20 Smartest Video Game Villains Who Deserved To Win
8. Officer Frank Tenpenny - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Even though Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' main villain Frank Tenpenny is a card-carrying P.O.S. villain, it's tough not to be at least a little charmed by the guy considering he's voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.
And though he's an especially vile example of an immoral corrupt cop, he took his villainy to such industrious levels that you can't really blame him for thinking he'd get away with it.
With all the knowledge of gang activity he's privy to, Tenpenny and other corrupt cops regularly shake down and blackmail gangs for money and supplies and goad them into battling one another, all while profiting off the crack trade and wiping out anyone who dares oppose or expose him.
Basically, Tenpenny is an S-tier puppet-master who presents a front of respectability only to actually be basically the most manipulative, evil antagonist in the entire GTA franchise.
He had plans stacked on top of plans and a solid escape strategy when things went south, though was ultimately undone by his own poor driving, leaving him fatally injured at game's end.