15 Best Gangster TV Shows Of All Time, Ranked

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The people who create television dramas sure seem to have an interest in organized crime, given how many of the best TV drams of all time revolve around the subject. The abundance of gangster series, however, can make it hard to know what shows are worth watching — that's why we've put together a handy ranking to help you choose which gangster drama to binge next.

The order here is based on two main criteria: The quality of the show in question, and its overall "gangsterness." Because of the latter, you might find some otherwise amazing series a little bit lower on the list than you'd expect, as well as a surprise or two along the way. That said, enjoy the following ranking, and leave a comment to let us know what your personal list of gangster dramas would look like.

When Gareth Evans of "The Raid: Redemption" fame co-creates a crime drama and directs several of its action sequences, you know that the show will be a visually impressive watch. His and Matt Flannery's "Gangs of London" doesn't disappoint on this front, but there's more to the show than edge-of-the-seat action. 

As the name implies, AMC+'s "Gangs of London" focuses on the various gangster factions of the Big Smoke, and the many ways they clash with each other. The eccentric and dangerous figures populating the city's criminal underbelly are serious people, locked in a struggle for control after a major assassination disrupts the area's power balance. 

Apart from its action and tension, "Gangs of London" boasts a massive cast with great performances and familiar faces across the board. Much of the action unfolds through the morally ambiguous eyes of undercover police officer Elliot Carter (Sope Dirisu, "Slow Horses"). Meanwhile, actors like Joe Cole ("Peaky Blinders") and Michelle Fairley ("Game of Thrones") play key positions in the central Wallace crime family. 

What better premise for a gangster show than an experienced capo building a new organization from the ground up? This is the central premise and main allure of Paramount+'s "Tulsa King." New York gangster Dwight Manfredi's (Sylvester Stallone) new life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, explores the "old dog, new tricks" theme as the septuagenarian protagonist imposes his will and experience on a brand new turf and crew.

Dwight is not the only gangster in Tulsa, either. As the show progresses, the sleepy town reveals itself to be a veritable hotbed of criminals, from biker gangs to Dwight's fellow mobsters. TV shows like "Tulsa King" are adept at combining fish-out-of-water antics with complex gangster plots, and Dwight's adventures in Oklahoma also add a generous dose of comedy in the mix. If you enjoy gangster shows but prefer a comparatively light touch, the critically acclaimed "Tulsa King" is worth your time. 

A gangster is ultimately nothing more or less than a member of an organized crime group. As such, biker gangs fit the definition perfectly, and the go-to quality biker crime drama out there is Kurt Sutter's "Sons of Anarchy." A seven-season study of violent and tragic men in leather vests, the FX show juggles themes of revenge, friendship, and fate in ways that suck the viewer in and deliver gut punch after gut punch until the bitter end. 

While that may sound harsh, "Sons of Anarchy" is extremely rewatchable and a great time, because its events are invariably captivating, and the cast is one for the ages. Charlie Hunnam ("Monster: The Ed Gein Story") is a perfect tragic protagonist as Jax Teller. Katey Sagal plays heavily against her "Married... with Children" history with a Golden Globe-winning turn as SAMCRO matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow, and folks from Ron Perlman ("The Magnificent Seven") to Theo Rossi ("Luke Cage") bring their biker characters to life with great effect. Oh, and if viewers are hungry for even more, there's always the "Sons of Anarchy" spin-off "Mayans M.C."  

It's hard to keep Italy out of the conversation when organized crime is mentioned. As the birthplace of the Mafia, the country knows a thing or two about gangsters ... and has made a very good drama about the subject. 

"Gomorrah" (also known by its Italian title "Gomorra – La serie") is based on Roberto Saviano's "Gomorrah," a 2006 non-fiction book about the activities of the Camorra crime organization in Naples, but it's completely unrelated to Matteo Garrone's acclaimed 2008 movie adaptation "Gomorra." Behind-the-scenes complexities aside, "Gomorrah" the show is nothing short of riveting. Its unblinking eye remains fixed on a contemporary Camorra clan's operations and internal struggles in the Naples area, giving the series an atmosphere that's unlike any other mob-adjacent show out there. "Gomorrah" has plot twists to match any of its American gangster-show cousins, making for brutal and phenomenal viewing for any longtime fan of crime dramas. The show is available to stream on HBO Max.

Surprised AMC's "Breaking Bad" isn't at the top of our list? While there's no denying that Vince Gilligan's crime drama is a sublime piece of small screen artistry, much of it focuses on people who aren't affiliated with gangs or organized crime. Walter White (Bryan Cranston) spends the majority of the first two seasons as an outsider whose main co-conspirator is the small fry Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). While they have their brushes with gangsters like Krazy-8 (Max Arciniega) and Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz), it's not until Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) enters the scene near the end of Season 2 that things start truly focusing on organized crime. 

