Franky and Alex Venegas have lived a lot of life, but the Island Boys are much younger than many people realize. They were born in July 2001, which means that they were not even of legal drinking age when they shot to notoriety. The brothers were raised by their mother in West Palm Beach, Florida, but little is known about her aside from the fact that she is from Cuba and worked a lot, which allowed the boys to get into plenty of trouble. The Island Boys’ father was also Cuban, and despite being born stateside, the brothers have remained very connected to their heritage and culture.
The Venegas brothers lost their father, whose name is unknown, when they were only 6 years old. He reportedly died of a heart attack, after which their mom took on the challenge of raising twin sons on her own. The Island Boys have said that their dad’s absence is one of the reasons why they went down the wrong path. “We didn’t follow no rules. We wasn’t listening to nobody. We didn’t have a father figure growing up, so we was out here wildin’ and stuff,” Franky said on the No Jumper podcast. Alex and Franky continued, “The police back in our city, they knew that our mom couldn’t control us … she did everything she could but we was out of control.”
Since becoming famous, the brothers have taken care of their mother. In a 2023 TikTok video, Alex said he bought his mom an apartment and a car, and shared he was even giving her $10,000 to start her own business.
