The Green Sabre

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

The Green Sabre is the last Los Santos story mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), given by Sweet. Cesar shows CJ that Big Smoke and Ryder are working with Tenpenny and the Ballas, CJ rushes to save Sweet from an ambush, and Sweet is arrested. Tenpenny then dumps CJ in the countryside, which opens the next act.

What happens in The Green Sabre?

The mission opens with a party at Sweet's house. The Grove Street Families are whole again after Reuniting the Families, and Sweet tells the gang to meet under the Mulholland Intersection for a strike on the Ballas. Before CJ can join them, Cesar calls and asks him to come to a spot under the freeway near Verdant Bluffs.

From there the two watch a garage. Ballas members walk out, followed by Ryder, Big Smoke and Frank Tenpenny. Eddie Pulaski then reverses a green Sabre out of the garage, the car used in the drive-by that killed CJ's mother. CJ puts it together: C.R.A.S.H. and his two old friends are working with the Ballas, and Sweet is heading into a trap.

How do you save Sweet?

CJ asks Cesar to get Kendl somewhere safe, fails to reach Sweet by phone and races to the intersection. He finds his brother already wounded. The player then has to hold off waves of Ballas, some arriving by van, until the police turn up. According to the GTA Wiki, the goals are simply to reach the ambush in time and keep the attackers back until the sirens arrive.

When the police come, everyone else runs. CJ stays with Sweet and gives himself up, and Sweet is arrested. In the original release there is no Mission Passed screen at the end; the GTA Wiki notes that the mobile and Definitive Edition versions add one.

Why do Big Smoke and Ryder betray CJ?

Wikipedia's summary says CJ learns that Smoke and Ryder have betrayed the gang and were involved in his mother's killing. Their motive, and how the deal with Tenpenny worked, is covered on the Big Smoke and Ryder pages rather than repeated here. The GTA Wiki notes one oddity: Ryder seems not to have been planned for this scene originally, and his betrayal is not discussed in dialogue until the later mission Photo Opportunity.

What happens to CJ after The Green Sabre?

Tenpenny and Pulaski take CJ away with a bag over his head and drive him to Angel Pine, a small town in Whetstone. Tenpenny tells him Sweet is in a prison hospital waiting for trial and warns him to stay away from Smoke, Ryder and C.R.A.S.H. Pulaski hands him a camera for his next job: tracking down a former officer hiding on Mount Chiliad so that he cannot testify. That job is the mission Badlands.

Wikipedia frames the exile as a deal: CJ removes witnesses to the unit's crimes in exchange for Sweet's safety. The player can still drive back to Los Santos, but the story moves to the countryside and later San Fierro.

What changes in the game after this mission?

The GTA Wiki lists several knock-on effects. CJ loses all his weapons except the camera. The Ballas and Vagos take over Grove Street and Aztecas turf, and gang wars are switched off until Home Coming. Flint County, Whetstone and San Fierro open up, countryside safehouses go on sale, and flights from Los Santos to San Fierro become available.

Who appears in The Green Sabre?

Almost the whole Los Santos cast is involved. Sweet leads the planned attack and is shot. Cesar is the one who tips CJ off, and Kendl is moved to safety off screen. Smoke, Ryder, Tenpenny and Pulaski appear in the garage scene, and the GTA Wiki notes that Jimmy Hernandez, the third C.R.A.S.H. officer, also appears briefly. Ryder's own end comes later, in the San Fierro mission Pier 69.

Why does The Green Sabre matter?

It is the hinge of the whole story. It explains the drive-by that brought CJ home, splits the gang, puts Sweet behind bars and hands Tenpenny the leverage he uses for most of the game. The GTA Wiki says the arrest scene draws on the 1993 film Blood In Blood Out. The betrayal is not settled until End of the Line; see our San Andreas missions list for everything in between.