[1] Executive producer Sam Houser sought an unknown actor for CJ as he found Ray Liotta's performance as Tommy Vercetti in Vice City "conflicting"; he opted to cast celebrities in secondary roles.
"[13] At a young age, Carl, Sweet, and Brian befriended Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris and Lance "Ryder" Wilson, who lived on the same street, and all five got involved in small-time criminal activities.
After deciding that his life in Los Santos was unpromising, Carl cut his ties with everyone and moved to Liberty City, where he resided for five years and found work in stealing cars for Joey Leone.
Tenpenny and his associates warn Carl early on that they intend to frame him for the murder of police officer Ralph Pendlebury, whom CRASH had killed to prevent him from exposing their illegal activities.
After reuniting with Sweet, Kendl, Big Smoke, and Ryder, Carl learns that the Families have lost almost all of their territories to their main rivals, the Ballas, during his absence, and agrees to stay in Los Santos and help solve the gang's problems.
While doing so, he befriends Kendl's boyfriend and Varrios Los Aztecas leader Cesar Vialpando, despite Sweet's initial objections, and helps his friend Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross jumpstart his career as a rapper despite his lack of talent.
Tenpenny threatens to have Sweet killed if Carl attempts to return to Los Santos or intervene in CRASH's dealings with Big Smoke, Ryder, and the Ballas, who have effectively taken over the city and flooded it with drugs.
During his time in the countryside, Carl befriends a hippie weed farmer known as "The Truth", and performs several robberies alongside Cesar's aggressively psychotic cousin Catalina, with whom he enters a short-lived relationship.
He also engages in a few illegal street races hosted by blind Triad leader Wu Zi Mu ("Woozie"), in which he wins a defunct garage from Catalina's new boyfriend.
Carl later works for the local Triads, strengthening his ties with Woozie in the process, and infiltrates and destroys San Andreas' largest drug cartel, the Loco Syndicate, who supplied the Ballas with crack cocaine.
After eliminating the Loco Syndicate, Carl is contacted by its former leader, Mike Toreno, who reveals himself to be an undercover government agent, and enlists his help with several operations in exchange for Sweet's early release from prison.
During his stay in Las Venturas, Carl also rescues famous former rapper Madd Dogg, whose career he inadvertently ruined while helping OG Loc, from a suicide attempt, and continues to work for CRASH, until they betray and try to kill him.
Carl regains ownership of Madd Dogg's mansion in Los Santos, which the latter had sold to the Vagos gang for drugs, and restarts his career with the help of Rosenberg and his friends.
In the midst of the chaos, Carl reclaims the Families' lost turf from their rivals, and tracks down Big Smoke to his crack palace penthouse, where he kills him for his betrayal.
[17] CraveOnline's Paul Tamburro wrote that "it was refreshing to take control of a character who was considerate about when and when not to commit wanton mass-slaughtering",[18] and Matthew Cooper of Sabotage Times said CJ "was the first to appear with a conscience, the first that didn't seem to enjoy killing copious numbers of people".
[23] Game Informer's Matt Helgeson felt "he could have easily been another gangster stereotype, but by the end of San Andreas we see CJ as a flawed, but ultimately good man who did the best he could in the worst of circumstances.