Stories like these will never be replicated again. Chango truly is the last of a dying breed. Thank you for watching and show him some love in the comments!
You said it best. You should consider yourself a modern day documentarian. These are real stories from people who live them with the wisdom of 2020 retrospective. Getting to hear these people tell you their internal experiences as children and what they were thinking in that moment is more valuable than anything written in a school book.
His perspective is incredibly valuable for sure. So much misunderstanding and division in the world but stories like this add back the human aspect. We’re all just human at the end of the day we can’t forget that. Someone who builds themself up from nothing can do it again, and again, and again. That’s like America man, we will always rebuild.
This is the yellow top crew from Harlem. we was the yellow top crew from the south bronx. I'm From Cypress & Beekman in the Bronx. In the 1990s I was a member of the yellow top crew (TheWiseGuy). I went by the name of L Nitty, the Enforcer & Manager. I controlled everything. When the Dominican Red Top Crew (TheWildCowboys) killed my homie Amp Gone but never forgotten, That was fucked up, That was not gangster to kill innocent people & tell us we can't work there. It was our block & we wanted in, so we started getting money, plus we had a lot of guns to protect ourselves after that episode. You will think I learned my lesson from that but when my bestfriend Gerard heard snitched on me because he saw me doing better than him & got me locked up. So after i finished my 5 years probation, I moved to Florida and got a job, but when they did a background check in all states, they found out I had a felony in New York & fired me. I went back to the streets & did what I knew best. I got into the weed game & got shot in the face & neck because they wanted to rob me. I was in the hospital for a month. I'm 52 years old now, so the past was the past it is what it is because I sleep well at night, thank God I'm out the streets, I'm not a Rat. (YTELL) & I'm not in jail. So after that, I quit the game & and stopped hanging out with people from the block or in that life & started taking care of my mom who is 73 years old from 2010 to the present. I only hang with people who live productive lives. No more street shit with me. It takes for me to get snitched on & shot to learn my lesson... True story!
I remember living on Saint Anns off 139th as a kid (6-8 years old) and people be out side saying "red top, blue top etc" what ever other colors selling and i didn't know what they were selling and than one day as a teen that memory coming to me and it hit me, oh that's what they were selling 😂🤦♂️ it was like an open market out there in the 80's
I’m 47 and growing up in the Bronx and Harlem in the 80’s and 90’s you had to grow up super fast. Chango reminds me of some the cool ass boriquas I grew up with or knew in NY. He humbly described Amsterdam and Broadway in those times. Every block from 137th st to basically 158th had someone trying to sell coke. Chango is probably the most intelligent and articulate hustler from that era on these interviews. I think if he had the resources, he could’ve ran a Fortune 500 company or even have become a lawyer. Shout out to him for surviving those times and changing his life. Super dope interview, being from NY and a teenager in those days. I know he’s not lying.
Puerto Ricans are not immigrants 😂😂. They are American citizens 🇺🇸. Get it right please 🙏puerto is under United States 🇺🇸. Jurisdiction. just like Hawaii. Off the mainland. Pr is a common wealth. And Hawaii is a state.
Not all the way a citizen, PR is a territory not a state. Unless your born here in the states, on the island one is not afforded the same rights as actual US citizen.
All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are citizens of the United States at birth.
He's letting the stories flesh out naturally and divert naturally before moving on to the next story. He was skipping it forward and leaving uncompleted stories too much before.
You're conflating immigrant with "alien". You can be a citizen and an immigrant at the same time. Even someone who was born and raised in a non-US territory but has US citizen parents then they're a citizen too but when they move to the US, they're still immigrating to the US.
I had to rewatch this episode, CLASSIC The Connect right here. Chango is such an interesting dude. Very smart, very well spoken, dangerous, and definitely NYC LEGEND
@@RingDAlarm-xn1zqnah…. Im Puerto Rican and that’s true I agree…… A lot of bravo macheteros machismo mujerigos from the islands in 60s…… it was usually the hibaros…. That you guys are always so happy about it and like how they act….
@@BakiSmaki27that’s what the white guy is saying….. it was primitive for them to behave that way… and it’s simple minded and embarrassing…. As a Puerto Rican my family has always talked about how this display of behavior Puerto Ricans demonstrate is distasteful and ghetto…… Blacks are the only ones who should be -de evolved. That’s the only skin color who’s happy to be at the bottom…… we shouldn’t be happy to act like blacks.
