It ain't about payback, all right? It's about rep. You gotta let n!##as know right here, right now that we official, 'cause if you don't, motherfuckers are always gonna be comin' at us, all right?
-Leon Simmons
Leon “Lee” Simmons is Franklin Saint's best friend and right hand man.
Biography[]
Before the Series[]
Leon Simmons Was born in South Central Los Angeles sometime in 1963. When Leon was just 5 Years old his father passed away, Which left him and his younger siblings to be raised by their single mother Marla. As a kid Leon became friends with Franklin Saint and Kevin Hamilton. Leon looked up to Kevin's Older brother, Kane, as he wanted to be just like him. Leon was also a very troubled kid as he would mostly shoplift, steal, and fight. Leon's trouble followed him through his teens which landed him in juvenile hall. In juvie, Leon would frequently be sent to solitary confinement for "Scrappin with the eses", in lament's terms, fighting with Mexican gang members. It was there where he met J.J., A member of HTB Western Tribe.
Season 1[]
Leon arrived at Franklin's House blasting Cutie Pie by One Way On his boombox. Leon complimented the looks of Franklin's next door neighbor, Melody. He was immediately confronted by Melody's father and LAPD Sergeant, Andre, in which he said he was only joking. Leon Accompanied Franklin to the Valley where he met Franklin's good friend Rob Volpe. After leaving Rob's house, Leon accused Franklin of living another life outside of South Central and keeping it from his friends. After Franklin was jacked by Lenny and Ray-Ray, Leon agreed to help Franklin get his money back and introduced him to HTB Western Tribe. They recruited Karvel, a sadistic member of HTB and took Leon and Franklin to Lenny's house, where they witnessed Karvel's horrendous interrogation on Lenny and were ripped off by him. As payback for the double-cross, they track down Karvel, kidnap him, take him out to the desert, in which Leon personally shot him dead and he and Franklin buried him deep. He later joined Franklin and Kevin on a road trip to Oakland to meet with Kevin's cousin, Devon, who was the Vice President for the Murder Dubb Devils MC. It was there that Franklin learned to convert cocaine into crack, and they began a business venture in selling the crack at a cheap price in the hood. When he went to see Franklin, he was gunned down by Lenny, and managed to survive the hit. As he was recovering, he reminded Franklin that when the time came, he should never hesitate when pulling the trigger. Franklin took that to heart when he and Jerome forced Ray-Ray at gunpoint to kill Lenny.
Season 2[]
The cook house working in progress and the Family making money, but while at Avi's place, there was a raid, in which he was arrested, but was later bailed out. Both him and Franklin were later kidnapped by Teddy McDonald and learned that he ran the pipeline and was supplying him the birds of ye-yo. After he was released, he learned from Kevin that his cousin and another dealer were killed in Pico-Union and was willing to drive out to carry out a retaliation effort but was thwarted by Franklin. It was around that time he was dating Wanda Bell, but the relationship took a dark turn after Wanda was brought to the cook house and soon became addicted to the rock. Leon even held her prisoner just to ween her off the rock but failed. He and Franklin soon learned that Kevin made a deal with Lucia Villanueva in exchange for the Los Monarcas OG who killed Delroy. They arrived in Acuña Park and failed to convince Kevin not to go through with the retaliation in which resulted in Franklin shooting down Kevin, but they had to flee after a DEA agent appeared in the area. He later learned that Kevin died from the wound and snapped at Franklin for killing him. When Franklin was arrested for the murder and sent to Pitchard, Leon visited him and advised him on how to survive the system.
Season 3[]
As Franklin's crack dealing business resonated, he was in charge of running the Projects and employed Fatback as a muscle, and even protected their "Ice Cream Trucks" from being jacked by the Crips, in which started a chain of events with Franklin and Manboy. He even recruited a youngster, C.J., who was hungry for the action. After the LAPD raided many of Family-related locations, including the cook house, Franklin set out an example to the rest of the crew by having Leon execute the person who was running the cook house at the time of the crackdown as punishment for allowing the cook house to be discovered in the first place. As Franklin was dealing with Manboy, Leon let his personal issues caused some strife in their dealings, especially since he went to blows with Manboy's secondary, Bootsy, and even learned that Wanda was working with the Crips, until Louie made a deal with Manboy in exchange that they cut Wanda loose. The Family began experiencing problems after Franklin was shot by Melody during Andre's wake and during that time, was broke out in South Central but Franklin was able to pull through.
