The Stable

The Stable was a shadow crime organization from May 2021 to December 2021 formed by Mick Jhonson, Richard Chiclets, Nancy Drew, and Thomas Dwayne (the four original "Stable Heads"). The name was themed after equine nomenclature with a double entendre referring to professional wrestling. The group was characterized by criminals who excelled at improv and were more lighthearted than some criminal gangs, but still boasted competence in networking, intelligence, and job execution.

The Stable specialized in bank heists, meth trafficking, confidence games, and puzzle solving. They utilized violence in Los Santos only when necessary for defensive, protective, or justice-seeking purposes. The group managed to operate in the shadows for several months until the police eventually became aware of their existence through various breadcrumbs and investigations. Sexton Hardcastle, in particular, had investigated the group from June 2021 to November 2021. When the police finally closed in on the group in November 2021, The Stable attempted to run the last of their meth out of the country with Hardcastle in hot pursuit.

The Stable operated differently from other organizations. Its leadership was tiered (Stable Leader, Stable Heads, Stable Hands, and Crimterns) akin to other organizations, but instead of the Stable Hands only funneling resources up to the leaders, the leaders also served information, materials, and opportunities down to the Stable Hands to help them grow individually, as well as within the group. The Stable was also supported by a variety of associates and informants throughout the city.

Mick Jhonson led the overall criminal direction, made large scale final decisions, and set basic rules and structure with input from the other Stable Heads. When Mick left the city, Dick Chiclets took over the primary day to day leadership. When Nancy Drew left The Stable and Dick stepped down, Thomas Dwayne took over the leadership position.

Although The Stable thrived when they were united toward a common purpose such as big heists, the logistics of four leaders often led to identity issues, communication failures, and meetings that went on for too long. Some dissenters found The Stable too secretive and wanted their name and membership to be more public. Other dissenters wanted to wage war and make impulsive decisions regardless of the backlash on the entire group. Ultimately, the internal conflicts became irreconcilable and the group parted ways to pursue their own personal ambitions.

Origin
On April 17, 2021, Deputy Mayor Thomas Dwayne met with members of The Syndicate: Dick Chiclets, Nancy Drew, Mick Flair, and Virgil Simpson at Vinewood Racetrack after they had finished running a wildly successful racing event there for the first time. Thomas informed them that Mayor Andi Jones had approved their company, 4EQ, as a business that could now own the deed to Vinewood Racetrack. 4EQ is shortened from "The Four Equestrians", a name inspired by one of the most famous professional wrestling stables in history: "The Four Horsemen".

On May 27, 2021, Mick Jhonson conceived the idea to create a new criminal organization called "The Stable" to complement 4EQ's legal activities. Mick, Dick Chiclets, Nancy Drew, and Thomas Dwayne led the group as its four "Stable Heads". On June 1, 2021 in exchange for a human leg bone, Robert Locksley introduced Nancy and Mick to a public meth lab--sparking the beginning of The Stable's meth empire. On June 7, 2021, The Stable bought a warehouse (nicknamed "The Barn") under the name of Thomas' CEO and friend, Bunny, who stayed clean while the group ran illegal activities to pay it off. The Stable Heads managed various "Stable Hands" to help fund the organization, including Xavier Valentine, Kirk Jerkems, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Byrne, and Rocky Topps. The Stable granted them and Nancy access to storage units nicknamed "The Stalls".

In the early days of The Stable, Mick led The Stable's bank heists as the group's primary hacker, while Dick continued to practice as the group's primary getaway driver. Nancy focused on networking, and Thomas focused on meth distribution. Kirk cooked The Stable's secondary meth strain, rhinoceros, while Mick cooked The Stable's primary meth strain, jay. Rocky supervised Xavier and Lizzie, both of whom received practice laptop access from The Stable and gradually blossomed into talented hackers.

The Stable were also long-time allies with the Bondi Boys MC due to Mick's friendship with his half-brother Barry Benson, Nancy's friendship with Collin McKinley and Pez Speedwagon, Kirk's friendship with Wolfe McCreedy, and Dick's friendship with Jordan Lee.

