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.
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.
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 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 👍🏿
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.
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….😹😹
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..🎉🎉🎉🎉
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.
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. 🙄
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
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.
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 👍
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
❤ 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 ❤.😊.
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
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
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 🙏
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.
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😂
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 ❤
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
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.
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.
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
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!!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@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.
I was born and raised on 107th St between Manhattan Ave /Central Park west Chango and his generation was the generation after mine. I had gone to prison when "YTC" stepped onto Columbus Ave scene. My grandmother lived at that time on Columbus Ave between 107 and 106 St. until her death in 1992. I still have family on that block as of this text. and I still go to 107th and Manhattan Ave. I quit the game after leaving prison in 1989. At one point while on the lamb and running from the "sheriffs Office" and NYPD during an arrest warrant in the "Lake George" area in (Upstate) NY. and hiding out in the deep woods overnight in the Adirondacks mountains, I Finally got surrounded by cops while trying to get back home on a two lane road out in the country. Of course, I stuck out like a sore thumb (I am Dominican) in a "lily white" upstate NY area while tired and hungry and cold.. and was sent off to the Warren county jail. and was released 10 days later by mistake from the sheriffs Ofc. and was caught again 2 months later with a pound of Cocaine in a nearby town. lo and behold, and long story short, got married , went to college, got me a job and am due to retire in 3 months with 30 years working. Some of the names that chango mentions on this video are or were friends on mine if they are still alive. alot of people were killed during the decades of the 70's and 80' and 90' on or around 107, 108, 109 st from Central Park west to Riverside drive there was a serial killer in that area when i was a kid in the early 70's circa 71 thru 72 called "Charlie Chop off" killed 1 kid on 106 st. tough times, tough days and I'm glad to have made it out alive.
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
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 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
22:20 (Circa) The differences between Borikens (P.R.) and Dominicans is simply that we are from two different lands, thus have different cultural upbringings. We are of the same Lokono native tribe, Yoruba African tribe, and some Spanish.
@@mechelle1 Do your research. The Lokono tribe (which is what we really call ourselves, not "Taíno") calle the Island Boriken, with one N. "Boricua" is made up later.
The human race is jacked up. I was watching this video about Asia & was surprised how Asians from different cultures didn’t really get along. I always heard about the beef between Pueto Ricans and Dominicans and never understood it 😂😂 I’m Haïtian. Growing up people were confused about me. I use to deliver in the Bronx they thought I was Afro Latino and were mad at me because I didn’t speak Spanish. One time I did a delivery at this college all the women in the kitchen kept taking pictures with me because they said I looked like Jose Rayes the baseball player 😂😂. Even had beef with my own Haïtian people cause I looked different I never understood that sh!t. I thought being melenated you black 🤦🏾♂️. black Americans would be confused wtf I was “🤔 you black but ain’t black” 😂😂 weirdest sh!t I ever heard. My Grabdmother was half Cuban guess that’s where the confusion came from 😂😂😂😂
Chango is one of the most down to earth humble dudes to of ever done it. Chango and YTC had it locked back in the day but he never glorifies it nor is he proud of the things he’s done. I’m 15 minutes into the interview so not even sure if he covers this yet but if it wasn’t for Chango the CP5 would still all be rotting away in jail. I wish Chango nothing but the best.
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.
💪🏾
Also full of shit there’s no way he was locked up with the zodiac
it's crazy to find out now that the background is all green screen
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.
Well said
Would y’all stop with that corny Fortune 500 company BS 😂😂😂😂😂
@@angryyman8227nah just a bunch of quotes he heard from other videos
change is not Puerto Rican
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!
God bless you, Brother 🙏🏽
Facts 💯
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
You ever run into Boy George?
Those dudes are still locked or died in jail (TheWildCowboys), I remember them.
“you gotta lose everything sometimes to appreciate everything” that one hits
@ZoongoZang explain
@ZoongoZang blud never learned anything from losing something
100 %..
Definitely
SO TRUE!!!!
bro still rockin the yellow cap on his head
You noticed too lol
Swag 💯🔥🔥🔥
Dam I can’t believe that went past me. 💯
4life
Bro still rockin clothes on hes body.
Shout out to his Mother and all those mothers who took a step into the unknown for their kids future.
WHAT!!!!!
