The patriarchs of the Black Mafia Family controlled one of the largest cocaine distribution gangs.

Dustin Honken was a chemist who made and sold a deadly concoction of crystal methamphetamine.

Following a deadly brawl between the Hells Angels and Mongols Motorcycle Clubs in 2002, Cavazos came to national prominence. During his reign as the Mongols' president, he expanded the club's membership by recruiting local street thugs with affiliations to the Mexican Mafia. Federal agents say Doc's aim was to take on the Hells Angels and run a massive criminal enterprise engaged in drug running, murder and intimidation. But Doc's power grab came with consequences. During his time in charge, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives infiltrated the club and piled on the evidence for a federal racketeering indictment. Many Mongols say Cavazos' hunger for fame would be his ultimate downfall and drive him to turn on his brothers.

The Harvey Hustlers, a notorious gang, dominates the streets of Harvey, La., for three decades; the gang holds a virtual monopoly over the illegal drug trade in the area and is believed to be responsible for at least 45 homicides.

Ludwig Tarzan Fainberg was a middleman between the Russian Mafiya and the Medellin Cartel in Colombia, selling Cold War vessels.

This episode profiles the rise and fall of Albert "Alpo" Martinez, dubbed the Mayor of Harlem. Alpo and two childhood friends, Azie Faison and Rich Porter, would become kings of the inner city in the mid-1980 s. But like the high itself, the cocaine brotherhood did not last. Azie narrowly escaped with his life. Rich Porter would not be so lucky. Alpo would admit to killing his old friend and 13 other murders. He s now serving hard time for his crimes.

Drug trafficker Lisette Lee is profiled.

This episode features Carlos Lehder, Medellin Cartel member and self-proclaimed Nazi. Lehder revolutionized the cocaine business by taking over an island in the Bahamas and using it as a way station between Colombia and the U.S. On Norman's Cay, the Colombian Rambo meets his match in a professor and diving enthusiast named Richard Novak who will stop at nothing to protect his paradise. Lehder is eventually run off the island and resorts to terrorizing authorities in his homeland to stay out of jail. After years on the run, he's extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to life plus 135 years. When he agrees to testify against Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, he disappears into witness protection.

Moya and his chief enforcer, Andre Paige, led a deadly narcotics and extortion racket in New York City until the law caught up with them. With a failing heart, Moya escaped conviction and was sent home to die. Authorities would soon discover that he had received a new heart on the taxpayer's dime. With a new lease on life, Moya would disappear without a trace and stir up a manhunt beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.

Griselda Blanco, "The Godmother," is suspected of scores of murders while transporting cocaine from Colombia to New York, Miami, and Southern California. On the run from the law for over ten years, Blanco was captured in 1985 in Irvine, California. Her trial ended in scandal and she was eventually deported back to Colombia.

This episode follows Anthony Shea, one of the most prolific bank and armored truck robbers, and his "no name" gang out of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Responsible for killing two armored truck guards in Hudson, New Hampshire, Shea and his gang garnered the attention of the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force in 1995. Finally captured a year later, they refused to talk, adhering to Charlestown's long running "Code of Silence." Informants would break that code and testify in court to put Shea away for life.

The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is a white supremacist gang that boasted thousands of members inside and outside of prison throughout Texas and the United States; most of the gang's violence outside of prison is inflicted upon its own members.

Head of the Montreal Mafia, Vito Rizzuto oversees a multi-million dollar international empire reportedly fueled by drug trafficking, money laundering and construction fraud; hard to take down, one act will come back to haunt the Canadian Teflon Don.

In 1986 Detroit, Demetrius Holloway rose to become one of Detroit's most notorious drug kingpins.

This episode features Dana Bostic and his Chicago gang, The New Breeds. Bostic, known as "Bird," came of age on Chicago's tough west side. He grew up slinging drugs on the corner and ended up a heroin kingpin in his hometown. With a connection to a Mexican cartel, Bostic's New Breeds would package and distribute heroin and defend their turf with violence. When the body count started to rise, Bird and the New Breeds were taken down. They are all serving significant sentences in prison.

This episode of features the case of 'Q', the Motor City connect. In the shadows of a broken city, Quasand Lewis made millions by way of a complex drug trafficking organization. At the height of 'Q's success in Detroit the Lewis Organization raked in $178 million in drug profits. Following the drugs and the money, the federal government launched "Operation Falling Star" in order to take down 'Q' and build the largest drug related prosecution in the history of the state of Michigan.

This episode explores the gangland matriarch Maria "Chata" Leon and the criminal underworld created by her murderous brood of gangbanger children. Leaders of the Drew Street Clique of the Avenues Gang, this family ruled a small pocket of Los Angeles for decades. By way of slinging crack cocaine and methamphetamine Maria Leon accrued a great amount of wealth but her status in the hood dwarfed any financial gain she could earn. With an air of invincibility, Maria Leon commanded a reign of terror in L.A. only to be brought to justice by vast federal RICO indictments and multiple military style police invasions into her neighborhood. Maria now awaits her third deportation in federal prison in California.

By connecting the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, Juan Ramon Ballesteros became one of the most powerful drug lords south of the border.

The case of Bronx gangster Clarence Heatley is examined in the second-season premiere.

Mills found his calling as the leader of the white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood. Over the course of almost two decades, federal prosecutors say Mills is responsible for at least 14 murders even though he has been in prison most of his life. In 1997, Mills and his right hand-man, Tyler Bingham, ordered their members to carry out a race war against rival prison gang, the D.C. Blacks. Immediately after the war, A.B. high-ranking member, Al Benton, provided the big break in the case when he left the A.B. behind and cooperated with the federal government. Armed with plenty of informants, prosecutors had the tools they needed to charge Mills and 39 others in one of the largest capital punishment cases in U.S. history.

This episode features the rise and fall of Johnny Eng, one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the history of Manhattan's Chinatown. A one-time informant for the DEA, "Machine Gun Johnny" thought he could snitch on all his rivals to monopolize the heroin trade on the eastern seaboard. The special task force set up by the DEA would chase Eng all the way to Hong Kong. Eventually extradited to the U.S., Eng would hire John Gotti's lawyer to defend him against a prosecutor known as "The Dragon Lady.

This episode explores the case of Luis Felipe, also known as "King Blood." From a prison cell, Felipe founded the New York chapter of the Latin Kings street gang. Felipe's own writings would incriminate him as the orchestrator of murders and crimes against his own members. He is now serving a life sentence in solitary confinement.