In contrast to the BBMC, The Stable did not believe in shooting at police. Instead, The Stable actively befriended police officers, and liked to charm their arresting officers with laughable tall tales about their "innocence" and "reform" to reduce their charges. The Stable also avoided HUT crimes that could jail them for the 9's. Both of these principles had to evolve once The Stable ramped up their meth drug trafficking, a HUT offense at the time.

Sexton Hardcastle and Jeffrey Bundy were the two main antagonists of The Stable, having both responded in person to 4EQ's first Vault Tec heist. Hardcastle was the first police officer that The Stable ever sanctioned a mag dump on, to warn him against investigating their meth dealings. Bundy was the first police officer that Mick ever shot at, during The Stable's first heist of Bobcat Security. Bundy was also the first police officer that Dick, Thomas, and Kirk ever shot, when they gunned him down during The Stable's first armored car meth run. Hardcastle, Bundy, and the SCU later worked together to take down The Stable's meth trafficking empire.

Assets
The Stable owned a few buildings and properties around the city.

The Barn


The Stable's headquarters was called The Barn, a warehouse owned by their clean face Bunny and decorated inside by Pixie Plum. Stable members periodically gave cuts of their jobs to The Barn, stashing their contributions as cash (stored in briefcases) or dirty money inside the warehouse. The Stable Heads spent this Barn money on shared group costs such as properties, storage units, bank jobs, and paint thinner. Given that The Barn was right next to the HOA's warehouse, The Stable and HOA had a friendly neighborly relationship. The Barn got burnt by police in November 2021, and bought out by the legal business Plan Bee.

The Stalls
Starting in July 5th, 2021, the Stable Hands had access to their own storage unit rental, which was codenamed The Stalls. The Stable Heads eventually grew concerned that the The Stalls were located at an oxy spot. As a precaution against the storage unit being burnt by police investigations, Mick rented a new storage unit for The Stalls at Vespucci Beach.

The Office


Starting in the week of July 26th, 2021, The Stable owned the Maison Ricard office building on Legion Square. The building was used for Stable Head meetings, Dick's Down Bad Records business, and a fine dining restaurant named Maison Ricard. Dick sold this office property on February 16, 2022, and immediately purchased a foreclosed mansion as the new home for Down Bad Records.

Vinewood Racetrack


The Stable owned Vinewood Racetrack, and originally treated it as home turf for their meetings. During the summer of 2021, a stationary construction worker named Oscar began standing there asking for $100,000. Oscar would go on to ruin Nancy Drew's life and pit The Stable against Cerberus.

Colors
The Stable originally adopted red and black as its organization colors. However, on August 25th, 2021, the group decided to de-emphasize having group colors so as not to be mistaken for Brouge Street Kingz. The group decided instead on a "vibe" rather than a color scheme, best described as "I do cocaine" or "Miami Vice." In general, members were allowed to wear whatever they wish, and could generally be found in any attire.

Initiation
After passing a trial period and proving themselves worthy, a crimtern could either be branded with The Stable logo on a body part of their choice, or receive a tattoo.

The Crimes of The Stable
The Stable primarily specialized in bank heists. The group robbed bank trucks, 24/7 convenience stores, the jewelry store, Fleeca banks, the Paleto bank, the City Vault, and Bobcat Security. The group also regularly ran oxy and weed, boosted cars, and sometimes chopped cars. Eventually, The Stable built a meth empire and got into armored car heists to run wholesale meth pillows.

Bank Heists
Mick Jhonson led The Stable's bank heists as the group's primary vault and thermite hacker, with Dick Chiclets as the getaway driver and Stable Hands Xavier Valentine and Elizabeth Byrne as the secondary hackers. When Mick left the city, his son Xavier took over as the primary vault hacker and Thomas Dwayne took over as the primary thermite hacker.

