BET’s American Gangster Series Scores #1 Rating

Narrated by actor Irving Christopher “Ving” Rhames (Baby Boy, Striptease, Kojak), “American Gangster” is a six-part docu-drama series which looks into the lives of crime ridden African American gangsters.

“American Gangster” a big hit on BET, rated as the #1 4th Quarter original series in BET network’s history and #2 series debut overall behind Lil Kim’s: Countdown to Lockdown.

Narrated by actor Irving Christopher “Ving” Rhames (Baby Boy, Striptease, Kojak), “American Gangster” is a six-part docu-drama series which looks into the lives of crime ridden African American gangsters. The project was executive produced by Nelson George and Frank Sinton (Asylum Entertainment), along with Mark Rowland and BET.

The first 60-minute series which aired on Tuesday (November 28) profiled L.A.’s Crips gang co-founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams grabbing 1.3 million households and 1.6 million total viewers according to Nielsen Media Research (Lil Kim grabbed 1.9 million viewers, 1.7 million households). The next five series will air over the month of December with the last one airing on January 2. The most recent series profiled Ricky Ross (December 5) who was a drug trafficker noted as beginning the cocaine epidemic in the U.S. during the 80’s. Ricky Ross was sentenced to life in prison which was reduced to 20 years after trying to purchase 100 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover federal agent. In 1994 Ricky Ross stated that he was making from $2 to $3 million per day selling more than one million crack rocks across the country.

Following Ricky Ross’ profile will be Lorenzo ‘Fat Cat’ Nichols (December 12), Leroy ‘Nicky’ Barnes (December 19), Troy and Dino Smith (December 26), and the Chambers Brothers (January 2). Encore episodes of “American Gangster” will air on Wednesdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.