Reported to be a “slave king” in colonial Connecticut and perhaps even a descendant of African royalty, Pero spent much of his life enslaved in Brooklyn, CT, by members of the Malbone family. At one time one of the wealthiest families in Newport with extensive properties in Connecticut and Virginia as well as Rhode Island, the Malbones made and subsequently lost an immense fortune through privateering and the Triangle Trade. Among the dozens of men, women, and children of African descent they are reported to have transported to American shores on their fleet of ships was a man identified in records as Pero (and sometimes as Piero and Old Pero).