Andy “Rebirth” Pellerano used to be a member of the notorious Latin Kings gang. Then, after spending years in prison and surviving a nearly fatal drug overdose, Pellerano managed to turn his life around by embracing Christ. Now, he’s a Christian minister and Christian hip-hop artist who is trying to help others turn their lives around as well.
Such is what he spoke to Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters about, describing both his former life of crime and how he managed to change his life for the better by adopting the Christian faith and salvation in it. “It was just the wrong influences, listening to the wrong voices, just gravitating to the wrong things and being out there,” he told Watters, describing how his life took a turn toward the criminal side of things early on.
Continuing, he explained how he got involved with the group as a young teen, saying, “I was around 14, 15 years old and I let five grown men jump me so I could be their friend, as I like to put it. So what would I have to do to keep that friendship? And it led to a first-degree attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated criminal damage. It was gang-related. I was 16, I made 17. I was charged as an adult.”
Continuing, he described how he remained committed to the gang in prison, rising through the ranks: “They used to call me Paco. When I basically got out of the gang — when I went to prison — we started an outlaw King Blood Nation, where we joined the Latin Kings with the Bloods and I was holding the flag in that prison. I was the president and they called me Paco, and ironically it was ‘Paco the Pope of the Streets.’”
But then things changed when he realized how his life as an incarcerated gang member was impacting his family. He said, “Watching my kids grow up in pictures; watching my kids, you know, not being able to come visit me because I’m going to maximum security. But this one time, it’s etched in my heart.” He continued, “I’m fully restrained, I have the belt with the handcuffs with shackles, and my little girl… she was almost 2 years old when I first got incarcerated. By this time, she was about 6 years old. She was about 5 or 6 years old… So I go and visit, I’m holding my beautiful little girl, and she starts asking me all these questions.”
Further describing that emotional scene, he said, “She grabs my handcuffs and she says, ‘Daddy, daddy, what is this?’ And it was brand-new handcuffs… and I said, ‘Oh, that’s my bracelets. You don’t see daddy shining over here?’ And she looks at me. She said, ‘Well, what is this?’ And she grabs my shackles and I started making the shackles jump like a jump rope. I said, ‘Oh, that’s my jump rope.’ She looks at me again and she says, ‘You look stuck. You look stuck.’ And then she asks me again, she’s like, ‘Daddy, what is this?’ I said handcuffs. She said, ‘Daddy, what is this?’ I said shackles. She said, ‘Why they got you like this daddy?’ I said, ‘Because daddy was being bad and this is daddy’s punishment.’ And she looks at me and she says, ‘Well, daddy, promise me you’re not going to be bad anymore because I need you home with me, daddy. I need you home with me, daddy.’ It killed me. But I’m looking at her, and then she starts asking me questions. She was like, ‘Well, daddy,’ — because she’s mixed, so she said, ‘Daddy, what color are you? What color is mom? Well, what color am I?’ It killed me because my daughter didn’t know her identity because her father wasn’t in her life. And that’s what I look at going on in society today. People do not know their identity because they’re not in their father’s life.”
It was after that, when he overdosed and was taken to the hospital, that he had his come to Jesus moment. Describing being in the bed and pretending to be asleep, waiting for a chance to escape because he wasn’t handcuffed, he said, “So the minute the police officer left to help some of the nurses with another guy that came in real belligerent that was intoxicated, as soon as I seen him move, I jumped up. I ripped the IVs from my arm, and I broke out running. I made it through one door, but the other door, they have to buzz you out. And it brings me to the scripture that God will close doors no man can open and open doors that no man can close, and I thank God for that closed door because I needed to get caught.”
It was then that he found God and slowly started turning his life around and toward God. Describing that new mission in life, he quoted John 1:1 and said, “The Bible says: ‘In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ This is my life, my story, so I have to tell it. I have to share it, and if God could do this in my life, what could He do in your life?”
Watch him here: