| “ | Intimidate those who intimidate others, Carl. It's my job. | „ |
| ~ Tenpenny to CJ. |
| “ | Come on assholes, I'll take you all! You're mine! Mine! I run this town! Hey, over here! Hey! Officer down, come on! Hey! Assholes you never understood what I did! 50 of me, and this town would be okay! I took the trash out! I did! And I'd do it all again! | „ |
| ~ Tenpenny's final words before he dies of his wounds |
Frank Tenpenny (also known as: Officer Tenpenny or Frankie) is the primary antagonist of the 2004 video game hit, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
He is voiced by the famous actor Samuel L. Jackson ,who also portrayed Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.
Biography
Tenpenny is a corrupt cop working for the LSPD division, C.R.A.S.H. He has Eddie Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez by his side.
He confronts Carl Johnson when he tries to get home, accusing him of bringing drug money. He and his accomplices take him to Ballas territory and drop him there and frames him for Officer Ralph Pendulbury's murder (who threatened to expose the units true motives and was killed by Jimmy Hernandez on orders from Tenpenny) which allows Tenpenny and his henchmen to manipulate CJ for quite some time, From that point, Tenpenny and his henchmen would appear in various points such as telling CJ and Ryder about a train with weapons would be coming, leaving Big Smoke's house, and ordering CJ to kill a foreigner in a warehouse. Later he and Pulaski assist the Ballas run drugs in Los Santos
Later, he is seen in the garage of the Green Sabre with Big Smoke and Ryder, revealing that Tenpenny had orchestrated the hit that would kill CJ's mother (the actual target being Sweet, CJ's older brother and leader of the GSF), crossing the Moral Event Horizon, after a gang fight with the Ballas with ended with Sweet being shot, Tenpenny arrests CJ and takes him into the mountains. From that point on, he orders him to murder or arrest anyone who would try to expose his evil deeds or he will have Sweet be put in a Ballas cell block.
Tenpenny has CJ meet him and Paulaski in the deserts in Las Venturas where Tenpenny attacks Hernandez for betraying him and orders Pulaski to kill him and CJ. He leaves him there where Pulaski is later killed by CJ
Later, it is mentioned that he gets into court and he and Pulaski (unless CJ knows otherwise who previously killed Pulaski) were charged with Corruption, Sexual Assault, Narcotics and Racketeering, but the charges are dropped to the murders or disappearances of the people who try to expose him. This triggered a riot in Los Santos. Tenpenny confronts CJ in Big Smoke's hideout, telling him he plans to leave town. On the top of that, he has new recruits. He attempts to kill CJ by shooting him with a shotgun, but CJ tricks Tenpenny by yelling Sweet's name thinking Sweet is behind him and CJ was able to miss Tenpenny's gunshots, he then attempts to kill him in an explosion of the hideout, but failed as CJ was able to escape unharmed. Sweet doesn't accept his getaway so he climbs up to his firetruck. CJ rescues him and battles Tenpenny through town shooting at cops trying to kill them. Eventually Tenpenny loses control of the firetruck which ends with the firetruck falling of a bridge and crashing into the GSF territory. Tenpenny climbs up the wreckage and rants about how he should clean town of crime before finally dying of his wounds.
CJ was about to shoot Tenpenny but Sweet tells him not two leaving it as "he killed himself in traffic accident no one to blame" so the Grove Street Families would not be involved with Tenpenny's death and leaves the scene of Tenenny's death to go get something to eat, CJ then confronts the now deceased Tenpenny one final time he points his finger and circles it over his head sarcastically saying "see you around... Officer" he the goes joins the others to get something to eat
it was later revealed that after the riots were over Tenpenny's corpse was mutilated and stripped by the homeless.
Personality
At the start of the game where CJ is arrested, Tenpenny says to CJ, "Welcome home Carl, glad to be back? You haven't forgotten about us, have you boy?" Carl replies with, "Hell no, Officer Tenpenny, I was just wondering what took y'all so long." Tenpenny claims that his approach to the job is about "percentages" and that his philosophy calls for overlooking some crime to achieve a greater good. It appears that he believes what he says, but in reality Tenpenny and his unit are corrupt to the core and terrorize gang leaders in a fashion much like a gang themselves, except with the power of law enforcement behind them. They can kill indiscriminately and are skimming the profits from the rival gangs. Tenpenny himself is a polluting influence, convincing good cops to abandon their ideals and assist in his pursuits. He shows a callous disregard for the people surrounding him, particularly those like Carl whom he has power over. He sees such people as tools and eliminates all of those who either outlive their usefulness to him or get in his way. Tenpenny exhibits megalomania and considers himself above the law. He believes that because he does good work, he is entitled to enrich himself at the city's expense.
Gallery
Trivia
- Tenpenny is based off a real-life LAPD officer named Rafael Perez, who was a key figure in the LAPD Rampart Scandel in the late 1990's.
- He was voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.
- Tenpenny and Molly Schultz are the only two antagonists not to be killed by the protagonist instead they both are killed accidentally.
- Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski, Steve Haines, Andreas Sanchez, Molly Schultz and Sergeant Jerry Martinez are the only antagonists of the GTA series who are corrupt law enforcement officials, Tenpenny and Pulaski are corrupt police officers, Sanchez and Haines are corrupt FIB agents, Schultz is a corrupt Lawyer and Martinez is a corrupt soldier.