Bands Disavow
Cleveland’s Castro

A touring act called Grupo Fuego had a short and unfortunate tie-in to the recent Cleveland abduction story.

Ariel Castro, the main suspect accused of abducting three women that escaped his house May 8 to national attention, was a bass guitar player who played with various Cleveland-based Latin music bands. For instance, Castro played off and on with Grupo Kanon for 15 years, according to the city’s Plain Dealer, and filled in for Grupo Fuego a few times.

“The only thing I remember about him was that he was always late to practice,” Grupo Fuego manager Miguel Quinones told the paper, adding that the band never practiced at Castro’s house, which reportedly doubled as a prison for the three women.

“The band rehearsed at the musical director’s spot,” Quinonez said. “We stopped working with Castro because he was always late.”