Season 4[]
As the New Year began, so did new conflicts and old beefs, especially with Oso after the situation with Kevin. He even participated with a coalition of Family and Crips in drawing Skully and his Blood set in an ambush at the docks but failed due to Dimehead's idiotic decision to break cover and launch the attack early. As supplies were dwindling in the Projects, so was the quality of the crack Leon's boys were dealing and even came across Wanda again, to discover her homeless and completely unrecognizable. When the Bloods decided to retaliated, they made an attempt on Leon's life, and wound up wounding Wanda in the process. Leon then paid off the hospital to Wanda admitted until she was off the rock, but during that he hired a PI in tracking down Skully to find he had a grandmother in Gardena. There he was involved in a drive-by battle with some Bloods, which resulted in C.J. being killed. Assuming he spotted Skully in the backseat, Leon fired his weapon in the car, only to discover Skully's wife, Khadijah, who was holding her bullet-riddled daughter, Tianna, whom he just killed. Both him and Fatback fled and kept their heads low, but soon learned that his mistake caused a rift between Franklin and Manboy as it was Manboy's niece that died. Fatback agreed to take a dive for Leon and claim C.J. was the killer, but upon being bailed out, was killed and dumped outside Louie's club. There was even a bounty placed upon his head for 50K. Also, Leon came across, Fatback's cousin, Big Deon, who scorned Leon for leaving the PJ's in a poor state and learned from Jerome an OG's philosophy. Leon then eluded death once more as Khadijah brought along Black Diamond and Dallas to carry out a drive-by at Fatback's funeral in which several people, including Louie, were hit. Leon was second-guessing his time in the Family, especially after he murdered a 5-year-old girl when he intended to kill Skully, but agreed to be bait for Khadijah, knowing she was becoming unhinged after Tianna's death. After Khadijah was killed, Leon was contemplating leaving the game, but Franklin wasn't ready to release him and had him continue running the Projects, reminding him how it was he who protected him while the rest of the Family wanted Franklin to turn him over to Manboy. Around that time he noticed Wanda finally clean from the rock and residing at the Edgewood Shelter.
Season 5[]
A year down the road, Leon was running the PJ's and kept a tight on everything, including punishing theft from those who stole from the community. After a major crackdown by the LAPD C.R.A.S.H. squad led by Detective Beau Buckley, that resulted in Einstein being sent to the hospital, Leon considered going to war with the cops and wanted to by heavy firepower from Avi but was convinced by Cissy to turn the other cheek. At Avi's Chinatown warehouse, he survived a coordinated drive-by attack set off by Kane, who wanted revenge for Kevin and Delroy, courtesy of a betrayal by Peaches. Leon was able to talk down Kane and make a deal with him, but that came to a halt, no thanks to Louie. He finally rekindled things with Wanda after she'd been sober for over a year and even professed his love for her. As the 1986 midterm elections was on the way, there was some backlash over the cocaine-induced death of Len Bias and Leon was attempting to urge his crew to take another path but failed while considering calling it quit. Big Deon did not take him seriously and decided to step in as the de facto leader while Leon and Wanda chose to go on vacation to Africa.
Season 6[]
Leon was on vacation in Ghana with Wanda and there they learned about the origins of slavery. There they realized it was easier to escape the bondage of slavery than it was to escape the addiction of the crack he helped peddle. It was there that they got married. They soon returned back to LA to find the Projects in a much more different state under Deon's leadership and Leon soon learned that not only was Franklin robbed by Teddy, but was at war with Jerome and Louie. He failed to calm things in the Family, but could not tolerate Big Deon's reckless reign and overthrew him in the form of a beatdown, knowing he was returning to the path he was desperately hoping to avoid. After Louie was kidnapped by Kane and his men, he joined a coalition Family and Bloods in raiding Kane's compound and successfully saved Louie, but at the cost of Jerome's life. After Jerome died, Wanda urged Leon to leave the States behind him and start over in Ghana, however, Leon did not want to leave the Projects without proper leadership. After Franklin took Teddy and Rubén as his prisoners, Leon appeared at the new stash house where they were both interrogated and Teddy was tortured. He was watching the place while Franklin was getting Oso out of the states. After Teddy was killed and Franklin failed to retrieve back a piece of his fortune, Franklin desperately requested a loan to pay for the construction fee, Leon knew why Cissy sacrificed herself the way she did, knowing the Downtown Property was poisoning Franklin's mind, and decline to provide the fee. Franklin refused to take no for an answer and threatened to rob Leon should he not get the loan, which did not sit well with Leon's men as they surround him and kicked him out. After Wanda made the decision to return to Ghana, Cissy urged Leon to follow her there and decide to return once he was ready to atone. 3 years down the road, Leon returned back to South Central while Wanda was still in Ghana and discovered Franklin going down the drunken path Alton took after losing everything. He saw that Cissy was right and Franklin was completely lost. It was that day the Saint Family home in Compton was foreclosed and Leon watched Franklin continue down his path.
Aftermath[]
Leon was a ruthless gangster from the start and a young fighter with a killer complex. After mistakenly killing a little girl in a hit meant for someone else, Leon was reconsidering the game life. He lived by the sword his early years and was even considering answering for his sins by dying by the sword. He kept his heart fixated on Wanda, despite her downward spiral on the rock, and never gave up on her. When Congress pushed for harsher punishments on the sales and distribution of crack, Leon wanted his crew to walk away. After seeing the PJ's take a dark turn without his leadership, he stepped back in and had to take the reigns, knowing the people in his community needed someone to lead properly. In the end, Leon transcended from a trigger-happy thug to a leader the Projects was in dire need of.
Appearances[]
[] |
[] |
[] |
[] |
[] |
[] |
Quotes[]
Victims[]
- Karvel: Shot in the chest twice
- Levon: Shot in the head alongside Fatback
- Dejon: Shot to death alongside Fatback
- Tyrell: Shot in the chest and head
- Kirby: Shot with an MAC 10 along Fatback
- Tianna Brown: Shot to death by accident
- Ricky: Shot in the head