New York is the City that never sleeps. Some businesses remain open into the wee hours of the morning and no matter where your location is, there is always a late social event happening. There is also an underworld that remains active and cultivates lavish living for some people while breeding destruction on the streets simultaneously. Despite the grim consequences that come with participating in underworld activities, poverty in New York’s inner city is real and in some cases, the underworld is the only key to open doors for a comfortable and attractive lifestyle. Meet Martin Mejias, also know as “Chango”, former founder of upper Manhattan’s notorious Yellow Top Crew. Mejias’s initial reason for joining his local friend, Titon, and turning to the streets to make fast money was strictly to obtain basic necessities for daily survival, as well as relieving his mother of any hardships during her role as the sole provider of him and his two siblings.
The Yellow Top Crew dominated Manhattan Valley from the early to the mid 90’s. However, Mejias and Titon’s operation did not always remain smooth when the presence of other street crews in Manhattan allow greed to get the best of them and create static with the Yellow Top Crew. As one of many New York’s elites of the streets during his prime, Mejias experienced the high life and lived his life to the fullest. Unfortunately, that high lifestyle had cost him his freedom, resulting in him being incarcerated for over a decade. Now as a free man, Mejias creates a new narrative for his life and has no desire to return to the world of crime and destruction again.
Marie Beale: How did you and your partner Titon meet and in what year?
Chango: Titon and I met in ’88 and I just returned from Puerto Rico. My family and I were living in someone else’s home at that time. It was my mom, me, my brother and sister. It was with a man who wanted to get with my mother. My mom wasn’t interested in the dude so after 30 days, when he couldn’t lock her down and control her the way he wanted to, he kicked us out his place. From there, we lived in a welfare hotel on 109th between Broadway and Riverside. The address was 312 109th street and it’s an entire building of furnished rooms also known as an SRO ( Single Rental Occupancies)
Marie Beale: What attracted you and Titon to the streets and the drug game?
Chango: Necessities. That’s what attracted us to the streets. We were living life for the moment but you don’t see it that way while you’re doing what you have to do to survive. When you’re scrambling to get money so you can eat and live comfortably from one day to the next, circumstances are serious and everything is involved with the risk you take. The living conditions at the SRO where my family and I lived in were miserable. That’s where we had to live at the time and 20 people would share one bathroom in the hallway. There were no restrictions of the people who would come into the building. Anyone could walk in. Dope fiends would use the bathroom to shoot dope and the elevator was filled with piss. I watched my mother clean up the bathroom everyday before letting us use it, from the blood stains in the bathtub down to the toilet. My main goal for making money was to get my mother an apartment so she can have better living conditions.
Marie Beale: In the street culture where loyalty is slim to none, how did you and your associates remain solid and keep your operations moving smoothly?
Chango: People in my past who I have a friendship today are solid because those relationships withstood everything that came in between all that time, including repelling all of the negative that could’ve occurred. There’s a lot of betrayal and treachery in the streets when there’s a lot of money involved. In that era where there’s an apartment there’s a months worth of money for business that was conducted. You can go to sleep and wake up and the dude next to you is still playing Nintendo and you don’t have a hole in your head and the money is gone, ya know? You can trust people 20 years later you still good with. That don’t apply to everybody though. The few of us that are still like that is golden. Then there are some people from your past you just outgrow and leave behind. I’m sure some people had outgrown me as well. I’m not into having still and stagnated relationships aka friendships, whatever it may be. You get trapped in that little circle where you don’t expect anything more from these people. I’m not with none of that. I’m constantly trying to evolve. If somebody from the past only talks about the past, then that not someone who I want to rock around with. We have to do more for each other than to just call each other friends, you know? If we not doing more than that for each other, then I can do without seeing your ass to tell you the truth.
Marie Beale: You and your crew were very young entering the game but ended up being one of many titans on the streets of New York. Did this powerful position inflate your ego at some point in time?
Chango: Sure, speaking for myself, my ego was inflated. You have a power trip, you’re controlling the people in that area, you’re controlling the money, the drugs, the mood, the lights on the street, and even the police. Ego can also get you killed, for sure.
Marie Beale: During your era, there were many other prominent street crews and individuals who were active as well. Have you ever cross paths with them? If so, how was your relationship with them?
Chango: As far as running into other prominent groups, of course. We (YTC) were on record for having who knows how many shootings with the Purple Top Crew, about 2,3 and 4 nights out the week every summer. We ended up on the east side, west side, uptown and downtown clashing with other street crews. There were many other strong groups out there on the streets besides the Yellow Top Crew.
Marie Beale: What advice do you have for the younger generation who might be attracted to the lifestyle you have experienced? Also what’s your take on these new generation rappers living out their fantasies of being a real life tough guy like yourself and many other street legends?
Chango: As far as rappers, not all rappers, and more so the new generation trying to emulate the lifestyle that all of us use to live, I think it’s atrocious because there’s absolutely no glory in it. Secondly, it profits them zero. Lastly, it usually costs them everything or their life. I see how they end up making that mistake over and over again because they rap about other people’s lives that they know about or googled. They start thinking that they’re living that lifestyle. They can afford the guns, the entourage, and the luxuries that are associated with the fast life. So they start thinking that they’re in that world. There ain’t really nothing legendary about that dangerous lifestyle of those of us who lived it, you know? Legendary is just a word being used to romanticize the lifestyle we use to live, even possibly manipulating the young mind to cover up the ugly side of fast life and all the other things that come with it, including the status. I’m speaking about it now but I was guilty of living it then. You’re building a brand. Your name is a brand and whatever is attached to you is also a brand.
Marie Beale: As a free and healthy man, what is Chango’s current journey in life?
Chango: My current journey in life is simple. I’m making everything work for me. If you are forced to make a right turn on the way to where you are going, because the guy in the next car ran you off the road, then you should make use of that right turn. In other words, if anything is going down, I’m going to make it work for me in a positive way. That’s it, that’s the strategy. Make my circumstances work for me, help me grow and produce long term results as opposed to confront situations with actions that produce instant gratification. Instant gratification is temporary. Just as quick as you get something with little or no effort, you can lose it at the same pace. Right now, I’m flipping houses and getting involved in the renovation process. I took off work today to show up at one of my houses to meet with the construction crew. That’s important. I’m also shopping my (life story) projects and God willing, they’ll lead me to movie deals and book deals in the near future. All these moves have to be made independently without any major help. I’m putting things together, little by little since I been out.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF CHANGOS STORY AS HE ADDRESSED THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE CASE.
Written By Marie Beale