Customer Reviews

American Gangster - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

american gangster gives you the insight of real american gangsters i highly recommend to anyone who likes gangster movies..

I can't wait for the next season to be available. This series features interesting and poignant, yet tragic stories of the great rise and fall of African American gangsters. These cautionary tales are entertaining, educational, funny, shocking, and sad all at the same time. American Gangster is a great new perspective on the bastardized American Dream that so many African American males fall prey to. Check it out, you won't be disappointed...and as Fat Albert used to say, you might learn something along the way! 5 stars!

without a doubt this is the most important Program of Original concept and material that BET has put on there network in a long time where i gotta watch every episode every wednesday. so many compelling figures that are featured. all of the stories and Men that have been Profiled have a interesting story. there is a balance on each story told.

Ving Rhames is the modern day James Earl Jones/Morgan Freeman on the Narrative side. very detailed and compelling.

The first season of BET's American Gangster was like that- Fat Cat, Freeway Rick Ross, The Chambers Brothers- they took a look at the biggest inner-city drug dealers ever. The ones who the rappers have been rapping about. If you liked this check out the Street Legends series from Gorilla Convict Publications.

American Gangster - First Season - at first glance may suggest a
repetition of content with the relatively large number of other
underworld documentaries, the only difference being much unique
material for the most part, explained from the series being
created, broadcast and intended for BET cable TV.

Each episode is 40 minutes, well edited with a decent audio
accompaniment. The historical narrative is sufficient, and the story
is backed up by direct face to face witnesses about events from days
gone by. Unlike some other series, there are no academicians or
historians, replaced instead with the versions of law enforcement
officers of the time and major public figures.

In the episode concerning South Central LA, the 1970's and 1980's
and Rick "Freeway" Ross, the entire controversy of CIA involvement
in the narcotics for cash for the Nicaragua Contra's is gone over
one more time. The CIA's asset and connection in the USA, Danilo
Blandone, orchestrated the import of cocaine from Colombia's
Medellin cartel, at disguised or CIA paid aerodromes, about the
length and size of a soccer field around many locations in South
USA. For the uninformed, Congress had cut off funding for USA
supported rebels attempting to overthrow the Nicaraguan Marxist
government, and so it is said, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North,
POTUS Ronald Reagan, VP GHW Bush, William J. Casey, Admiral John
Poindexter and others were said in the papers to either have
knowledge or went along with the operations at the time.

The footage of the series works well in accompanying the narrative,
albeit extremely selective in avoiding any offensive or
controversial content.

We hear that Ricky Ross was a charismatic yet bizarre choice for the
boss position in the organization, considering illiteracy, lack of
sophistication in clothes, lifestyle, and familiarity with taxes,
in the use of military equipment (rocket launchers, UZI, AK-47,
etc.) Despite all those shortcomings, Ross surrounded himself with
people who had all those skills, perhaps under suggestion of
Blandone. Admittedly, nobody could be jealous of the profits he made
and how he spent it as the paper he made didn't seem to go to his
head.

The impact of a $25 piece of crack was immense in the community,
with sales of 100 kg worth $2 million per week. The devastation and
epidemic in Los Angeles was stunning ... 90,000 homeless people
began living in cardboard boxes on the streets, destroyed
emotionally and physically from substance abuse.

The CIA and Blandone, were hawks in maintaining their market share
by offering quantities and prices to dealers and consumers that no
other gang could beat, to the point that Ross was gave away $1 and
$5 bills and coins as "garbage" to cohorts, keeping only the big
bills ($20, $100, $1000 and above) for his money counting machines.

From a DEA standpoint (who had taken its marching orders from the
CIA in El Salvador operations and Colombia), and local police, the
chaos still required a public reaction, such as with APC's carrying
battering rams to knock down fortified rock-houses which were
dealer locations), all the while a number of UHF, VHF and radio
scanners were handed over to Ross, to monitor police frequencies.

Ross invested in motels, auto parts dealers and threw parties in the
community to gain a notoriety and acceptance, all the while
strawberries traded tricks for crack, and sentences were made more
severage in face of the calamity. Today, Blandone is under the
witness protection program, while Ross is serving his sentence.

OK, I know the title sounds like a total paradox. After all, gangsters are murderous thugs who ruin lives and destroy communities. However, "American Gangster" does a great job at looking at all aspects of these people, as well as raising questions about the circumstances of their take-downs. The Freeway Ricky Ross is probably the best episode, as it demonstrates how the CIA allowed the Central and South American cartels to distribute crack into the inner city (in other words, the conspiracy theories are largely true about crack). I looked up a lot of the stuff that was in that episode, and apparently American Gangster did its homework because virtually everything stated in this episode was backed up by internal CIA memos and the late Gary Webb's excellent expose. However, all the episodes are excellent, and the show brings to light gangsters I never knew existed (the Chambers Brothers, et al). Ving Rhames may not be Morgan Freeman, but he is an excellent narrator and really sets the tone. Overall, BET did an excellent job telling the story of these gangsters without either over-villianizing them or overly-glorifying them (never thought I'd ever say something positive about BET).

Not only do you get a real look into the lives of mostly high profile drug dealers and those people and large communities (often metropolitan cities) affected by the drug dealers' actions, you also get an look at the corruption within the United States government, FBI, CIA, and other government divisions which is far too often kept under the radar by the mainstream media. It is very sad to know how corrupt the government is, how free speech within the United States media is just an illusion (you'll notice a reoccurring true life theme of how those journalists who exposed government corruption were always blackballed in their media careers and harassed by the government), AND have a close up into what some people would do to their own neighborhoods and families for money.

Not only do I highly recommend both the 1st and 2nd season DVDs but I would want every single American to view it. I WOULD REALLY URGE PARENTS TO VIEW THESE DVDs WITH THEIR CHILDREN (probably ages 13-17). These documentaries are that important!

In addition to being an excellent educational tool both DVDs are intense, thrilling, and easily kept the attention of myself and my friends. It is worth every penny of its price!

I purchased this set for my partner for Christmas because we has watched it on BET and it was EXCELLENT!!!!!!! It was well worth the price and I even received it before christmas...

my husband loved it he has season 2 and he really liked the first season as well

Great educational peace of work, I find this to be interesting as well as entertaining