Valentinos

The Valentinos are a gang operating in Night City.
==Overview==
The Valentinos are based in Heywood in central Night City. They are one of the largest gangs in the metropolis, with a membership of about 6,000 in 2077. Strictly territorial, they operate in the vast impoverished Latino barrios in the Glen, Vista del Rey, and Wellsprings, where they are strongly rooted in the local communities. They are representatives of the Chicano culture of Night City and have cultivated those traditions for more than a century.
Valentinos openly display their gang tattoos and gold jewelry with religious motifs. The most common patrons are the Santa Muerte and Jesús Malverde. The first being seen as a symbol for a holy death and the latter as an honorable thief who is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. They also have a taste for colorful clothes, pimped out lowriders, and silver and gold-plated guns. Cyberware used by the gang include reflex boosters, autoloaders, and augmented cyberlimbs.
===Philosophy and Structure===
The majority of Valentino members are of Mexican heritage, but other ethnic groups and people with different background are welcome to join. Members tend to integrate quickly, adopting Chicano culture and celebrating various Mexican holidays and customs like the Dia de Los Muertos, Quinceañeras, Semana Santa, or Dia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
This sense of common heritage or at least shared customs binds the gang with the local people to form one big family. The community's loyalty protects the gang members, which makes NCPD and corporate infiltrations into the gang almost impossible. In return, the Valentinos protect the whole neighborhood. It's for these reasons that betraying one's gang is seen as the most heinous crime a Valentino can commit, and is usually punished with a particularly gruesome death.
On the other hand, Valentinos who die fighting other gangs, police, or corporate enforcers are often remembered as saints and martyrs. These people are commemorated in songs and depicted on giant murals. This memorial street art functions as religious iconography and often incorporates written descriptions of the saint's glorious deeds.
===Source of Income===
The Valentinos own many legitimate businesses such as restaurants, auto shops, local construction companies, and nightclubs, but also operate braindance recording studios, and sports-betting parlors. The legal businesses often serve as a front for criminal activity: as meeting places, money-laundering operations, or illegal chop shops for stolen vehicles.
Their main sources of income are gun smuggling, car theft, drug trafficking, robbery, burglary, hit jobs (including assault or murder), prostitution, and illegal modification of weapons and vehicles.
==History==
===Early history - 2060s===
During the late 2030s, La Llorona and El Sombreron became the butchers of a group known as the Valentinos, ending the life of any enemy of theirs. They made a name for themselves in Night City, half fearing them and the other half wanting them dead. Around the mid 2040s, La Llorona faked her death during a mission and escaped the city with a new identity, while El Sombreron stayed, eventually becoming a notorious member of the organization.
At some point during or prior the 2060s, the Valentinos were considered a small predominately Latino cartel operating in Night City. During this time, there was a bloodbath in Moto Cielo in which many Valentinos died. Sebastian Ibarra, a Valentino priest, survived the ordeal and found what he considered a noble calling, becoming a fixer of Night City, eventually gaining the nickname of Padre. (Padre Database Entry)
===2070s===
By the 2070s, the Valentinos were one of Night City's largest gangs and were bound by a strong moral code and century-old traditions of the Catholic god and protecting their peers. This protection did not cover any one ethnic or religious group, but instead those that grew up in Heywood alongside them. The Valentinos treated values such as honor, justice, and brotherhood with deadly seriousness, and were usually neutral to any strangers as long as they didn't cause any trouble, even helping tourists that had gotten lost by directing them back to City Center. During those years there were also rumors the Valentinos had somehow evolved from an ancient club of Lotharios who competed against each other in acts of seduction, but no modern gang member ever confirmed that. As far as they were concerned, they had always been what they were, similar to how Heywood had always been the land beneath their feet. Between parties, parades, drag races and excessive drinking, they hanged around the barrio under the watchful eyes of Santa Muerte.
In 2071, the Valentinos and 6th Street had been in turf war for some time, with their latest conflict during that year being a firefight in Westbrook. At some point prior or during 2074, the Valentinos and 6th Street would escalate their turf war over the control of Vista del Rey, which caused many of the sub-district residents to move to more secure places.
By 2077, the war between the Valentinos and 6th Street was intensifying, with Vista del Rey being more dangerous than ever. That same year, a troublesome gang member known as José Luis was contracted by Arasaka in an attempt to frame Militech for assaulting an Arasaka facility, but his operations were stopped by Heywood fixer and respected former Valentino Sebastian Ibarra.Gig: On a Tight Leash The gang's main leader, Campo Orta, still had four more years to spend in prison.Heroes
==Database Entry (2077)==
==Notable Members==
===Leadership===
====Main Leaders====
*Campo Orta (Unknown)
====Secondary Leaders====
*El Sombreron (Unknown - 2077)
*Gustavo Orta (Unknown - 2077, dependent)
==Faction Locations==
===2077===
*La Catrina
*El Coyote Cojo
*Moto Cielo
*Nuestra Señora De Los Desamparados Cathedral
*Sugar Skull Planet
==Behind the Scenes==
==Notes==
*The criminal organization shares the name with the old Valentino's posergang. This is not coincidental, though it has yet to be reveled how they are both connected.J Gray on Discord: "I’ll say this. The Valentinos of 2020 did not evolve into the Valentinos of 2077. The 2020 Valentino gag is gone in 2045. ... You’ll find out more in Night City 2045." Of note, what would become the 2070's Heywood was repopulated with the residents from old North Heywood, which was the home turf of 6th Street during the 2040s. Residents of Santo Domingo (South Heywood) also populated what would become Vista del Rey.
==References==
===Reddit, Discord & X===
Category:Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs
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