More often than not, the show's unwavering focus is on Walt and Jesse, regardless of whether they're associating with gangsters, setting up a crime ring of their own, or simply living their lives. To them, organized crime is often a necessary evil instead of the centerpiece of their operation. 

"ZeroZeroZero" might be a comparatively short miniseries, but its eight episodes more than make up for its brevity with the sheer amount of gangster activity they include. In fact, the Prime Video show isn't really about a single criminal group at all. Its central "character" is a large shipment of cocaine that's making its way from Mexican narcos to the Italian 'Ndrangheta syndicate, with an American shipping company acting as the courier. 

The shipment unites these three groups, but their stories are all very different. "ZeroZeroZero" unfolds as three distinct flavors of gangster drama, from the violent and action-packed events in Mexico to the slick mafia tension and internal battles of the Italian narrative and the Lynwood smuggler family's ever-escalating struggle to get their illegal cargo to its destination. The end result is a multifaceted look into the lives of several different criminal factions that all push toward the same wicked goal, but could barely recognize the lives the others lead. 

Comparing "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" is challenging, given the quality of both shows. But when it comes to their focus on gangster antics, the spin-off emerges as the winner.   

AMC's "Better Call Saul" centers on two characters who have led their lives outside organized crime: Jimmy "Saul Goodman" McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). However, gangsters hover in their periphery from the very beginning. After a hustle gone wrong puts Jimmy on cartel man Tuco Salamanca's (Raymond Cruz) radar in the series premiere (titled "Uno"), organized crime is never far from the limelight. Of the show's initial main characters, Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) is already a gangster, and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the criminal underbelly. 

One by one, cartel bigwigs from Gus Fring to Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) step in the ring, until it's very difficult to think of "Better Call Saul" as anything but a gangster drama with some lawyer stuff on the side. However, since there is still a significant part of the show that focuses on legal drama and Jimmy and Kim's personal struggles, "Better Call Saul" can't land any higher on this particular list. 

From 1959 to 1963, "The Untouchables" lead Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his cast of trustworthy Prohibition agents fought gangster threats like Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) on the dangerous streets of 1930s Chicago. Stack, who entered the show as an Academy Award-nominated movie star and won an Emmy for his "The Untouchables" role in 1960, was the bona fide star of the endeavor — as well as the only onscreen talent who appeared in each of the show's 119 episodes. (Walter Winchell narrated the series for as many episodes, but didn't appear in front of the camera.) The series around him was no slouch, either, providing reliably interesting gangster stories in every episode.

A contemporary viewer might find "The Untouchables" doubly fascinating because of its stellar guest-star game. The show accumulated a treasure trove of one-episode wonders over the years, and you'll never know when folks like Louise Fletcher, Robert Redford, Joan Blondell, Leonard Nimoy, Alan Hale Jr., or Leslie Nielsen might pop up.

Netflix's "Narcos" is a look into some of the most dangerous real-life gangsters ever to exist. It starts with infamous Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), his associates and enemies, and the agents trying to put an end to his incredibly lucrative criminal empire. Later, the show shifts Pedro Pascal's DEA agent Javier Peña investigating the competing Cali Cartel. After that, fans get three seasons of "Narcos: México," which focuses on the Mexican Guadalajara Cartel and its most dangerous figures like Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna) and Rafael Caro Quintero (Tenoch Huerta). 

Full of great performances, awful crimes, terrible fates, and intimate looks into the thoughts and actions of men who ruined so many lives, "Narcos" would be utterly unbelievable if it wasn't for the fact that its subject matter is based on real life. Sure, the show takes liberties, but some of its most horrifying beats still hit way too close to real historical events for comfort. 

Martin Scorsese is the executive producer of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and directed its pilot episode. It's safe to say that the show didn't waste his seal of approval. 

The Prohibition era and gangsters are a great combination, and Terence Winter's "Boardwalk Empire" uses this to maximum effect, thanks to a couple of twists. One of them is the fact that the show takes place in Atlantic City, which allows the show to explore different storytelling avenues than the usual Chicago and New York settings for gangster epics set in this time. The other is casting Steve Buscemi as main character Nucky Thompson, who radiates a very different but no less powerful energy than physically imposing mobsters like "The Sopranos" head Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). 

Nucky's many political and criminal connections reach into virtually all aspects of 1920s New Jersey and its power players. What's more, his association with several Chicago and New York notables also allows the show to benefit from the presence of the era's well-known threats like Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham).  

