Gangland: The Complete Season One

The History Channel's Gangland turns a steely-eyed gaze on organized criminal enterprises from the 1970s to the present in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago (the “murder capital of the United States”), as well as less obvious outposts, such as Portland, OR and Northern Virginia. “American Gangster,” the first installment in this 13-episode 2007 first season, shares its title and subject with Ridley Scott's 2007 Oscar-nominated feature film, focusing on Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington in the movie). Interviewees include gang members and leaders (Lucas himself and Nicky “Mr. Untouchable” Barnes), DEA agents, authors, and narcotics squad operatives. “Code of Conduct,” which takes on Southern California's prison-spawned Mexican Mafia, also shares a link with Hollywood through Edward James Olmos American Me (1992): sticklers for loyalty, the MM murdered all three consultants on the film. Each episode revolves around a particularly heinous crime (in most cases, innocents are targeted or former members, since gangs tend to treat defectors as harshly as informers) perpetrated by the profiled outfit, which include MS-13 (“You Rat, You Die”), Crips and Bloods (“Race War”), Black P. Stones (“Stone to the Bone”), Hammerskins (“Hate Nation”), La Nuestra Familia (“Blood In, Blood Out”), and the Hell's Angels (“Behind Enemy Lines”). As an ATF agent who infiltrated the infamous biker club predicts, “They will never vanish. They will only get bigger and stronger.” Presented with a well-earned viewer discretion warning due to descriptions of violent acts and crime scene photographs, DVD extras on this four-disc set include deleted scenes. Recommended. [Note: Gangland: The Complete Season Two will be released Dec. 16.] (K. Fennessy)