A teenage Greedo and his younger brother, Pqweeduk, explore the various caves inside the jungles of their adopted home world. They discover the remains of three old Rodian starships inside one of the caves. Greedo returns to his hut and asks his mother, Neela, about the ships. Neela explains that many Rodians made a pilgrimage to this planet to escape the clan wars that had taken Greedo's father away from them.
Shortly after this event, a Rodian warlord of the Chattza Clan named Navik the Red finds the jungle colony and begins slaughtering as many of the pacifist Rodians as he can. Neela takes her children and along with her brothers, Nok and Teeku, they board one of the starships and escape. Nok pilots them to a heavily populated area in the hopes that they can start a new life for themselves. He takes them to the smugglers' moon—Nar Shaddaa.
Greedo has been living the past four years on Level 88 in the Corellian Sector of Nar Shaddaa. In that time, he has befriended a Sionian Skup named Anky Fremp and has eked out a living as a petty thief.
One day, Greedo notices the droid bounty hunter known as Gorm the Dissolver preparing to kill two other hunters named Spurch Goa and Dyyz Nataz. Greedo, hoping to establish some connections within the bounty-hunting community, shoots Gorm in the back, disabling him. Spurch is grateful for the assistance and decides to take Greedo under his wing. What Greedo doesn't know, however, is that Spurch despises Rodians, and merely lets the young thief tag along so long as he is of use to him.
Greedo decides that he now wants to become the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy. He learns that the Rebel Alliance maintains a secret munitions warehouse on Level 88. He sells the information to Spurch, who in turn sells it to the Empire. With the money he receives, Greedo prepares to acquire his own starship. He goes to Shug Ninx's repair shop where he finds an Incom Corsair that would be perfect for him. He even has a name for it—the Manka Hunter. The ship needs a couple of power couplings, however, so he tries to steal some from a YT-1300 light freighter stored at the garage. The freighter's owners, Han Solo and Chewbacca, catch him in the act and interrogate him. Han decides to let Greedo keep the couplings in exchange for his rancor-skin coat.
Before long, Darth Vader uses the information he has received and sends two Gamma-class assault shuttles to Nar Shaddaa to destroy the Rebel storage facilities. Greedo becomes concerned as he learns that his family's housing development is very near the siege.
Shortly thereafter, Greedo decides to leave Nar Shaddaa and begin his bounty-hunting career in earnest. He travels to the Outer Rim Territories world Tatooine, along with Spurch and Dyyz. Spurch manages to gain Greedo an audience with the notorious gangster, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Jabba decides to put the young Rodian's enthusiasm to the test and offers him exclusive bounty rights to capture Han Solo.
Greedo encounters Han twice in the port city of Mos Eisley and tries to force him to pay off a debt owed to Jabba. Han tells Greedo to return the next day and he'll have Jabba's money ready for him. Greedo acquiesces and meets Han the following afternoon at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina. The two get into a small argument which ends with Han pulling his blaster out and shooting Greedo in the chest, killing him.
From the sidelines, Spurch Goa snickers at the fact that he was able to manipulate Greedo into gunning for Han, safe in the knowledge that the Corellian would outshoot him. Spurch had accepted a retainer by two Rodians named Thuku and Neesh to have Greedo killed.
Most if not all of the events of Greedo's childhood and early life are contradicted by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. The episode "Sphere of Influence" depicts Greedo as a fully realized and active bounty hunter, years before the events detailed in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina take place.