain't even my car man"
  • "You hit the damn car"

Gallery

Ballas graffiti at the Skate Park. The graffiti for the Temple Drive subsection of the Ballas. The graffiti for the Rolling Heights subsection of the Ballas. The graffiti used for the Kilo Tray subsection of the Ballas. The graffiti used for the Front Yard subsection of the Ballas. Ballas members, as seen in "The Introduction"

GTA III Era gangs

Grove Street Families

Ballas