Not too many years ago, the concept of Colin Farrell winning a Golden Globe and getting an Emmy nomination for playing a Batman villain in a gritty gangster drama that centers around the Penguin would have seemed like a particularly lazy round of Mad Libs. However, the actor's turn as Oswald Cobb in "The Batman" (2022) gave us a storm warning, and HBO Max's "The Penguin" (2025) realized the character's potential in an unprecedented fashion. (Sorry, Danny DeVito). 

"The Penguin" doesn't deal in capes and cowls. It focuses entirely on the evils that ordinary humans can do. Oz Cobb seems like a tragic, cheesy loser who's just trying to score a win, but every episode reveals a new layer that changes the way you view the ambitious mobster. Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone takes an equally complex path, her story balancing tragedy and malevolence as the situation requires. Around them, seasoned gangsters and rookie wannabes play their power games and, more often than not, find out just how much they have to lose. 

In many ways, "The Penguin" has it all. Virtually every major character is a gangster, and the show dives headfirst into the darkest aspects of mob villainy, tightening the screws until only the most ruthless can survive ... let alone thrive. 

Sure, David Simon's "The Wire" ostensibly could be called a police procedural or a political drama. Still, almost every aspect of the show's Baltimore is intertwined with crime and gangster activity, which forms the backbone of the series. An automatic contestant in the discussion of the best TV crime dramas of all time, "The Wire" doesn't shy away from letting the viewer know just how bad life would be in a city where crime runs rampant ... but it also doesn't hesitate to capture the human aspects of its gangsters and the people around them. After all, there's a reason both the Barksdale Organization's de facto commander Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) and the legendary stick-up man Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) rank highly on TVLine's list of HBO's best characters ever.

For the purposes of this ranking, however, the fact remains that HBO's "The Wire" does devote plenty of time to the law enforcement, as well. While this juxtaposition of powers is crucial to the show's allure, it also means that "The Wire" falls under the same "not quite a fully-blown gangster show" rule as "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," leaving it just outside a spot in the top three. 

Ronan Bennett's "Top Boy" explores crime and gangster activity from the ground level up. The British drama's big trick is to focus its overarching plot on two specific characters and let the mad, dangerous world of London gangs spread out around them. Neither Sully (Kane "Kano" Robinson) nor Dushane (Ashley Walters) are exactly saints themselves, either. They start out as housing estate drug gang notables who employ and unnerve small-timers Ra'Nell (Malcolm Kamulete) and Gem (Giacomo Mancini) during the show's early run, but eventually become the story's dual anchors across five seasons. 

There are British crime shows and movies that feature characters like Sully, Dushane, and their associates, often as low-level criminals for the protagonists to arrest or interrogate. Channel 4/Netflix's "Top Boy" puts them front and center, showing the difficulty of staying honest in a social and financial environment that offers very few chances to prosper. Unflinching, unapologetic, and often surprisingly moving, this critically acclaimed show isn't about larger-than-life evil. It's about people who feel that they only have bad options left, but aren't completely desensitized to the things they do. 

"Peaky Blinders" has come far by focusing on the underrepresented. Its gangs operate in the eventful but often overlooked years between World War I and World War II in the United Kingdom. These gangsters rock an instantly recognizable look that's heavy on tweed, undercut hairstyles, and flat caps. The rise of the ambitious Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his family even allows the show to get global by introducing vast conspiracies, exiled Russian nobles, and American mobsters — not to mention the impending rise of fascism. It's heavy stuff, even before the show filters it through the undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and related issues that pretty much every male character is struggling with after the Great War. 

Impeccably cast, written, shot, and designed, every element of "Peaky Blinders" is balm for the eyes and ears. Its events are often brutal, but the show's stellar plot combines with its sheer style and relentlessly fascinating setting to create the ultimate historical gangster drama. Is it any surprise that the BBC and Netflix have already ordered a "Peaky Blinders" sequel series from creator Steven Knight?

"The Sopranos" is, was, and quite possibly forever will be the yardstick by which every other gangster show is measured. This is due in large part to the unprecedented way the HBO drama manages to embrace classic mobster iconography and marry it with a stressed-out, McMansion-heavy spin on the American Dream. In its world, meetings take place at a strip club called Bada Bing! and mob bosses worry about their personal lives and mental health as much as they do about profit. Instead of tailored clothing and calculated cool, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) has loud short-sleeved button-downs that he pairs with a massive temper. Yet, the show always has some old-school mafia charm to call upon. Roll out Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) or Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), and you'll know exactly what kind of story you're watching even before they say a word.

But at the end of the day, all of that is just set dressing. "The Sopranos" is the best gangster drama around simply because it tells the best, most captivating gangster story around. In 2013, The Writers Guild of America named it the best-written show ever, and over a decade later, it's still hard to argue otherwise.