Yes! 👍🏾
💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
Hell nah his mom put them through a ton of bullshit, and couldn’t keep a job cuz of “language barrier” - in NYC?!
Unknown ??? The currency is quadruple here 😂😂😂
Legend 🔥. Chango is a real one
Real G
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 👍🏿
This Chango interview is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
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.
This is by far my favorite episode you’ve had. This guy has an incredible story & communicates so well. Great stuff fellas!
This was one of the best interviews I have ever seen. Great work!
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.
"The real Rick Ross is not a rapper."
@@Live-Life-Freelypretty sure everyone knows that….
Freeway Rick was west coast brother
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….😹😹
He knew Alpo
“You gotta lose everything sometimes to appreciate everything”💯
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..🎉🎉🎉🎉
The quietest the host has ever been (thank god)
He couldn’t “act” like he knew some 💩 with this dude lol
He's getting me upset a little while watching instead of asking the questions, he's talking like he's in the know. Kind of giving me vald vibes.
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.
It’s because this guy knows how to control the conversation
Host talk way too much
He’s got a real OG here.
Pay attention
To me this was your best interview. You weren’t interrupting much and asking great questions that I wanted to know.
Facts 👌🏽
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. 🙄
@@richieblondet2310 Yeah that was a bit much...noticed Chango checked him subtly by responding "I Dont"
Chango has an amazing story, helped me lot , definitely a teacher and friend. Keep winning brother 💯
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
Great interview! Thanks for sharing. Salute to Chango!!
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.
Taking a flight into another land is migrating! Smh
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.
@MAXIMA347 Dude,shut the hell up! You are clueless! 😂PR is a US territory, but its also a country.And you are a full US citizen if you born in PR.
@@MAXIMA347 yo please 🙏 be quiet You don’t know what you’re talking about ✌️
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.
Here we GOOOOOOO !! Amazing guest. I see him on SWU. AMAZING story. Thank you both !!
Met this cat and he is DEFINATELY an experienced, weathered, and down to earth good dude. Hell memories in his tales too. Big FACTS
Chango is the truth, definitely a last of a dying breed
Dude has a Mos Def voice ...
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".😄
I was trying to find the name of the song cause I remember it.😂😂
@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 👍
"One guy shot himself in there trying to shoot a rat" damn bro, that's wild.
Right? I wanted to hear that story 😂
@@GothCops shit was wild
He was probably a rat too 😂
@@sonyx5332 rat vibes 101
😂😂😂😂
Having Half a block and a triple beam outside under a car to make play is crazy! 😂
it was the norm in the 90's especially in Harlem and Washington Heights
@@Fresh186 I know it was but still, that shit was crazy work!
had to be ready for the OT custies. The internet and smart phones didnt exist. you had to be outside and ready lol
Thank you both!! This was incredible
As a Pakistani who immigrated to Jersey in 91 I relate to alot of thos brothers journey.
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!!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂🤣🤣🤣
@@hoopslaa5235 I wasnt talking about Johnny
😭😭
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.
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.
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
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.
Troutman was always a f****d up block. I used to hangout on Troutman and Starr. Between Knickerbocker and Irving.
Nothing but love my Brother can’t wait
CHANGO needs a part 2, Johnny!
Johnny such a fed 😂😂 ALWAYS gotta ask about murders the guest might’ve done personally
🤦♂️
Jonny is a complete fraud was always a rich kid with no real life experiences literally stole his back story from another guy that did actual time
That VladTV energy
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
Living in poverty does not begin in the mind.
Also puerto ricans aren't immigrants, they're US citizens
But his partner was Dominican
Citizens & Nationals which is more important. Many Americans are Citizens without Nationality.
@@rascol109 If you're talking about Tito aka Titon, he's PR and Dominican. That's out of his own mouth.
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.
Super factz 💯
❤ 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 ❤.😊.
Great interview Chango and Titon true legends… Salute and God bless🙏🏾🫡
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. 😎🤙
Wow! You got a legend on your platform. I'm subscribing. Chango is a good brother.
This interview will be at 1million views soon.
Chango and Titon the legendary YTC crew. Got a good one for us today Johnny.
RIp to Rich Porter Donnell Porter and Big L
Ytc wasnt operating in Harlem though were they ?
Rip to BIG L
@@morenitomoreno1282yes they were, on the west side
The neighbor is actually called morningside heights.
