Harold Joseph (Outlaw’s Saga)

“Lamar Davis. Disrespectful ass motherfucker’s trying to break the order of things.” - Stretch’s last words.Harold Joseph, also known as “OG Stretch” or just “Stretch” (d. 2013) was a fictional gangbanger, who is a senior member. He eventually went to prison over a decade prior to 2013, but was later released that year and rejoined the Chamberlain Gangsters Families, but under the belief that he should get his dues for his actions and his seniority status, targeting Franklin Clinton and Lamar Davis especially for this. He will serve as one of the four main antagonists of Grand Theft Auto V: The Rockstar Series.
== Biography ==
=== History ===
It is unknown when Harold Joseph was born, but it is known that he was originally from the Chamberlain Hills area of Los Santos, San Andreas. He eventually became a gangster for the Chamberlain Gangsters Families and earned the name “Stretch”, climbing the ranks to “OG” status. Considering his old status and considering that he claimed to be a “big homie” back around when Franklin Clinton and Lamar Davis were “little homies”, it can be implied that Stretch was born around the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s, placing him between the ages of mid to late 30’s to early 40’s by 2013.
Some time before he went to prison, he was in a relationship with a Caucasian-American woman named Renatta Sidwell and had a child. However, he shirked his paternal responsibilities for his hustling lifestyle. At some point, possibly around the late 1990’s to early 2000’s, Stretch went to prison in Bolingbroke Penitentiary for possibly over a decade.
=== Release in 2013 and Return ===
Eventually, Stretch was released from prison and returned to Strawberry in Los Santos, where he finally reunited with Lamar Davis. He eventually also reunited with Franklin Clinton, but the younger gangster had nothing but spite towards him for his disrespect and belief that he should get his dues from Franklin in a pyramid scheme-styled ladder. Nevertheless, the two remained on the same side of the gang life as both were part of the same gang. However, Franklin and Lamar had formed Forum Gangsters for their own hustles, but the latter returned to CGF to be on Stretch’s good side.
The night that Stretch returned, he, Franklin, and Lamar made a deal with a Ballas OG that the latter two had attempted to kidnap earlier, nicknamed “D”, at the Rogers Recycling plant in La Puerta. However, the deal went sideways, with D betraying the three Families members. In an act of vengeance and survival instinct, Stretch shot and killed D, with the three fleeing the scene. They escaped the plant, the Ballas, and the LSPD and returned to Strawberry, with Franklin chastising Stretch.
=== Return to Power ===
During Franklin’s own uprising in the criminal ladder, Stretch had made his way back up to the top and eventually regained his original powers he had when he was in charge of the CGF. Roughly over a week or two after the recycling plant incident, Stretch had ordered Lamar to get Franklin to join him in buying a brick of cocaine from the Ballas in Grove Street, promising good money and opportunity. However, this was later revealed to be a set up made by Stretch in association with the Ballas, where the two would buy a supposed brick of cocaine that was actually dry wall and hand them over to the Ballas. However, the deal went sideways when Franklin’s new Canadian friend and mentor, Trevor Philips, joined in at his own request and tried to inspect the brick of dry wall himself, showing the two hoodlums that it was fake. The trio survived and escaped Grove Street and eventually the police. Lamar did not believe Franklin that it was a set up and continued to be loyal to Stretch.
Later, Stretch set Lamar up with a deal with the Ballas at a sawmill outside of Paleto Bay: buy some weed and make peace. However, it turned out to be another trick to kill Lamar. Once again, the plan went awry when Franklin received word from Tanisha Jackson that he was taken up there, prompting him to save him with the help of his mentors, Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips. Afterwards, Franklin called Stretch about the situation and even threatened him that he will come after him if he sees him again.
=== Death ===
Within a week after that, Franklin, Michael, and Trevor decided to throw Stretch in as another one of their targets to kill to end the situation they were in. After they called Lester Crest to get whereabouts, Lester informed them that he received a signal from Stretch’s phone at the basketball courts outside of the B.J. Smith Recreation Center. Franklin wanted to go deal with him himself, but Michael took the job in his stead to keep him clear of known associates as he did not meet Michael in person yet.
Not too long after, Michael arrived at the courts and noticed Stretch discussing Lamar. In a quick act, Michael shot his Ballas bodyguards before rushing in and stabbing Stretch to death with a knife, soon dispatching the attacking Ballas. Michael informed Franklin of Stretch’s death, much to his relief and gratitude.
Days after his death, Franklin called Lamar to notify him of Stretch’s death. Although shocked, claiming he was “an OG,” Franklin reminded him that he attempted to have him killed. Lamar decided that it was for the best and that he is grateful for Franklin being the one to make the toughest decisions, showing that Stretch will not be missed by many, not even by his old gang or his family.
== Appearance ==
Stretch is a short, bulky man with a dark complexion and numerous tattoos covering his body. He wears usual CGF clothes including a white T-shirt, blue shorts, a green hat and a silver chain. He has no hair at all.
== Personality ==
From his appearances, Stretch is shown to be an extremely murderous, violent, brutal, bloodthirsty, sadistic, selfish, reckless, cold-blooded and trigger-happy gangster, who for some reason, shows a very strong mutual dislike towards fellow gangster Franklin Clintonand the two frequently argue, leaving Lamar to pick a side, however most of the times Lamar tries to stay neutral to their conflict and tries to resolve their issues.
The possible reason for Franklin's dislike of Stretch could be due to Stretch trying to pull Franklin into the life that put him in jail in the first place, and also due to Stretch's selfish personality and his routine gangbanging life, while Stretch appears to dislike Franklin due to his attempts to leave the hood and make something real for himself as well as for skepticisms and his doubts about the deals they make and that Lamar and Stretch should also leave the hood and get some jobs which won't get them killed in the process.
He appears to have a very short temper, assaulting Franklin for poking fun at him for "dropping the soap" in prison, and is also very merciless as shown when he immediately, and without hesitation, shoots an unarmed D twice in the face when he discovered that he had betrayed them.
In spite of his recklessness, Stretch is also very deceitful and manipulative, as shown when he secretly defected from the Families to the Ballas in prison, feigned loyalty to the Families while he was actually a traitor (unbeknownst to most) and several times used his influence on Lamar to manipulate him and try to make him think that Franklin is a snitch and to make deals with the Ballas which are actually set-ups for Franklin and Lamar to be killed. After the shootout at the scrapyard in The Long Stretch, he pins the blame on Franklin and Lamar for killing D and the Ballas, even though he too participated in the shootout and was the one who shot D to start with.
== Killed Victims ==
* D
* Numerous counts of Ballas
== Relationships ==
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
* Stretch is a lot similar to Big Smoke, a former member of Grove Street Families from 1992.
** Both men were greedy for power and money.
** Both men wanted a protagonist and their allies dead. In Stretch’s case, he wanted Franklin and Lamar dead, while in Big Smoke’s case, he wanted Carl Johnson and his brother, Sweet dead.
** Both men defected to the Ballas for their chance at power.
** Both men were killed by a protagonist. Stretch was killed by Michael De Santa, another protagonist, while Smoke was killed by Carl.
** Both men died in the final mission of their respective games.
** Both men betrayed their old friends for new ones.