Ross Kemp (pictured, right) returns with a fresh run of his Bafta-winning series, investigating brutal gangs who terrorise their communities. In tonight's opener, he focuses on gangs in Los Angeles.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, describes his city as the "gang capital of the world". In January 2007 he stated "Los Angeles is the epicentre of the nation's gang crisis. An effective assault on gang crime will require increased suppression, intervention and prevention measures."
The mayor's views were backed up by the city's Chiefs of Police at their summit earlier this year. The summit was told that in the last ten years, more than 5,800 people have died in gang violence, compared to 500 people in natural disasters.
Why is the city, home to more than 700 gangs, such a hot spot for gang violence? Kemp travels to LA to find out.
For nearly three decades, LA's gang scene was dominated by the Crips and Bloods. The biggest black gangs in the US, they fought a bitter turf war. Hispanic gangs rarely engaged in conflict with the black gangs. But something changed in the early 1990s. A massive upsurge in illegal migration across the Mexican border meant that by 2004 Latinos had become the largest minority in the US.
Today the highest rate of gang murders in LA are all in areas shared by blacks and Hispanics. Many in the black community claim to be victims of a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Hispanic gangs. The Hispanics appear to be in the ascendant. More organised than the Bloods and Crips, the Latino gangs are allegedly acting on direct orders from the Mexican mafia prison gang, to cleanse their neighbourhoods of African-American gang and non-gang members.
Kemp arrives in the midst of a turf war, pitching the Crips and Bloods against the Latino gangs. He discovers extreme racism between the Latino and black gangs. Latino gangs openly express their hatred towards the blacks. His journey leads him to Joker, a key member of the Latino "Sureno" or Southside, who control and operate in an area in LA called Riverside. He discovers that the Latino gangs are controlled by a mafia called La Eme, otherwise known as the Mexican mafia. He meets with an ex-associate of La Eme who explains that they work in a military fashion with a hierarchy of control.
Kemp travels to Kern Valley State Prison where he is shown the horrific and bloody violence metered out by gang members on each other for refusing to obey orders. He is also shown how those who run La Eme get their orders out to the street gangs.
Finally, Kemp is invited back to Riverside by Joker. Here he witnesses a Latino gang tradition, a "jumping in" ceremony whereby young recruits, some as young as 13, are baptised into the gang.
"I watched a 13-year-old being 'jumped in' to a gang," says Kemp. "Noah was a lovely kid. It's sad because he's a gangster now and he'll probably end up either having a short life or spending most of it in prison."
"If you want to talk about scary people I've met, Joker is definitely in the top five. I don't condone his actions at all, but I enjoyed his company."
I watched the gangs programme on Bulgaria and can honestly say that this is not the country I have seen. My wife and I spent 20 days in August touring Bulgaria in a hire car. We started in Sofia which I must admit was a little intimidating like London, New York or any other major city. Everywhere else we visited we were made very welcome. The country is poor but the History, Countryside and people stand out against many other European Countries. In the towns the young people have an amazing sense of style. Ross, I think you owe it to all Bulgarians to restore a balanced view of this wonderful country. First have a look at some of the photos I took at http://the-wallace.family-photos.net/ click on holidays then Alan and Margaret then send me a mail with an idea of how much your production company wants to spend 10 days shooting in Bulgaria including your fee for presenting it. I will raise the money to pay for it.
alan@internet-matters.net
September 19th - 5:35pmRyon said...
I don't understand how Mr. Kemp could've done this and be satisfied with himself. It is one-sided and the statistics he gave are completely false. Look at his source. He wants people to believe that our beautiful country is a war infested land run by gangs and violence. Did Mr. Kemp interview anyone not gang or police related who could have given him a perspective of what was happening? Did he try to interview any head official in government? Did he even ask if there were any programmes in place or anything being done to try to minimize gang violence in Belize? If Mr. Kemp's intention was to stomp Belize into the ground as one of the worse countries to be in, then he should be proud that he got through to those, like himself, who do not know any better. There isn't a country on this planet which does not have it's share of violence or gang affiliated activities, but there are also the good people and law enforcement officials who do their best to keep it under control. I was very appalled that someone could even come into our country and be able to get away with advertising this misleading crap to an international audience. And those Belizeans who have no Belizean Pride or sense of patriotism should be ashamed in aiding this foreigner in compiling such a biased and non-factual documentary. I guess the payoffs and television exposure was too sweet to resist; but attempting to give an overly exaggerated and false representation of Belize is pass the mark. At any rate, I suggest that audiences do the research for themselves and find out what's REALLY going on. Don't take Kemp's version at face value. GET YOUR FACTS AND STATS IN ORDER KEMP. A DOCUMENTARY SHOULD BE ABOUT FACTS AND REALITY, NOT A HYPED UP TELEVISION SHOW WHICH JUST WANTS A RATINGS BOOST.
