Ryder

Updated 30 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Ryder, real name Lance Wilson, is a Grove Street Families member and one of the antagonists of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). He secretly sides with Big Smoke, the Ballas and corrupt officer Frank Tenpenny, and helps move drugs for the Loco Syndicate. CJ kills him in the San Fierro mission "Pier 69". He is voiced by the rapper MC Eiht.

Who is Ryder in GTA San Andreas?

Ryder is one of the old friends who welcome Carl "CJ" Johnson back to Grove Street in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. According to the GTA Wiki, his full name, Lance Wilson, is given in the game's credits, manual and promotional material. He is a senior member of the Grove Street Families and one of the people closest to the gang's leader, Sweet.

Other characters make fun of his height, although the GTA Wiki points out that his model is in fact taller than both CJ and Cesar Vialpando. The wiki also says his look is based on the rapper Eazy-E.

Which missions does Ryder appear in?

Ryder is the face of several early jobs in Los Santos. According to the GTA Wiki, his first mission, named after him, takes CJ to a barber in Idlewood and then to a pizza shop, where Ryder's attempted hold-up goes wrong when the clerk fires back. Later he sends CJ to take gun crates from a retired army veteran's home in East Beach, and the pair raid a freight train and the National Guard depot at Ocean Docks. These jobs mix comedy with real stakes, and they show Ryder as the loud member of the crew.

When does Ryder betray CJ?

The betrayal comes out in "The Green Sabre". Cesar spots Ryder and Big Smoke meeting with the Ballas and the corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officers Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski. Wikipedia's summary says CJ learns from this that the two men turned on the Grove Street Families and were behind the killing of his mother, Beverly Johnson.

The GTA Wiki adds detail. Big Smoke recruited Ryder into a wider alliance that also involved the Los Santos Vagos and the Russian Mafia. Ryder helped the Ballas take Grove Street turf and passed drugs from the Loco Syndicate to them. His reasons are never spelled out at length, but the shared motive in the game is money.

How does Ryder die?

Ryder dies in San Fierro, in the mission "Pier 69". CJ and Cesar break up a meeting between the Loco Syndicate and its partners on a pier. According to the GTA Wiki, Ryder tries to escape by swimming to a boat, and CJ either shoots him before he reaches it or chases him out to sea and kills him there. Wikipedia sums up that CJ and his allies wipe out the syndicate's leadership along with Ryder.

The GTA Wiki notes that earlier versions of the game planned it the other way round, with Ryder dying on the pier itself. In the finished game his partner T-Bone Mendez is the one killed there. Ryder is the first of the traitors to fall; Big Smoke and Tenpenny last until the final mission.

Who voices Ryder?

Ryder is voiced by MC Eiht, the Compton rapper best known as the leader of the group Compton's Most Wanted. Wikipedia's pages on the game and on MC Eiht both list the role, which was a voice-only part, and the GTA Wiki gives the same credit. His casting fits the game's early-1990s West Coast setting.

Is Ryder in GTA V?

Not as a character. Grand Theft Auto V is set in a different continuity, but the GTA Wiki notes that the mission "Hood Safari" includes a nod to him and to the opening of San Andreas. His story, like the rest of the Grove Street saga, belongs only to the 2004 game and its remasters.