Before the events of the game started unfolding, there were three members of C.R.A.S.H., who were Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski, and Ralph Pendelbury. Ralph ended up going to Internal Affairs, which got him killed by the other members. Their newest recruit, Jimmy Hernandez, was the one who pulled the trigger.
Tenpenny has known Carl Johnson for a good while, and always gives him a hard time. When CJ returns to Los Santos, he is stopped by Tenpenny, who ends up blackmailing CJ into doing work for him or else he would frame CJ for the murder of Pendelbury, which happened just 10 minutes prior to his arrival.