Menudo Band Member Made Explosive Allegations About Jose Menendez: Report

Jose Menendez, the father of convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez, was described as “one of the entertainment industry’s fastest-rising executives,” in a profile story in the Los Angeles Times.

Two recent streaming shows highlighted the case. In Peacock’s docuseries “Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” a band member named Roy Rosselló accused Jose Menendez of sexually abusing him, Variety reported. Jose was an RCA executive, according to Variety.

Rossello’s accusation corroboration the brothers’ long-standing story that they murdered Jose and their mother because of severe and longstanding abuse by Jose Menendez. The Menendez brothers were also the subject of a 2024 Netflix series on the case.

On October 24, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced in a news conference that he is going to recommend that a court resentence the brothers on October 25 to a charge that allows them to be considered for parole immediately.

According to court records filed by the brothers, Erik and Lyle Menendez “shot and killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989. The theory of the prosecution supporting charges of murder was that these killings were motivated by greed and the brothers’ desire to acquire by early inheritance their parents’ considerable wealth.”

Here’s what you need to know about Jose Menendez:

1. Roy Rossello Says He Was Abused in the Menendenz Family’s Home in New Jersey, Reports Say

According to Variety, Menudo was a boy band created in 1977 by Edgardo Diaz that was sometimes described as a “young Latin Beatles.” Ricky Martin was among the artists who got their start with Menudo, Variety reported.

Diaz was accused of sexual abuse – claims he denies – as far back as 1991, according to Variety.

Rosselló “joined Menudo in 1983 when he was 13 years old,” Variety reported, adding Rosselló “alleges he was drugged and raped by José Menéndez in the Menéndez family’s New Jersey home” in 1984.

The Menendez brothers spoke out in the docuseries, saying they remembered Menudo members showing up at their home.

“I remember [my father] taking one of the kids, saying he wanted to talk to them alone, and they went off into the house upstairs,” Erik said in that docuseries.

At RCA, Jose Menendez “signed and worked with bands like Duran Duran, The Eurythmics, and Puerto Rican boy band Menudo,” TODAY reported, citing the book “The Menendez Murders.”

2. Jose Menendez Was a Cuban Immigrant Lived in an Attic in Pennsylvania as a Teen, a Report Says

According to The Times, Jose was “a 45-year-old Cuban immigrant who ran a Van Nuys video company.”

Jose was “the child of well-to-do business people and star athletes,” who was sent to America at age 16 and lived “in the attic of a cousin’s house in Hazelton,” Pennsylvania, according to The Times.

The Times added that he was a “star swimmer” in high school. According to the Times, Jose worked for an accounting firm in New York and then as a comptroller in Illinois before working for RCA as its chief operating officer, starting in 1980.

3. Jose Menendez Was described as a ‘Larger Than Life Character,’ the Report Says

The Times described Jose Menendez as “a larger-than-life character who possessed great charm and intense drive. He was in command of every situation, arrived first at every conclusion, and out-hustled every competitor. He also exercised great power over his household and hammered into his sons the ethic of success and achievement.”

According to The Times, he tried to mold his sons into tennis stars.

“My father suffered from being a perfectionist,” Lyle told The Times. “It carried over into his home life, and it was sometimes difficult for Erik and me. So much so that he really couldn’t do something well enough. It wore on him tremendously mentally. And it wore on us.”

4. The Brothers Accused Jose Menendez of Years of Abuse, Court Records Show

The documents continued: “However, after abandoning a story cooked-up for police investigators that the Mafia had killed
their parents, Erik and Lyle claimed at trial that the killings were the result of years of physical, sexual, and psychological
abuse, and thus not murder, but only manslaughter.”

The court documents say that Erik “testified that a few days before the murders, Jose told Erik that Erik would be required to spend several nights a week at home while attending college at UCLA. This, Erik testified, shattered his dream of going away to college and ‘getting away from [his] father.’”

“Erik testified also that five days before the murders, as a result of this news from his father, Erik told Lyle, who was home from the East Coast for the summer, that their father had been sexually abusing Erik for years,” the court documents say.

On August 15, 1989, Lyle “allegedly confronted Jose about the abuse while Erik was out of the house. Lyle recounted the
confrontation to Erik, who testified Lyle told him that Jose said ‘Go to Princeton, forget the conversation ever happened,
and just not ruin his [Lyle’s] life over this, don’t get involved over this.’”

5. Jose Menendez Built a $15 Million Fortune & Lived in Elton John’s Former Home

Menendez, his wife Kitty, and their two kids Lyle and Erik lived in a $5 million “Spanish-style mansion, once home to Elton John and Michael Jackson,” The Times wrote in 1990, adding that Kitty Menendez was a former beauty queen. Their estate was worth $15 million, according to the article.

However, TODAY reported that Lyle testified that his father “molested him from age 6 to age 8,” and that he told his mother he was worried that his brother was being abused.

Erik testified that Jose “started abusing him when he was 6 years old and that the abuse continued until shortly before the shooting,” TODAY reported.

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