DOMINICANS N RICANS HAVE NO NOTABLE DIFFERENCES TO PPL ON THE OUTSIDE BUT THE ACCENT AND OVERALL DIALECTS ARE DISTINCT HOWEVER WE HAVE MORE IN COMMON THAN DIFFERENCES, WE EAT THE SAME FOODS AND HAVE TAINO/AFRICAN/SPANIARD MIXES
Cubans, PRs and Domis (heck I'll also throw in for good measure Venezuelans and coastal Colombians) are more similar than different but unfortunately it's kinda human nature for people to gravitate towards the differences and separate. It's fear baked into our genes.
I’m Dominican and I get confused on why they try to separate us I have alot of Puerto Rican friends and they literally have the same similarities like us so it’s crazy 😂😂😂😂
I can say we love first with our whole hearts b4 anything I never seen my people trying to separate cultures and stuff I didn't care about that the 90s was great era to grow up in we all latins...I feel his story on the early years...its rough growing up in enter cities here in America
Idk him but based on what I’ve seen in interviews. I feel like this what he would want to be highlighted about him. The intro seemed to glorify his past too much imo
This is EXACTLY like Kensington Philadelphia. The last and biggest open air drug market in the country. What he’s describing is taking place right now in 2024. It’s absolutely wild that these crews can take over an entire neighborhood and the cops can’t do anything
The chango YTC story is legendary in NYC 🗽 what an incredible story I’m very happy to see him doing well in 2024 salute to that Puerto Rican brother..🎉🎉🎉🎉
This guy is so smart and knows the game, damn he created it. Simple smart and no fear. Always looking out, rotating eyes. This guy needs to write a book. Wonder if he and Ross knew each other.
Created it?!? If you can think of it, someone has already DONE IT. The most stoopid fools think they’re first but won’t admit they learned from someone else. Bro, you yourself isn’t even the king pin, you’re trying to talk big about some guy on the internet in a story!! 🤣🤣🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂ My god you people in comments are soo RETAHHDED. Re re re re….😹😹
Excellent interview ,as usual when chango is the guest. Such a brilliant mind ,his survival instincts always kicked in. It’s great to see him on here sharing his life experiences,there was fast money,cars,jewelry women but then came the consequences hearing him take accountability for his part the good and bad, it’s admirable….you never know who might come across this interview and it will touch their life someway or another.
let the guest finish his sentences and then ask your questions. you stay interrupting. its annoying, you literally cut ppl off in the middle of their thoughts
So annoying. I was taught as a kid that it's very disrespectful to cut people off or talk over them but I guess no-one told the same lesson to Johnny. Reminds of annoying coke/speed heads who never shut up and always try to finish your sentences..
I thought the interviewer was culturally illiterate and assumed way too much. He also stereotyped Latinos with that comment about secret families that all O.G. Latin men have. He forgot to mention we all carry switchblades too. 🙄
I’m from Paterson NJ, but was on the run from a case in 86 and went to live on 147th, between 7th-8th Ave, until I got knocked in 88. A building like the Carter (New Jack) in the middle of the block, put me back on my feet. Rich & Tone, Peace if you’re still out there! Keena Dykes, baddest chick on the block wanted the Jersey Nigga. Thank God I’m still alive. Not many left. Chango stay up my brother 👍🏿
The b-roll you showed of the the sidewalk grates is not what he was talking about. He was talking about iron doors that are on the sidewalk that lead to the stairs to the basement.
Almost all ground floor businesses have them leading to the basements in nyc. Usually just for storage. People always try to find a loose or unlocked to trip or fall down to sue😂
Im PuertoRican i grew in Brooklyn Bushwick i was born in the 80s grew up through thelate 80s 90s and it was crazy here. I had a drug dealing family my cousins had the park on troutman and central. I was taught alot of dumb shit real early in life i can relate to alot of what he saying.
Uh, 1973 here brother. I was already out of Dirty Jersey by 1992 to San Diego. Johnny bee talks a big game but he literally is a small kid, small guy, small dealer and his channel name is what?? THE CONNECT!! The connect is a middle man!! He didn’t even grow the weed or was the main distributor!! Johnny is and was a small time low profit middle man!! His channel name admits he’s a chump stuck in the middle making Pennie’s off the big boys millions! It’s hilarious how the masses are soo impressed by Johnny when they don’t even know the channel name is giving away that he was a small time chump! Doesn’t matter how big you get but if you’re the middle man you ain’t making the money from guys above you!! My god you people in comments literally have no clue what you’re talking about!!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂🤣🤣🤣
Besides the Chinese, the Pakistanis were the big heroin wholesellers back in the day before Latin America became a factor and took over the US market in the 1980s. The Pakistanis were bringing heroin from Pak and Afghanistan. Pakistan cracked down on opium poppy cultivation in the 1990s. The Triads were bringing in "China White" which was actually produced in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The military veterans were the ones who were hooked on heroin/opium first. Myanmar is still a big source of drugs today. It's less heroin and more amphetamines and meth, and the Triads supply it across the Indo-Pacific countries. The PRC also maintains connections with them to use as intelligence assets. In much of the 20th century, Triads were primarily based out of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. However, after the PRC liberalized its economy and then annexed HK and Macau, they grew in Mainland China. Afghan heroin gets supplied across countries in Europe and Asia in the 21st century by a myriad of different parties. The Triads in NY took a big hit in the 1990s when their bosses were all raided. Then after 9/11 when customs and immigrations tightened the ports, China White died out entirely in the US and Canada and so did the Triads in any street relevance in the eastern US. They only deal with running or taxing operations in prostitution and smuggling illegal migrants and counterfeit goods. Overseas Triads supply the chemicals that are used to produce heroin and supply fentanyl to Latin American cartels. The NYC street gangs that ran under the NY Triads stopped being relevant across the course of the 2000s. Unlike the Hong Kongers and Taiwanese who dominated the US Chinese demographic much of the 20th century, in the 1990s and 2000s the US started allowing large amounts of Mainland Chinese immigrants. Historic China Towns were/are all Cantonese-speaking, but now Chinese means Mandarin in the US because that's what the PRC uses. The only prominent Chinese American gang is Wah Ching in California. The Triads in California were raided at the end of the 1970s and all of Wah Ching's rivals died out. Most other "Asian" street gangs in the US are Southeast Asian-dominated. In Canada, there are some ethnic Punjabi and Tamil gangs and some gangs composed of ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese combined.
@@hoopslaa5235You feel better after that rant, oldhead?? Who asked you for your opinion? You're a wash-up. Go open a smoke shop and become the top hustler you've always dreamed of.
Chango is the man. He told the interviewer, "I ain't got no second family 🥷🏼!"😅 "Wiki- wiki" was a Nucleus song "Jam On It". And the perm that he was saying Dominicans have is called the "Jheri curl".😄
@esseen100 - I believe the song Chango is referring to is the song Newcleus had out prior to "Jam on It" called "Jam on Revenge (The Wikki Wikki Song)" from 1983. There is a part of "Jam On It" where they chant "Wikki-Wikki-Wikki-Wikki", but you were for sure in the correct ballpark 👍
There's a way to speak without incriminating yourself. Noone has to answer. Some of his guests have already gone to jail for some of these things, it's why they can talk about them.
@@bryceharper5150 thanks for the insight genius, but murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations attached. Either way it’s a police ass topic to ask about unless the guest brings it up specifically
❤ in 2 hrs?! Omg! Waited this long to wait 2 more hrs?!😂😂😂. Nah on a serious note keep doing your thing, thx for being in our lives Chango (the Mejia fam) and sharing wit us and publicly little bit of your life. Hopefully you open up the eyes of some of these kids now in days so they could see it's not a game or joke to do any of the things you will be mentioning cause it could only lead to being 6 feet under or jail time and they don't want that nor need that. So I commend you in your life change and appreciate you in sharing your most hurtful, and deeply painful moments and ur experiences as a kingpin and the outcome. Luv u boo ❤.😊.
This is one of the best crime podcasts,that I have listened to.They are giving a different perspective here,more like the business side of the drug game.Listening to change and not knowing,he was a dealer he could have been a fortune 500 ceo.He had a true business mind too,he should be on the lecture circuit.
Harlem had so many people getting big money back then But the most feared and respected gangster in Harlem was Dowop Alpo ,Preacher, Lou simms whoever knew Dowop wasn’t nothing to play with Rich porter was trying to live like Dowop .
And what alpo did u guys let him live like that when he got out is crazy....no respect for harleem or any of the so called legends...they all can suk my dic
Wherent they known as Young Talented Children as well?Or that was a different crew?I used too go too the clubs in Manhattan a lot from 88-91 ND I remember a crew in 89 that used too shape the Ghostbusters in their haircuts ND they where known as money getters..lotta stories about different from 86-94 that where unique ND never seen again but the Impact Remains.
