History Channel Profiles Hidden Valley Kings

Charlotte was spotlighted last night on national television, but it was the kind of coverage that has to make the city's boosters cringe. Gangland, a riveting series on The History Channel that takes you inside violent gang culture, profiled the Hidden Valley Kings, the gang named after their northeast Charlotte neighborhood. The one-hour episode (45 minutes in the video below without commercials) could make this city look like a scary place to live. As the documentary points out, Charlotte's population has doubled in the last two decades. That kind of growth itself leads to more crime and gang activity is naturally a part of it.

It's interesting--and at the same time disturbing--to see that this kind of coordinated violence and drug activity is happening so close to home. I've followed the Hidden Valley Kings in the news a little since I've lived here and I know that police and federal task forces have arrested most of the gang's leaders. And CMPD has talked a lot about their efforts in recent years to combat gang activity in the streets and schools. Still, the problem with gangs is that they are so easily formed.