Gang Related

Frank Divinci and Rodriguez are detectives who have turned their badges into a criminal operation. They stage drug deals, kill the people they meet and keep both the money and the narcotics, then file the deaths away as gang violence. The scheme holds up until one of their victims turns out to be a DEA agent working undercover, which brings attention the pair cannot ignore. Assigned to the resulting investigation, the two partners set out to manufacture a suspect and shift the blame onto someone who cannot defend himself, even as their superiors and the wider department close in.

Jim Kouf directed and wrote the film, his second feature after Miracles in 1986. Jim Belushi plays Divinci and Tupac Shakur plays Rodriguez, with Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones and Gary Cole among the supporting cast of twenty-one credited performers. The production was handled by Orion Pictures, Blue Rider Pictures and Kouf/Bigelow Productions.

Released in October 1997, the film took in about 6 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from roughly 11,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.4 from a much smaller group of 183 votes. A critics' rating of 5.6 from 21 reviews places it slightly below the audience scores, suggesting a mixed response rather than a strongly negative one.