Joeseph van Taljaard

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>  *"Well y'know, sometimes guys are in top, and sometimes they're stuck in bumfuck nowhere dealing crack. Go figure."*
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> Joseph Van Taljaard
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> 2006
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> ### Aliases
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> Joey Vans
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> ### Relatives
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> None
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> ### Affiliation
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> Lupisella Crime FamilySouth African Defense Force (Formerly)
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> ### Occupation
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> Restaurant "Owner"
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> Biographical information
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> ### Marital status
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> Divorced
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> ### Date of birth
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> 1966
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> ### Place of birth
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> South Africa
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> Physical description
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> ### Gender
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> Male
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> ### Eye color
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> Brown
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> *Joey Vans*
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> Joseph Van Taljaard, better known for the monicker **Joey Vans,** is a low-level enforcer and racketeer for the Lupisella Crime Family, operating as of 2006 in the township of Cedarwood Hills, on the border of the state of Liberty.
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## Early life

Born and raised in South Africa, Joseph Van Taljaard had the unlucky timing of having his year of mandatory service coincide with the start of the worst part of the Angolan War. Fortunetly for him, Joseph managed to survive the conflict until it's resolution in 1990. Unfortunetly for him, he was also at that point, wanted by the Civilization Committee for several "war crimes", which, according to Van Taljaard, were all commonplace anyway during that time. To escape prosecution, he smuggled himself inside the trunk of an expensive car set to be exported somewhere to America, after emptying the trunk of its contents. The vehicle would be loaded up to an Armenian trade ship, setting sail towards Liberty City.

## Liberty City

Unsurprisingly, Joseph's plan almost inmediately failed when he realized that the trunk lacked a latch to open from the inside, locking him in for the entire trip. He managed to get just enough oxigen to survive from a broken tail-light hole he himself opened. After two weeks, the car was unloaded, and the trunk opened, inmediately revealing Van Taljaard to a group of several members of the Lupisella Crime Family, led by hitman Sonny Honorato. As it turns out, the contents he threw out to smuggle himself in were several packages of black-tar heroin that were being smuggled personally to Sonny.

According to Joseph, while getting violently beaten to death, he managed to convince Honorato to spare him in turn to make him "work the debt off". He was then "recruited" by Sonny, being forced to do free jobs while living like a slave until he managed to pay the man back. Honorato didn't add any interest to the debt, surprisingly enough. Finding the "new kid" an entertaining oddity, he took Van Taljaard under his wing, getting him familiar with the family business, and introducing him to gambling. Joey, now going under the monicker of "Vans" for easier communication, used a fake marriage to gain a permanent visa, only for the adopted wife, \_\_\_\_\_, to end up extorting him 10.000 dollars, under threat of selling him out to the authorities.

The money instead went to Sonny, who proceeded to lock her inside her own car and set it on fire.

## Fucking it up

In 2006, Joey's gambling would degenerate out of control, leading to him accumulating a massive debt that he attempted to pay with family assets. After a series of ever-more-increasing fuckups and fake, contrived stories all falling apart on him, Van Taljaard was given two choices. Being dismembered in a rusty basement, or going back to "working off the debt."