The Ghetto Brothers were a

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

and

music group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

founded in New York City's South

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in the late 1960s with the motivation to uplift young Latino and Black men in their community.

History

Founded in New York City's South

in the late 1960s. The gang eventually spread to much of the Northeastern United States. Like the

Young Lords The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO) or Young Lords Party (YLP), was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. The group aims to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-det ...

, they were involved in politics, particularly the Puerto Rico independence movement and was associated with the then-new

Puerto Rican Socialist Party The Puerto Rican Socialist Party ( es, Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño, PSP) was a Marxist and pro-independence political party in Puerto Rico seeking the end of United States of America control on the Hispanic and Caribbean island of Puerto ...

. Its members had political motivation to uplift young Latino and Black men in the community. Under

Benjamin Melendez Benjamin Melendez (August 3rd 1952 – May 28, 2017) was best known for brokering the gang truce in the Bronx and Harlem (New York City) in 1971. At that time, he was President of the Ghetto Brothers, a mainly ethnically Puerto Rican South Bronx g ...

's leadership, the Ghetto Brothers represented one end of the spectrum in terms of how they treated the women involved with the gang. Referred to as the Ghetto Sisters—the respectful term contrasted sharply with the names used for the women attached to other New York gangs of the period—the women were generally viewed as organization members and as girlfriends, whereas many other gangs treated women almost entirely as sexual property. Former

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

mayor Eddie Perez was a member of the Ghetto Brothers when young. ''New York Daily News'' columnist Robert Dominguez was the leader of a Ghetto Brothers division in the Bronx when he was a teen. In the Connecticut prison system, during the 1990s, the Ghetto Brothers and the Savage Nomads joined together to form Los Solidos (the Solid Ones), which is now one of the most powerful Puerto Rican gangs in the state.

Etymology

The name Ghetto Brothers was chosen by Hui Cambrelen one of the original founders along with Ray DelaVega and Benji Melendez.

Music Group

Benjamin Melendez, who left the organization in 1976, was also known as a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist. He led a band, also known as the Ghetto Brothers, which included his late brother Victor Melendez on bass. They released one album ''Ghetto Brothers - Power-Fuerza'' in 1971, which had only informal, local distribution. It has since been re-released on CD.

Discography

*1971 – ''Ghetto Brothers - Power-Fuerza'' (Salsa Records - SLP 2008) Recorded at Fintone Studio. Produced by Bobby Marin.

History

Etymology

Music Group

Discography

References

Further reading