The Stable had a running meme where their bank heists kept going laughably awry. In their first City Vault heist, the hostage takers got in a wild police chase before the job even started. In the second City Vault heist, their getaway car stalled after a couple of turns and the police immediately boxed them in. The Stable also lost all of their gold dongles and laptop access due to a change in the bank system. In the third City Vault heist, a rival bank crew gunned down their getaway driver Dick (forcing them to lock pick their own getaway car) and shot out their tire during the police chase. Accomplice Marie rammed a police car off the dock and picked up Kirk with a handcuffed police officer still standing on her windshield. In the fourth City Vault heist, the police chased The Stable to the bank after a motorcycle exploded their only hostage (forcing their lookout Rocky to grab a new hostage by the ATM). After the police almost breached them, they all escaped capture when Dick accidentally ocean dumped their getaway car by the docks.

Meth Empire
The Stable's primary source of income was meth trafficking, particularly during a long stretch of months in 2021 when The Stable laid off banks because the Fleeca Banks were protected by a power grid that required a lot of thermite to science.

As the group's primary meth cook, Mick perfected a 100% meth recipe for 21-jay that both The Stable and the BBMC initially cornered in the same territory. Occasionally, The Stable and the BBMC violently feuded with the Marabunta Grande over meth sales on their turf. Also, due to an armed warning from Lost MC member Wade Wilson against cornering meth in Sandy Shores, Kirk Jerkems hilariously texted: "MASS TEXT FOR THE STABLE HEADS ROCKY AND SMOOTH...STAY OUT OF SANDY WITH METH!!!...i have a good spot to sling down south in the industrial districts by bobcat security it seemed uncontested...". Upon hearing that police could subpoena text messages, Kirk texted the following correction: "I meant seth don't take seth to sandy".

At one point during a dispute with Mando Thompson over a public meth lab and the Cerberus Arena territory, the Ballas vandalized Nancy's corvette resulting in her reluctantly admitting her crew's meth dealings to Lang Buddha and Harry Brown. Some time later, Harry called Nancy asking to pay any price for four of their meth pillows, saying that the strain and quality did not matter. Nancy correctly suspected that this was for the wholesale meth export that The Stable was trying to figure out.

The Stable's meth drug trafficking finally escalated to the point where they began shooting police for the first time. Once Sexton Hardcastle began investigating them for drug trafficking (a HUT offense at the time)--arresting their meth distributors like Smooth Williams and a BBMC cornerer--Thomas Dwayne had Abner Vaca send Hardcastle a message by mag dumping him in his undercover car at a meth dealing spot. The Stable also gunned down Jeffrey Bundy when he responded to their first armored car meth run. Hardcastle, Bundy, and the Street Crimes Unit finally closed in on The Stable's meth empire in November of 2021--uncovering "The Stable" name, suspecting LSPD Sgt. Dante Wolf (Nancy's boyfriend) of being a mole for them, and watching the warehouse that The Stable was secretly stockpiling meth in (Det. Hardcastle and sometimes Lily Pond secretly camped outside of The Barn for eight hours and one whole morning). Bundy was unable to decipher Kirk Jerkems' "9 more firecrackers" text to Nancy Drew and the Stable Heads--the text was actually a meth pillow countdown to The Stable's final meth run.

The police's final chance to take down The Stable concluded with a thrilling armored car chase on November 12, 2021. With Bundy busy investigating whether Nancy and/or The Stable had tried to ocean dump Dante to keep him quiet, The Stable was busy guarding an armored Landstalker in a three-car convoy to run the last of their meth out of the country. Hardcastle, Air-1, and a tidal wave of police cars intercepted the convoy on Los Santos freeway at Grapeseed--but in the resulting chaos of comm confusion, bumper cars, and gunfighting, The Stable's armored car escaped and the group never faced justice for their meth crimes (except for meth cook Kirk and Abner Vaca).

Notable Reunions
Many months after the statute of limitations for The Stable's crimes had expired, its most secretive ex-members finally felt comfortable enough to let down their guard. Having built friendships with their investigating officers Sexton Hardcastle (Mayor Bunny's eventual husband), Jeffrey Bundy, and Lily Pond, the Stable alumni began to freely reminisce about what they had gotten away with, and even spoke openly about criminal activities. Some of the most prominent members like Nancy Drew, Bunny, and Xavier Valentine roamed free without being tethered to a gang. However, certain historic events compelled The Stable to re-assemble.