American Gangster is the story of Frank Lucas and Leroy "Nicky" Barnes - their rise from street punks to the top of New York's 1970's high-flying drug market. The two men were considered the drug czars of Harlem at the height of the drug-fueled decade. Lucas and his gang "The Country Boys" claim to have smuggled heroin from Asia in the caskets of fallen American soldiers. Barnes, the leader of a cartel of African-American drug dealers called "The Council," made the cover of New York Times Magazine. The headline read "Mr. Untouchable." President Carter was so incensed, he personally ordered the Attorney General to go after him. The story is a violent, action-filled chronicle of Harlem and its kingpins.
In 2003, the body of a pregnant, teenaged informant was found along the banks of the bucolic Shenandoah River. She'd been repeatedly stabbed - her head nearly severed. Brenda Paz had been supplying the authorities with first-hand accounts of MS-13's operations. Paz had been one of 3,000 MS-13 members in the Washington, DC area. The increasingly violent and fast-growing gang operates from the sleepy, middle-class suburbs ringing the city.
Five bodies, riddled with bullets, found in a small apartment on the East Side of Los Angeles. Among the dead are a five-year-old boy and an infant girl, each shot in the head and chest. The mother and father of the children lay beside them on the floor, also soaked in blood. The target of the hit was the family's patriarch, Anthony "Dido" Moreno. He had dropped out of one of California's most notorious prison gangs and this was his payback. No witnesses, was the order. The gang he deserted was the Mexican Mafia. Since it's inception in the 1950's the "Black Hand" has been the prison system's most active shot-callers, controlling thousands of "foot soldiers" on the streets of Southern California. Most laws enforcement officials estimate that 300 homicides per year in LA County have some connection to the Mexican Mafia.
The Hells Angels are the most powerful and well-known biker club on the planet, boasting over 2500 members worldwide. In April 2002, a riot in a Nevada casino between the Hells Angels and their rivals, the Mongols, kills three gang members and creates headlines around the country. Federal authorities seize the opportunity and send a team of undercover agents to infiltrate the outlaw biker group. Along the way, they uncover a world of sex, rampant drug use, and vicious violence - employed to ensure the Hells Angel's place at the top of the biker world.
Home to 900 street gangs and over 80,000 gang members, the city of Los Angeles has the dubious title of "Gang Capital of the World." Territory means power and every gang in LA wants to expand their neighborhood boundaries by any means necessary. Since the 1990's, an ugly new development has surfaced in the gang wars of LA: Gangs are dividing by race. In neighborhoods such as Harbor Gateway, Highland Park, and Firestone, Hispanic gang members are targeting black civilians in an attempt to keep their territory free of the rival race.
King Lil Man," was found decapitated, dismembered, and burned in a bathtub. His Latin King's tattoo had been cut from his skin, his head and hands were never found. According to former Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Zabel, his murderers, fellow Latin King gang members, were "...actually driving around town in a cab with his head because "King Blood," their leader, needed proof of the murder." By the mid-1990's, the New York chapter of the Latin Kings had grown into the most violent and largest street gang every seen in the city. Lead by the murderous "King Blood," they left a path of mayhem that was only brought to an end by "Blood's" 18 guilty verdicts - eight of them for murder. His conviction was largely based on the 20,000 plus letters he wrote detailing the crimes the New York Latin Kings were perpetuating.
Graffiti reading: "Terror Town," "Cold Stone Soldier" and "Stones Run It" litters Chicago's Southside neighborhoods. It's the work of BPS, Chicago's second largest street gang. The gang has a long and colorful history with their founder - Jeff Fort - convicted in 1987 of plotting to carry out terrorist acts against the US government with the support of Libyan government. The FBI classified the group as a "terrorist threat," in the wake of 9/11.
Called the "shock troops" of the revolution, Skinheads form a particularly brutal element of the white supremacist movement. Violent hate-crimes are their method of intimidation and a preview of the race war they see as inevitable. It's a culture driven by the violent lyrics of racist rock, and fueled by hate.
Gangs have been in existence for as long as there have been humans. Daryl Gates, former Los Angeles Chief of Police suggests that there is something about human nature that draws many toward gangs-- the need for respect, security and acceptance. It makes little difference whether the country is totalitarian or democratic, whether the time is feudal or current.
Nuestra Familia. As the predominant Hispanic gang in Northern California, Nuestra Familia, or NF is primarily a prison gang. Compared to other prison gangs, NF's numbers on the inside are relatively small, yet they distinguish themselves through discipline and fear. They have adopted the battle cry "blood in, blood out," and made their rules official, scribing a 50-page constitution laying out their bylaws. Among them, "an automatic death sentence will be put on family member that turns traitor, coward or deserter. " NF also have tens of thousands of loyal followers on the streets known as Nortenos or Northerners. The main rival of NF has always been the Mexican Mafia, with their followers being the Surenos or Southerners.
"Basic Training" takes an inside look at the infiltration of street gangs into the United States military. Gang members in uniform are participating in serious criminal activity on or near U.S. military installations around the world. Our national security may be at risk as these gang members steal advanced weaponry, learn military tactics, distribute drugs and even commit murder.
During the late 1990's, the New York Metropolitan area was plagued by the random violence of a new breed of street gang: The United Blood Nation. Created in 1993 by Rikers Island inmate, Omar Portee, the UBN emulated the Bloods street gang on the West Coast, but was more randomly violent. Portee formed the UBN in an effort to unite the African-American prisoners against Hispanic gangs like the Latin Kings. Better known as "OG Mack," Portee led the UBN from behind prison walls, and eventually on the streets of New York. By the mid 1990's, like an epidemic, the Bloods had taken over the tri-state area, which had historically belonged to the Latin Kings. By the year 2000, the Bloods were the most violent gang on the East Coast- and OG-Mack became known as the Godfather of the East Coast Bloods.
Gangland takes a look at the Drugs and Prostitution rackets run by MS-13.
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