@@gallery302it’s called Manhattan Valley. Directly south of Morningside Heights. Both neighborhoods are in Harlem.
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
Chango in Spanish not dissing but it means for us when a person is complaining or being a cry baby we use that word a lot.
@@JohnBlaze-r4jWhich Spanish are you talking about? Mexican? Colombian? Cuban? Venezuelan? Castillan?
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 too were all the same
@@GLo1991Dominicans and Ricans relate a little more . Cubans alittle weird but yall cool. hilarious people 😂
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
This interview could have been 5 hours and it would have been just as good 🔥🔥🔥
I’m born and raised in NYC…can def tell chango is a real one….great interview.
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 🙏
About time someone gave my boy a big shot at telling his incredible story.. I hope they can make a movie about their story💯
He told this story years ago on Infominds and on the Queenzflip show.
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.
@jalvarez8204 thats was a heroin crew wit the ghost busters on thier bags too
This mans a strategical genius
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😂
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 ❤
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 .
It's sad how willing some of us were, to sell poison to our community, so they could wear fur coats, and drive foreign cars.
Y.T.C. IS FROM THE UPPER WEST SIDE MANHATTAN. NOT HARLEM MANHATTAN.
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
YELLOW TOP CREW IS REALLY MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS BUT SOME PEOPLE CALL IT HARLEM LIKE IN THIS VIDEO
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.
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.
@@realtalk6195 yeah that was just that block. Was a million crack spots all over the city back then and crack vials only came in about 8 colors lol
If this is true that’s some history this guys has a lot to do with
Those things were all over the place. I used to see them on the subway tracks up to 10 years ago.
Amazing interview bro keep the videos coming 👏👏👏
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
This was a great guest. I really enjoyed the interview!!
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!!! 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂🤣🤣🤣🤣
“You’re only as sick as your secrets” should be T-shirts! I can listen to him talk all day while we’re laying in bed 😊
Dude saying all old school Latin dudes have families on the side and aren’t evolved is crazy .
Yea, he's Wilding for saying only older heads had that. Most of my peers have secret 2nd families and we ain't even 40 yet.
Factz! I'm feeling a way about his biased generalizations.
Plus, very common for Italians, French, Spaniards etc to do the same. We inherited it from them 😂
@@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.
I was born and raised on 107th St between Manhattan Ave /Central Park west Chango and his generation was the generation after mine. I had gone to prison when "YTC" stepped onto Columbus Ave scene. My grandmother lived at that time on Columbus Ave between 107 and 106 St. until her death in 1992. I still have family on that block as of this text. and I still go to 107th and Manhattan Ave. I quit the game after leaving prison in 1989. At one point while on the lamb and running from the "sheriffs Office" and NYPD during an arrest warrant in the "Lake George" area in (Upstate) NY. and hiding out in the deep woods overnight in the Adirondacks mountains, I Finally got surrounded by cops while trying to get back home on a two lane road out in the country. Of course, I stuck out like a sore thumb (I am Dominican) in a "lily white" upstate NY area while tired and hungry and cold.. and was sent off to the Warren county jail. and was released 10 days later by mistake from the sheriffs Ofc. and was caught again 2 months later with a pound of Cocaine in a nearby town. lo and behold, and long story short, got married , went to college, got me a job and am due to retire in 3 months with 30 years working. Some of the names that chango mentions on this video are or were friends on mine if they are still alive. alot of people were killed during the decades of the 70's and 80' and 90' on or around 107, 108, 109 st from Central Park west to Riverside drive there was a serial killer in that area when i was a kid in the early 70's circa 71 thru 72 called "Charlie Chop off" killed 1 kid on 106 st. tough times, tough days and I'm glad to have made it out alive.
It was so bad back then the police station was called Fort Apache they couldn't keep up with the 911 calls😂
Wordup Simpson st
They shot arrows in the precinct back in the days that how it got the name
I remember that reference 😂
One hell of an interview!
He ain't lying. It was a cat in the projects in my city back in the early 90z that showed me a crate of grenades. That shit was crazy back then.
🔥 legendary chango!! LISTEN TO THE WISE!
this a dope interview, thank you!
"I got that paperwork too if you want it" 😂😂😂💯💯💯
I couldn't put phone down. Great show guys.
