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GTA: San Andreas
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GTA San Andreas · Characters
Big Smoke: The Friend Who Betrayed Grove Street
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Big Smoke, real name Melvin Harris, is the calm, well-fed voice of reason of Grove Street in GTA San Andreas (2004), and the friend whose betrayal hurts CJ most. He gives some of the most quoted lines in the series and ends the game as its final boss. Clifton Powell voices him.
Who Is Big Smoke?
Smoke is one of the founding members of the Grove Street Families and an old friend of CJ and Sweet. He wears a short-sleeved green shirt, a black bowler hat and square glasses; early versions of the game dressed him in a basketball jersey with no hat. He loves his food, speaks slowly and likes to quote the Bible, which makes his later choices all the colder.
Clifton Powell had acted in Menace II Society with MC Eiht and Samuel L. Jackson, who voice Ryder and Officer Tenpenny. Three of the film's actors ended up playing the game's three traitors.
Big Smoke's Missions
His first scene sets the tone: in the mission Big Smoke, CJ drives him home and is greeted by a man with a baseball bat who thinks he is a burglar. Smoke then gives CJ OG Loc, Running Dog, Wrong Side of the Tracks and Just Business, and rides with him in Tagging Up Turf, Cleaning the Hood, Drive-Thru, Nines and AKs, Drive-By and Reuniting the Families.
Two of those became internet legends. In Drive-Thru, Smoke reels off an enormous order at Cluckin' Bell just before the Ballas attack. In Wrong Side of the Tracks, CJ chases a Vagos train on a dirt bike while Smoke shoots from the back, a mission many players failed again and again, and the source of the line "All we had to do was follow the damn train, CJ!".
Why Big Smoke Betrays Grove Street
In The Green Sabre, CJ sees Smoke and Ryder meeting Officer Tenpenny and the Ballas. Smoke has been working for C.R.A.S.H. and let the drive-by that killed Beverly Johnson, CJ's mother, go ahead. While CJ is away in the countryside, San Fierro and Las Venturas, Smoke becomes the crack kingpin of Los Santos, protected by Tenpenny and allied with the Ballas, the Vagos, the Russian Mafia and the Loco Syndicate.
He runs his business from a fortified building in East Los Santos that players call the Crack Palace, and that is where the story takes CJ at the very end.
How Does Big Smoke Die?
In End of the Line, the last mission of the game, CJ fights his way up the Crack Palace floor by floor. Smoke is waiting at the top, playing a video game in body armour. After a gunfight he falls, and in his last words he admits that the money and the power got the better of him, and that people will still remember his name. Tenpenny arrives, sets the building on fire and flees, which opens the final chase.
Big Smoke at a Glance
| Detail | Big Smoke |
|---|---|
| Real name | Melvin Harris |
| Voiced by | Clifton Powell |
| Missions he gives | OG Loc, Running Dog, Wrong Side of the Tracks, Just Business |
| Betrayal revealed | The Green Sabre |
| Death | End of the Line, in the Crack Palace |
Every other character is on our San Andreas characters page, and every mission on the missions page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Big Smoke betray CJ?
For money and power. He worked for Officer Tenpenny and the Ballas and became the crack kingpin of Los Santos.
How does Big Smoke die?
CJ kills him in End of the Line, the last mission, at the top of his Crack Palace.
Who voices Big Smoke?
Clifton Powell.
What is Big Smoke's real name?
Melvin Harris.
What is the train mission with Big Smoke?
Wrong Side of the Tracks, where CJ chases a Vagos train on a dirt bike while Smoke shoots.