Valentinos

This article is about the notorious criminal organization. For the old posergang, see Valentino's.

The Valentinos are a gang operating in Night City.

Take the Valentinos. They follow God and the Santa Madre. Honor means something to 'em.

 — former Valentino Jackie Welles, Cyberpunk 2077

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

I gotta give style points to the Valentinos. They have a punishment for every occasion.

 — NCPD detective River Ward, Cyberpunk 2077

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.

2070s

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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. The gang's main leader, Campo Orta, still had four more years to spend in prison.

Database Entry (2077)

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VALENTINOS

Loud vests, flashy gold cyberware, heavy jewellery, tattoos of Santa Muerte and Jesus Malaverde – you'd have a hard time mistaking a Valentino when you saw one. Inspired by Chicano culture, their expressive style makes them seem like something straight out of a Mexican barrio. But if you look closer, you'll see anyone can join the gang, no matter their background or ethnicity. The Valentinos are strictly territorial, operating in Heywood. They're tied to the local community by nearly familial bonds of friendship – and by biz. The Valentinos run completely legal businesses like restaurants, nightclubs and auto shops, but all are fronts for their other, dirtier biz of money laundering, smuggling stolen vehicles or guns, human trafficking and gang warfare. The Valentinos' friendship is priceless – and it will follow you to the grave. So you might want to think twice before riding with them.

Notable Members

Main article: Valentinos 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

In Vista del Rey, an impoverished Latino barrio where people scrape out a living and have a damn good time doing it, the Valentinos are kings. During the nightly parties and drag races that fill its streets, fallen Valentinos stare down from giant murals, while living Valentinos watch from places of honor. Every corner boasts a shrine to the Valentinos' idols: Santa Muerte, the saint of death, or Jesus Malverde, patron of banditos. Every stereo blasts narcocorrido ballads about the gang's greatest accomplishments. When the burros from the NCPD come looking for a gang member, Vista del Rey denizens are suddenly blind with the memory of a goldfish. Though the Valentinos are a Mexican gang, you don't have to be Mexican to join. There are Valentinos of every race and ethnicity, though all have adopted the gang's culture and assimilated into the Vista del Rey way of life. Quite a few Night City citizens who have nothing to do with Vista or the Valentinos—athletes, braindance stars, even influential corpos—imitate Valentino style or buy pimped-out rides from Valentino chop shops. There's something incredibly alluring about the cocktail of aggressive, swaggering pride they serve up. No wonder so many want a taste.

 — The Official Digital Artbook of Cyberpunk 2077

One of Night City's largest gangs, the Valentinos are bound by a strong moral code and century-old traditions. Controlling swathes of predominantly Latino areas of Heywood, they treat values such as honor, justice, and brotherhood with deadly seriousness.

 — Cyberpunk 2077 on X

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. 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