Bruno Brown/History

The Truth About James Brown
During the end of the 2022 Gay Pride event at Fort Zancudo, Bruno stepped aside from his fellow R.U.S.T. members for a smoke. As he was off on his own, Maynard Gallows approached him unexpectedly. It had been quite some time since the two had last met, and Bruno did not trust Gallows as he had learned that Gallows had covered up his father's death with fake images of a car accident up in Paleto. Gallows approached and let Bruno know that he knew he found out about the lie. (This was due to Santi blatantly telling Bruno that the Vagos ocean dumped his father, but he had not detailed why.) Gallows explained his reasoning for the ruse was due to the fact that he cared about his friends, who were also mutual friend of the late James-Kamea Brown. Gallows explained that when JB disappeared, Mina Rocket was in a deep depression that affected her psychologically to the point of venturing out and committing multiple felony crimes. She was often seen crying and in a depressed state, rambling to customers at Roosters Rest about J.B. It hurt Gallows to see this every day, so he decided to kill someone, bring their body up to Paleto, and fabricate an intentional car accident/suicide. He then took photos of the scene and sent them to the appropriate people to give them closure to eventually move on with their lives.

When faced with this explanation, Bruno obviously did not take this very well. He had been lied to for almost over a year and no one but Santi had offered him any inkling of explanation. Bruno felt like it was not Maynard's decision to withhold the truth from him, as he deserved his own closure too. Gallows understood this but doubled down on his decision, saying it was for Bruno's own good. If he had kept going down the route he was going, he would have put himself in a situation he did not want to be in with people that had much more power and influence than he did. Gallows then detailed that Benji Ramos had asked him to sort this situation out, which agitated Bruno because Benji said he had nothing to do with his father's passing. Enraged, Bruno decided to call Franky from the Vagos to further explain. Gallows and Bruno left together to the Barrio with an uncomfortable silence filling the air.

When they reached the barrio, Vice El Jefe Miguel Guerrero and Franky met the unconventional pair. They immediately threw Gallows in handcuffs and held a gun to his head. As much as Bruno would have wanted to see Gallows get his brains blown out, Bruno also felt pity on the man. Gallows had no malintent within his heart, and Bruno wondered what he would have done in Maynard's position. He asked the Vagos to not harm Gallows, and asked Franky to give him the 'why' for all of this. Franky decided to take Bruno to the J.B. dock which was off Great Ocean highway, just past the last bridge going North to Paleto. There, Franky explained what had happened.

During the Great Vagos/Chang Gang War of 3.0, James-Kamea Brown was caught pushing weed baggies at the back of the Maze Bank Arena. Tired and ill equipped, he did not have a solid getaway plan. Officer T.J. Mack responded to a suspicious activity call and cornered J.B. with a drug dog and fellow cadet. J.B. tried to talk his way out of the situation saying he was just looking to audition for a show at the arena, but Officer Mack saw through the bullshit. Knowing that the car was stolen, he placed Bruno under arrest and searched the car to find his drugs. It wasn't much, but Mack could tell J.B. was inexperienced with talking to police. He bluffed and threatened a raid warrant. J.B. didn't see through his bluff and let himself get rolled by Mack. When Mack went to his 9s van, he found around 15 class 1 firearms that Franky had given J.B. the day before to hold onto for the war. Now facing Felony Possession charges for drugs, an explosive (Molotov) and a Gun Trafficking Charge, J.B. cracked under police pressure once Mack called Wrangler in to help deal with the case. The cops didn't care about the class 1s, but they were concerned about a class 2 Uzi that was in the van as well as the Molotov. James snitched on Irwin Dundee as the one who had sold him the class 2, and on Eugene Zuckerberg as the one who had sold him the Molotov. In exchange for his confession and helping the PD set up Eugene specifically, J.B. would be cleared of all his charges and even rewarded by the P.D. Exhausted, James agreed to the terms and was sent off to jail. When he got out, the guilt he had felt for fucking up and snitching to the P.D. weighed heavily on his mind. When Mike Smoore picked him up from Bolingbrook, he could tell something was off with his story on how he had got arrested. Later on, Franky was shocked to find out the Class 1s were gone from the van. J.B. offered a poor explanation there as well. As time went on, the guilt of lying to family weighed even heavier on James's mind. Eventually J.B. confessed to Franky about what had happened. Franky immediately called Benji as he was only a hangaround, and they held James hostage at the lumber mill. Benji and the high command of the Vagos tried to find a way for redemption for James, but unfortunately you cannot repair lying to familia. It was decided that James would be executed off the coast of Great Ocean Highway, and he chose Franky to be the one to put him to rest. Benji decided to keep this matter very quiet and told his gang members to never talk about the events that had transpired. J.B. had been Benji's personal prospect and was 1 week away from receiving his flag to be made a full member of the Vagos.

After finally finding out what had happened to his father, which was the reason Bruno flew into Los Santos, he was left feeling numb. Numb in the sense that you don't know what to even think. He stood there with Franky at the dock looking towards the ocean, where he knew his father had been. It was an indescribable, yet freeing feeling. He realized he could now move on with his life. Deciding to end the cycle of violence, Bruno chose not to retaliate to anyone involved in this situation. Doing so would not bring back his father he so wished to meet. He thanked Franky for finally telling him the truth and respected James's decision to choose Franky as the one to end his life since they were close friends. They drove back to the barrio where Gallows and Miguel waited. The Vagos were set on punishing Gallows, but with a clear conscious, Bruno begged the Vagos to let him go and not continue the cycle of violence. With a meaningful threat, Miguel and Franky let him go without harm. After returning to the R.U.S.T. compound, Bruno called Benji to see what he would do when confronted with Bruno knowing the truth. Benji doubled down on his claim of ignorance, and when met with anything incriminating, he gaslit Bruno and blamed the Vagos for everything saying it was a ploy to pit Bruno against him. Even after swearing on his own flag, he continued to deny everything and claim ignorance. Now knowing Benji's true nature, Bruno has a special hatred towards Benji and everything he stands for.