Cyberpunk Wiki

Before making edits, please read our Editing Guidelines and our Manual of Style.

Also join our Discord server if you want to discuss something! See you there!

READ MORE

Cyberpunk Wiki
Advertisement
Cyberpunk Wiki
Cyberpunk Wiki
Official wiki
12,448
pages


Sub-Pages:

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

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

 — former Valentino Jackie Welles, Cyberpunk 2077

The Valentinos are a gang operating in Night City.

Overview[]

During the 2070s, the Valentinos were based out of Heywood in central Night City. They were one of the largest gangs in the metropolis, with a membership of about 6,000 in 2077. Strictly territorial, they operated in the vast impoverished Latino barrios in the Glen, Vista del Rey, and Wellsprings, where they were strongly rooted in the local communities. They were representatives of the Chicano culture of Night City and had cultivated those traditions for more than a century.

Valentinos openly displayed their gang tattoos and gold jewelry with religious motifs. The most common patrons were 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 was said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. They also had a taste for colorful clothes, pimped out lowriders, and silver and gold-plated guns. Cyberware used by the gang included reflex boosters, autoloaders, and augmented cyberlimbs.[1]

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 were of Mexican heritage, but other ethnic groups and people with different background were welcome to join. Members tended to integrate quickly, adopting Chicano culture and celebrating various Mexican holidays and customs like Dia de Los Muertos, Quinceañeras, Semana Santa, or Dia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

This sense of common heritage or at least shared customs binded the gang with the local people to form one big family. The community's loyalty protected the gang members, which made NCPD and corporate infiltrations into the gang almost impossible. In return, the Valentinos protected the whole neighborhood. It wass for these reasons that betraying one's gang was seen as the most heinous crime a Valentino could commit, and was usually punished with a particularly gruesome death.

On the other hand, Valentinos who died fighting other gangs, police, or corporate enforcers were often remembered as saints and martyrs. These people were commemorated in songs and depicted on giant murals. This memorial street art functioned as religious iconography and often incorporated written descriptions of the saint's glorious deeds.[1]

Source of Income[]

The Valentinos owned many legitimate businesses such as restaurants, auto shops, local construction companies, and nightclubs, but also operated braindance recording studios, and sports-betting parlors. The legal businesses often served as a front for criminal activity: as meeting places, money-laundering operations, or illegal chop shops for stolen vehicles.

Their main sources of income were gun smuggling, car theft, drug trafficking, robbery, burglary, hit jobs (including assault or murder), prostitution, and illegal modification of weapons and vehicles.[1]

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.[2]

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.[3]

2070s[]

This section requires expanding. Click here to add more.📝

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,[R 1][1] 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.[1] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[1]

By 2077, the war between the Valentinos and 6th Street was intensifying, with Vista del Rey being more dangerous than ever.[6] 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.[7] The gang's main leader, Campo Orta, still had four more years to spend in prison.[8]

Database Entry (2077)[]

Valentinos

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.[9]

Notable Members[]

Main article: Valentinos Members

Leadership[]

Main Leaders[]

Secondary Leaders[]

Faction Locations[]

2077[]

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. Gold crosses dangling from necklaces on bared chests, vests adorned with roses or Santa Rosa herself, tight pants that emphasize every bulge—add a few gold-plated implants and a pistol or a knife, and you have the unofficial Valentino uniform. The overall look takes SoCal lowrider culture from the 1990s and tweaks it to the max, injecting a high-octane dose of flamboyant Catholicism and northern Mexican drug cartel style.[10]

 — 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.[11]

 — 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.[R 2][R 3] 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. Notably, Santo Domingo's manager was Theresa Valentino, who had gained her position thanks to the local El Norte Cartel, a criminal organization with Mexican roots.

References[]

Reddit, Discord & X[]

Advertisement