I grew up in South Florida,same time period! We were getting bricks for 10to12 and sending them up north for 15 These cats getting 17.5 to 20 in NYC and he ain’t lying the shit was A-1 fish scale. Everyone in SoFlo had side hustle in those days. Plenty of pilots n boat captains lol 😂 Everything along the west side of Biscayne bay north of the old Miami Herald bldg. all the way up to 79th street was built by powder! All those high rise condos etc. like it or not Miami was built on it! At least the metropolitan city it is today. Those were the days! Respect to my Yankee friends. 😎🤙
This the era when you seen a million crack vials on the ground with different color tops. Chango is named after an African god from the Orisha Yoruba religion by way of Santeria
the song which he is refering to is called. JAM ON IT by NEWCLEUS. SUMMER OF 1983 OR 84.it goes something like this. "I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BABY BOY MY MOTHER GAVE ME A BRAND NEW TOY TWO TURN TABLES WITH THE MIC I KNEW I COULD ROCK LIKE DOLLO MIGHT. TIME WHEN BY AND IS WAS GOD CREATION AND I KNEW ONE DAY I WOULD ROCK THE NATION. SO I MADE UP MY MIND ON WHAT TO DO. AND I JOINED UP WITH JAMMING PRODUCTION CREW." CLASSIC....CLASIC.
Exactly Johnny ain’t a wasn’t anybody, he knows nothing, his channel is called the connect!! That means he’s a middle man! He makes the least profit!! He was not the grower!!! He is a chump middle man trying to find a connect! Don’t you people understand basic hierarchy??? My god the masses are so easily impressed and retarded!!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yellow tops were actually referred to in the wu tang, an American saga show. They had a fiend come up on one episode and he was like “man them red tops yall got ain’t got nothing on them yellow tops!” And that’s how rza got the idea to make the first wu tang cassette tape yellow with black lettering. He saw how the yellow tops sold and he switched the product to another yellow product, but now in music form. Then he started selling his tapes like yellow top crack vials. FAST. I didn’t know yellow tops were a real thing. That’s pretty awesome that they went that deep into the accuracy of the show
Thats just how crack was sold all over the east coast from the 80s to early 90s, for marketing. There could be 6 different colors on one block if it was a free for all, or if one crew had the power it would be one color. If fiends knew purple top had them deals 2 for 5s or trays they gonna go to purple top
@oredi2159 Meaning that in different areas, or at different times, it was a different colored top that was the best quality or the best deal or had the biggest crew. Yellow wasn't king everywhere. Just some places.
Five star rating for this excellent expose' on the Yellow Top Crew featuring the President and CEO Chango. This was not a glorification of the life of a Drug Kingpin, but rather an up close, bird's-eye view of THAT WORLD.
'You might not want to be in a spot but it might the best spot for you". I have talked to several guys who have made similar statements, had I not gone to prison when I did, I would be dead or walking dead is a real situation. The guys that I have spoken to, testify to this as fact of life. One important point in this interview is when Chago talks about selling the cookies at no profit as a child. Many people in trying to get into legit business often are afraid to charge what it takes to make a profit where-as these guys figured out how to make a profit even when it seemed to be a loss. just look at the packaging of chips today. Chango and Titon were doing the same thing in their teens that CEOS with advanced degrees are doing now, selling air.
After the first 17 minutes, I found out that I had it good in my early childhood life. I don't care what he became in life after he got on, God bless him 🙏
@29:24, Caballon, daaaamn you went back. He had a building spot on Taylor Ave in the BX. When Manhattan South Task Force took it down I was finally able to open shop😂. I couldn’t do it while him and his people were there cause he had HEAVY HITTERS under his payroll…Man I seen so much it scared me.
I am from Indianapolis Indiana and the man that is in front of you I have known about since I was 13 years old that's how much of a legend that you have on your show right now
I’m so happy I’ve found your channel. Listening to all of these different guys In your videos tell their own stories of growing up in the game is so interesting and I’ve been SO sucked into watching them all. Thank you for your awesome interviews you get real into it with the questions you ask and I love to listen ❤
Wow! I remember all them stories he was telling...all facts .. this is GiGi Tito's brother and yes it's all facts i was there i was part of Y.T.C and how crazy hearing these stories now .. yo chang we still here❤
I spent my summers in Harlem as a kid. We were on 148th and 8th. I remember seeing both tops just walking around. I always knew there was a story behind the colors but never wanted to ask. I was kind of a “stoop kid”(Got away but always got back in time.😂)So i look at these stories a little differently. This was what I call the “Game Room” era.
I'm sorry but these YTC dudes ain't make it like dat in da game they was mediocre he said he flipped a Bird a week back then everybody was doing dat in da crack Era
