Jackson and his mother are hiding out from the mob after his mom witnessed a crime in the casino where she worked as a singer. Things seem to be going well until Jackson's girlfriend, Esmerelda, disappears. Jackson knows the mob is involved and it's up to him to rescue Esmerelda.
Twelve-year-old Tito, while helping to care for his little sister, struggles to find his way during the aftermath of his brother's death in a gang-related shooting.
Tells the stories of some of history's most notorious gangsters, including James "Big Jim" Colosimo, Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, Ma Barker, and others.
Presents a sampling of interviews with gang members. Portrays a sometimes shocking and sometimes heartening picture of the young men and women who live on the edge of poverty and violence.
Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating.
When fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs is told that he is really a foster child, he runs off into the streets of Harlem and meets up with a gang that wants him to participate in a mugging.
When he returns to Illinois and the gang culture on the south side of Fairfield after six years in Colorado, high school senior Luis Fuentes, who dreams of becoming an astronaut, falls for a girl and enters a dark world after learning some disturbing news about his family.
When she drops out of school and struggles to start a career on Broadway in the fall of 1950, seventeen-year-old Kit Corrigan accepts help from an old family friend, a lawyer said to have ties with the mob, who then asks her to do some favors for him.
When wealthy, seemingly perfect Brittany and Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, develop a relationship after Alex discovers that Brittany is not exactly who she seems to be, they must face the disapproval of their schoolmates--and others.
