Season Finale Of BET's Hit Show 'AMERICAN GANGSTER' Airs Tuesday, January 9

Season Finale Of BET's Hit Show 'AMERICAN GANGSTER' Airs Tuesday, January 9

Complete First Season Marathon To Air On Sunday, January 14

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, January 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, BET will air the season finale of its hit show, AMERICAN GANGSTER. The sixth episode in the provocative biography series chronicles the life and crimes of Detroit's Chambers Brothers. The entire first season of AMERICAN GANGSTER, which explored the legal and cultural impact of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Leroy "Nicky" Barnes, "Freeway Ricky" Ross, Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols, Troy and Dino Smith and the Chambers Brothers, can be seen on Sunday, January 14 from 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Season one of AMERICAN GANGSTER concludes with an investigation into the crimes of the Chambers Brothers -- four brothers from Arkansas, the sons of sharecroppers, who grew up to become some of the most notorious drug lords in America. In the 80s, Billy Joe, Willie, Larry and Otis Chambers were running a crack enterprise that netted them more than $50 million a year in Detroit. Although crack houses were popular, the brothers considered them to be an organizational nightmare and created a crack superstore by taking over an occupied apartment building, where crack heads could buy and use. They were flying high until Larry's ego got the best of him and he began videotaping drug deals. His home movies were found during a raid of his home and the brothers were convicted in 1988. According to urban legend, many elements of the Chambers' operation influenced the 80's hit film "New Jack City."

AMERICAN GANGSTER debuted on BET on Tuesday, November 28. The premiere episode profiled LA's infamous Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams and earned a 1.6 rating (1.3 million households and 1.6 million total viewers), according to Nielsen Media Research. And, it became 4th Quarter's #1 Original Series telecast in BET history. Helping fuel BET's best year ever, American Gangster is now the #1 Original Series in BET History (1.3 rating).

AMERICAN GANGSTER is executive produced by Nelson George and Frank Sinton (Asylum Entertainment), along with Mark Rowland and BET. The series is narrated by award-winning film star Ving Rhames.

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 84 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of businesses extensions: BET.com, the Number 1 Internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks -- BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, a service venture into the lucrative world of ring tones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET network programming for global distribution.

Source: BET Networks

CONTACT: Tosha Whitten-Griggs, +1-818-655-6712,
Tosha.whitten-griggs@bet.net, or Zabrina Horton, +1-818-655-6737,
Zabrina.horton@bet.net, both of BET; Mariah O'Hara, BWR Public Relations,
+1-310-248-6177, mohara@bwr-la.com

Web site: http://www.bet.com/

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