Sons Of Anarchy Creator Takes Us Inside Outlaw Empires

Kurt Sutter has already brought us four (soon to be five) seasons of badass bikers doing badass things on FX's Sons Of Anarchy, but now he plans to introduce us to some not so fictional American outlaws. EW.com reports that Sutter is teaming with the Discovery Channel on a new unscripted series about the biggest and toughest gangs and criminal organizations in the history of the U.S., entitled Outlaw Empires.

Each episode will spotlight a different criminal group, and will include interviews with "current and former members, some of whom are in hiding". Sutter says that the tales these guys tell "make Sons of Anarchy look like Sesame Street." Already on the schedule to be profiled are the Crips street gang, the Irish Mob, the Aryan Brotherhood, a latino crime syndicate, and of course, a group of badass outlaw bikers.

The show will go the uncoventional route of presenting events through the lens of the criminals who lived them and not through the view of law enforcement. About why he chose to go this route, Sutter said the following - “I’ve made a career writing about fictitious anti-heroes. To create these worlds, I’ve spent a lot of time with active members on both sides of the law. And if I had to pick the most interesting of the two, the choice is obvious — we all love the guys in black. It’s not so much about justifying bad behavior, but to hear it from the inside out instead of from a distant law enforcement social judgement call. As a storyteller, I listen to this stuff and think: ‘I couldn’t pitch this, nobody would believe it,’” Sutter said. “For me, it was about getting inside the head of these people and understanding what drew them to this life. What’s important is to get at the humanity of it all.”

Does Kurt Sutter's first foray into non-fiction programming interest you? Or is the world of organized crime already explored enough on TV?