Been enjoying ur channel 48 hours straight now God bless beloved ❤️ with everything
Definitely one in a million 👊🏾✨🙏🏾
11 minutes in, and Chango got me invested. Cool OG. Respect
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
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 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
Respect
FOOLZIES
He’s a ledgend cause you knew him since you were 13 😂
Amazing interview and amazing channel 💪 love from Scotland 🏴🇬🇧
CHANGO IS A MENTOR AND A PRODUCTIVE CITIZEN TODAY FOR HIS NEIGHBORHOOD VERY PROUD OF WHAT HE BECAME AFTER HIS PAST LIFE
tyvm
💪🏾@@chango9028
@@chango9028 you a real one bro
FOOLZIES foolishness
This was good! Informative, descriptive and Chango is very well spoken
This would be a great movie, don’t even need to dramatize anything. Just title it “yellow”. Cmon Hollywood this shit literally wrote itself
They still eff it up somehow
Hollywood only makes marvel movies now. They don’t do real stuff
Don't forget the top
Yellow top
Love this interview with someone real
49:54 “Well, The shooters weren’t working everyday” … Ninja, I HOPE THE SHOOTERS WASN’T WORKING EVERYDAY 😂😭🤦🏾♂️
Chango a hood hero.
I think this was my favorite episode he was level headed and humble
Man this dude should have been the director of marketing for a major company
NEW TO THE CHANNEL GREAT GUEST. GREAT INTERVIEW, GREAT QUESTIONS
22:20 (Circa) The differences between Borikens (P.R.) and Dominicans is simply that we are from two different lands, thus have different cultural upbringings. We are of the same Lokono native tribe, Yoruba African tribe, and some Spanish.
BORICUA(N)
@@mechelle1 Do your research. The Lokono tribe (which is what we really call ourselves, not "Taíno") calle the Island Boriken, with one N. "Boricua" is made up later.
@@mechelle1 😂 No
Kasike☆Tainos
Love listening to Chango ♥️
Interviewer was condescending more than a few times 🤦🏻♂️
Johnny, this your best 1 yet bro. Real big man in those days
The human race is jacked up. I was watching this video about Asia & was surprised how Asians from different cultures didn’t really get along. I always heard about the beef between Pueto Ricans and Dominicans and never understood it 😂😂 I’m Haïtian. Growing up people were confused about me. I use to deliver in the Bronx they thought I was Afro Latino and were mad at me because I didn’t speak Spanish. One time I did a delivery at this college all the women in the kitchen kept taking pictures with me because they said I looked like Jose Rayes the baseball player 😂😂. Even had beef with my own Haïtian people cause I looked different I never understood that sh!t. I thought being melenated you black 🤦🏾♂️. black Americans would be confused wtf I was “🤔 you black but ain’t black” 😂😂 weirdest sh!t I ever heard. My Grabdmother was half Cuban guess that’s where the confusion came from 😂😂😂😂
Jonny looks geeked ain’t gonna lie lol 😂😂💀❄️💀😂
Hustle Gang 💪 🔥
💯🫡
Hell yeah bring on the video 👍🏻
He has great way of telling his story. Very engaging with jewels throughout.
Love the stories but the host seems like the kind of guy that keeps saying slick racist stuff but doesn’t even realize
Chango is the Truth! He truly has a testimony and learned from his past mistakes!!! I hope he is truly happy now in his life journey!
Someone make this dude a 👔 clip out of a yellow cap!!!
Chango is one of the most down to earth humble dudes to of ever done it. Chango and YTC had it locked back in the day but he never glorifies it nor is he proud of the things he’s done. I’m 15 minutes into the interview so not even sure if he covers this yet but if it wasn’t for Chango the CP5 would still all be rotting away in jail. I wish Chango nothing but the best.
Peace to Chango and Tito...fortune 500 company runner
Chango asks Johnny if he knows what an 8ball is 😭 😂😂😂😂😂 He knows Johnny wasn’t no drug dealer
A lot of Italians in East Harlem in the 60's and the 70's
Facts. Thats where the puerto ricans got the dope from. The Italians had it.
Facts
It was called Italian Harlem before.
Whos here frm watching changos SWU vid dropped today??🤖🤖🤖
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💪🏽💪🏽💯💯💯
SWU?
My bad… soft whit under… he must of got another one! 💪🏾🫡
dude gives me the creeps I can’t watch his stuff
@@u_ub why you feel like that?