What you should know about José Menendez, the father of the Menendez brothers

José emigrated from Cuba as a teenager

José Menendez was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1944. According to crime researcher and author Rachel Pergament, his father was a soccer player who owned an accounting firm, while his mother was a star swimmer and a member of the country’s Sports Hall of Fame. He had two older sisters, Terry and Marta.

In Cuba, José was spoiled by his mother and developed a reputation as a troublemaker. “He was the only boy and his mother idolized him and emphasized his machismo and masculine image, so much so that he became a little tyrant,” said Alicia Hercz, a neighbor of the family. 20/20“He became a little monster for his parents. It was hard to keep him under control.”

After Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 following the Cuban Revolution, José’s parents decided to send their son to the United States to escape the turbulent political climate. The teenager settled in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where he lived in a cousin’s attic apartment. Not speaking English, he worked hard to learn the language and maintain his grades in high school.

Like his mother, José was a strong swimmer and received an athletic scholarship to Southern Illinois University. When he was a freshman, he met a student two years older than him named Mary Louise “Kitty” Andersen. Despite his family’s objections, considering José too young, the 19-year-old married Kitty in 1963. The couple moved to New York City, where José transferred to Queens College to pursue a degree in accounting.

José and Kitty eventually had two sons. Lyle was born in January 1968 and Erik followed in November 1970.

He was a tireless worker

José now had a family to support and was more determined than ever to succeed in America. The Los Angeles TimesHe took his first job at the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand. One of his clients, Lyon’s Container Service in Illinois, was so impressed with his work that the company hired him as an auditor. Within three years, José was the company’s president.

José Menendez in 1988, one year before his assassination

At 35, he became executive vice president of the U.S. business of car rental company Hertz, a subsidiary of consumer electronics giant RCA. A year later, RCA moved José to the record division and he was eventually named chief operating officer. “His attitude was, ‘I’m a winner. I’m going to take this dog company and make it number one,'” John Mason, a consumer electronics lawyer and friend of José’s, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper. Just.

José expanded the company’s Latin music catalog and helped sign notable groups such as Duran Duran, the Eurythmics and the boy band Menudo. His success allowed him to move the family from New Jersey to California, first to the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas and then to Beverly Hills.

But alongside his relentless pursuit of success, Menendez had a tendency to flaunt his power and status. JustLyle told stories about how his father would berate employees and mistreat waiters in restaurants. “I got that from my father. They’re here to serve me,” Lyle once said, justifying his own similar behavior.

Behind the scenes, José was just as strict with his children.

José pushed Lyle and Erik to be perfect

As Lyle and Erik – both of whom were rather aloof and often kept to themselves – grew up, they showed great talent in sports such as swimming and tennis. José wanted them not only to succeed, but to be the best of all, so he coached his sons hard, perhaps too hard.

Erik won his swimming competitions easily, but José shouted at him at the edge of the pool. “José seemed so ambitious that he did everything to improve him,” said a former coach of the Just“But he was so cocky that it had the opposite effect. Erik had a lot less confidence because everything he did was never good enough.” When his two children decided to play tennis, José spent hours with them on the court behind their house near Princeton, New Jersey. They hit balls together while José shouted instructions.

His helicopter parenting extended beyond sports. José intervened when Lyle and Erik were caught committing two burglaries after the family moved to California. Erik took the blame and received probation so Lyle could continue to attend Princeton University. When Lyle was accused of plagiarism at the Ivy League university and suspended for a year, José insisted that his eldest son stay in New Jersey so he wouldn’t have to admit Lyle’s transgression to anyone, so Vanity Fair.

José also allegedly clashed with Lyle over his girlfriends, which led to a rift between them. When José and Kitty were murdered, Lyle was living in the guest house on the property and no longer in the family home.

Although it was clear that the brothers harbored some resentment toward their father, no one had anticipated the cruel mistreatment they would accuse him of after their arrest.

The Menendez brothers said José sexually abused them

On August 20, 1989, the Menendez brothers shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home. Although it was initially suspected that the murders might be connected to the Mafia or a business deal gone horribly wrong, Lyle and Erik were arrested in March 1990 and later charged with first-degree murder. The defense team argued that the brothers shot their parents in self-defense out of fear that their father would kill them if they revealed his alleged past of sexual abuse.

During Lyle and Erik’s trial before separate juries, attorney Leslie Abramson called more than a dozen family friends to corroborate their stories of emotional and sexual abuse, A&E reported. According to the JustEach of the brothers testified that José abused them – Lyle from ages 6 to 8 and Erik for about 12 years, from ages 6 to 18. Lyle also testified that his father hit him in the mouth and stomach and sometimes whipped him with a belt.

But after Lyle and Erik’s first trials failed to reach a settlement, a judge in the joint retrial ruled that the defense had not presented enough evidence of Jose’s alleged abuse. The brothers were convicted on March 21, 1996.

Since José’s death, further allegations have emerged

Although the Menendez brothers remain behind bars for life without the possibility of parole, new evidence has emerged that further supports their allegations against José.

In 2018, journalist and author Robert Rand discovered a letter that Erik had written to his cousin Andy Cano a year before the murders of José and Kitty. Erik, then 17, wrote of ongoing abuse at the hands of his father. The letter was never presented in court during the brothers’ trial. “I looked at it and thought, ‘Oh my God, this could be really important to the case,'” Rand said. The Hollywood Reporter.

Although the brothers’ allegations against their father were never proven, they came under renewed scrutiny just last year when Roy Rosselló – a former member of Menudo, the boy band that signed José – accused the late music executive of raping him at a party in the mid-1980s. Rosselló was only 14 when he said the sexual assault took place. “I know what he did to me in his house,” Rosselló said in the documentary. Menendez + Menudo: Betrayed Boys.

Although it is unclear to what extent, the Netflix synopsis for the series suggests that the brothers’ alleged abuse will play a significant role in the narrative of Monster.

Regard Monster from Thursday on Netflix

Regard Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez on Netflix from September 19th. Javier Bardem plays José Menendez alongside Chloë Sevigny as Kitty Menendez and Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as brothers Lyle and Erik.

Tyler Piccotti initially joined the Biography.com was hired as Associate News Editor in February 2023 and before that spent nearly eight years as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he’s not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, watching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.