Frank Tenpenny

Background

Officer Frank Tenpenny is the main antagonist of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He leads C.R.A.S.H., a Los Santos Police Department anti-gang unit that in practice behaves like a gang of its own. With his partner Eddie Pulaski, Tenpenny extorts street gangs, sells drugs, takes bribes and murders anyone who threatens to expose him. Before the game begins he and Pulaski killed Officer Ralph Pendelbury, who was about to inform on them, and they keep the murder weapon to frame someone else.

Events of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

In In the Beginning, Tenpenny meets Carl Johnson at the airport, takes his money and tells him he will be blamed for Pendelbury's death unless he cooperates. From then on he calls CJ in whenever he needs dirty work done. In Burning Desire he has CJ torch a Vagos house, and in Gray Imports he sends him to break up a deal between the Ballas and Russian gun dealers at the Ocean Docks. All the while he is quietly backing Big Smoke and the Ballas.

In The Green Sabre his alliance with Big Smoke and Ryder is revealed. After Sweet is arrested, Tenpenny drives CJ into the countryside and orders him to stay out of the city while still using him as a tool. In Badlands CJ has to kill a former police officer in witness protection who is hiding in a cabin on Mount Chiliad; in 555 We Tip he plants drugs in a district attorney's car to discredit him; in Snail Trail he kills a journalist digging into Pulaski. In Misappropriation CJ recovers an evidence dossier for him, and in High Noon Tenpenny knocks out Hernandez with a spade at the Las Brujas ghost town, accusing him of talking to Internal Affairs, and leaves Pulaski to make CJ dig the grave. Pulaski shoots Hernandez and is then killed by CJ.

Tenpenny is eventually arrested, but the charges against him are dropped, which sparks riots across Los Santos. During End of the Line he turns up at Big Smoke's crack palace after CJ kills Smoke, takes the money, sets the building on fire and flees in a fire truck, planning to leave the city by plane. Sweet clings to the truck's ladder while CJ chases it through the riot-torn streets. The truck goes off a bridge above Grove Street, and Tenpenny dies of his injuries in front of the Johnson brothers.

Personality

Tenpenny is articulate, arrogant and manipulative. He justifies his crimes as the price of keeping order, presenting himself as a necessary evil while plainly enjoying the power and money. He bullies subordinates, threatens CJ's family and treats everyone around him as disposable. Under pressure he becomes paranoid and increasingly desperate.

Relationships

Eddie Pulaski is his loyal enforcer and closest partner. Jimmy Hernandez is the junior officer he drags into the unit's crimes. He is the secret backer of Big Smoke and the Ballas' crack trade, and he controls CJ throughout the story by threatening him with the Pendelbury frame-up.

Trivia

• Tenpenny is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.
• His death in the fire truck crash is the final scene of the story missions.
• The Los Santos riots that break out after his case collapses are modelled on the real 1992 Los Angeles riots.