September 19th - 4:34amMarco said...
Mr. Kemp: The film you had made about Belize's crime and gang violence is so not true. You never gotten your fact together and many of the facts and comments you made in the film are false. More over you have twisted the words of one of the person you were interview on film to totally opposite of what he was saying to suit your need of the film to portrait that Belize is such a crime and gang violence infested country. Yes we do have crime and gang exits in our country. Can you find me a country that does not have such problem? The good and the bad always exits in any society. As where you came from UK, I am sure there is gang violence, but everyone still lives their life according to their needs. But you have portrait the film only by your standard and for your need to make the negative more negative. It is not fair to us as a country. I understand that the films and series you have made is about gangs but then you are not doing us justice. More over you have misled the viewers and audiences that the country is such crime infested. You have no idea how much freedom this country has to offer and compare to where you are from. You have no idea of the daily life in Belize. I have agree to Belizean Pride said about you, cause really it is a dis-respect to our country and to our people. And you as just like your ancestors, come here and rip us off. You can sleep in the nights peacefully but you have no idea when your film has air, it has affected us tremendously,and the effect will keep on going further. You have no idea what you have done to us as a country and people of Belize. If there was a possible warning of knowing you were filming in Belize, I am sure all the Belizean will be voting against it. YOU must have paid off lots of people to make these interviews and fake information.
September 18th - 8:22pmFrance Westby said...
What Mr. Kemp has done major injustice to Belize in presenting such documentary. There is a lot of beautiful things about Belize and it is not a fact that 98 % of the crime are not gang affiliated. reporters like Mr. Kemp are vultures and in doing this, this documentary does a great injustice to our developing nation. As there are many positive thing coming out of the gang movements and the programs available to youths which was not highlighted. Moreover, Britain has raped our country of its natural resource and continues to do so with vultures like Michael Ashcoft and Mr. Kemp. You are certainly not welcome to Belize !!!!!!!!!!
September 17th - 10:44pmBelizean Pride said...
GET YOU FACTS TOGETHER A** H****!! YOU NEEDED A TOUR GUIDE TO TEACH YOU ABOUT THE MESS THAT YOUR COUNTRY DID TO BELIZE. DESPITE THAT BELIZE IS STILL TODAY A MEMBER OF THE COMMON WEALTH COUNTRIES. READ AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND GEOLOGY, HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY BEFORE YOU WRITE WHAT YOU HAD JUST POSTED. I HOPE THE MONEY YOU MAKE ON THIS BOOK/VIDEO, WOULD MAKE YOU LIVE A LITTLE LONGER. I DON’T THINK THAT YOU MADE ENOUGH RESEARCH BEFORE YOU WONDER AROUND THE STREETS OF BELIZE. YOU HAD TO BRIBE SOMEONE TO GET SUCH VIDEO CLIP, WHY DON’T YOU TURN IN ALL THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE WHO YOU GOT INVOLVED IN THIS CLIP SO THAT WE CAN START TO TAKE CARE OF THIS MESS!! A S S H O L E!!
September 17th - 9:21pmPAUL BROWNE said...
when politicians decided to let romaina & bulgaria into the into the E.U they never done any research into the poverty of these counties U.K to them is like a fat cow bursting with milk,they will kill to get here and you better get in there way,there should be a investigation to hold the both E.U and british politicians accountable for this gross miss conduct, it will get worse.Britain is fastly becoming the crime prostitute of europe. and we just let it continue.
(3 Star)
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