The Ñeta Association (Spanish language Asociación Ñeta, or simply Ñeta) is the name of a Puerto Rican gang that began in the Puerto Rico prison system and spread to the United States. Although Puerto Rico has hundreds of small street gangs claiming its poorer neighborhoods, Ñetas is by far the largest and most dominant, controlling the illegal drug trade on the island. The gang claims about 40,000 members in Puerto Rico, 20,000 in the United States & nearly 30,000 in other parts of the world.

The Ñeta Association was founded by a man by the name of Carlos Torres Irriarte, also known to others as "La Sombra" ("The Shadow"). It began in the late 1970s when several pro-independence political prisoners were incarcerated in the Maximum Security Prison called Oso Blanco located in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He professed to believing that the rights of inmates were being violated by prison officials and vicious gangs. They formed as a mutual protection group in the late 70's, ostensibly to improve living conditions that were being violated by guards and other inmates and defend themselves against another prison gang called "G'27" ("Group 27"), or the "Insects" ("Insectos"). The G27s called the ñetas "Worms" ("Gusanos")