Best tv shows like The Cartel
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Cartel follows ten friends, all of them members of a dangerous drug cartel, whose ambition for power and money will cause them to eventually kill each other. For it is an undeniable truth that, in this business, you always lose.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 860
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Colombia
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, novela, telenovela
Best tv shows and movies like The Cartel (2008):
Similar in 79%
Friend 2 (2013)
Plot Summary:
A sequel to Kwak Kyeong-taek's "Friend" in 2001, "Friends 2" is about three men who are gangsters based in the background of the year 1963 and 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, South Korea
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Broken Angel (2013)
Plot Summary:
Santa Diabla is the story of Santa Martínez, a woman who seeks revenge for the murder of her husband Willy Delgado.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 313
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, tense, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, novela, telenovela
Similar in 88%
Without Breasts There Is No Paradise (2008)
Plot Summary:
Sin Senos no hay Paraíso is a RTI Colombia–Telemundo remake and loose adaptation of the original Colombian series Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso. The series is based on investigative journalist Gustavo Bolivar's debut novel and features an attractive young prostitute who desires to have massive breast implants in order to attract a rich cocaine smuggler. It is also based on a true story. The series premiered on June 16, 2008;.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 764
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Colombia, Mexico, USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, suspense, novela, soap opera, sexual, sexy, telenovela
Similar in 75%
Kings of Jo'Burg (2020)
Plot Summary:
The Masire brothers rule Johannesburg's criminal underworld, but a supernatural family curse and a tangled web of betrayal threaten to destroy them.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: South Africa
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Thalaivaa (2013)
Plot Summary:
A mafia don sends his son out of the country because he doesn't want even a shadow of his life falling on him. Destiny wills otherwise. The son makes an innocuous trip to Mumbai to visit his dad. And ends up filling his father's large shoes.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, unusual plot structure, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018)
Plot Summary:
A bloody power struggle erupts between three brothers who are vying to take over the family business following the death of their father.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Last (2015)
Plot Summary:
This drama is based on the webcomic Kang Hyung Kyu. The story centers on Jang Tae Ho, who was once successful, but becomes homeless after failing at a stock operation involving an exorbitant amount in Korea’s stock market. This leads him to face a secretive ranked organization consisting of Seoul’s homeless. Starting from the bottom, he rises up in rank to fight for leadership of the group against the boss who earns money by exploiting the poor homeless people.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Maltese: The Mafia Detective (2017)
Plot Summary:
Inspector Dario Maltese travels from Rome to the city of his birth, Trapani in Sicily, to attend his best friend's wedding. But tragedy strikes and he finds himself pulled into a murder investigation.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 963
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 439 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, detective
Similar in 78%
Bandits Can't Rule the World (2015)
Plot Summary:
The series tells the life of Hizir Cakirbeyli. It has entered the realm of the mafia at a young age.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Turkey
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Fearless Heart (2012)
Plot Summary:
Angela and Samantha were best friends when they were little, but a trap of fate separated them for many years. An unmissable story of loyalty, friendship, courage and love.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 362
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspenseful, suspense, novela, tense, romantic, soap opera, realistic, telenovela
Similar in 84%
Fugitives (2011)
Plot Summary:
Four men become fugitives after a failed drug deal, running from north to south of Chile.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Chile
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, exciting, rough, realistic, crime drama
Similar in 75%
Blood out of Blood (2012)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Poland
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Easy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013)
Plot Summary:
JW now lives in exile and is more than ever determined to find out what happened to his missing sister Camilla. Every trace leads him to the world of organized crime in Stockholm. Jorge is about to do his last score - the largest robbery in Swedish history. But during the complicated preparations he meets a woman from his past - Nadja. Martin Hägerström is chosen to go undercover into the Serbian mafia, in order to get its notorious boss Radovan Krajnic behind bars. When an assassination attempt is made on Radovan, his daughter Natalie is pulled into the power struggle within the Serbian mafia.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, non-linear
Similar in 88%
En la Boca del Lobo (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story and the book, At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel by award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel, En la Boca del Lobo follows the series of events that ultimately lead to the dramatic downfall of Colombia’s infamous Cali drug cartel. The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, an engineer and soldier who rises ranks and became in charge of the security of the godfather of the Cali Cartel, one of the largest criminal organizations in the world and rival of the Medellin Cartel.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Crime
Country: Colombia
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Mob City (2013)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.'s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s. It's a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, detective, anime, crime drama, dark drama
Similar in 86%
Dealer (2021)
Plot Summary:
Tensions erupt when two filmmakers infiltrate an area ruled by gangs to shoot a music video for a rapper in this gritty found-footage series.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 776
Genere: Short, Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, hood
Similar in 79%
Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord (2012)
Plot Summary:
Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal is a 2012 Colombian television series produced and broadcast on Caracol TV, about the life of Pablo Escobar. It is only available in Spanish. There is a version available with English subtitles.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Colombia
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, stylized, novela, telenovela
Similar in 89%
The Snitch Cartel (2011)
Plot Summary:
The real life story of Andres Lopez Lopez aka "Frecita" during his years involved with the Colombian Cartel aka "Cartel Norte del Valle".
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Colombia, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, hood, crime drama, telenovela
Similar in 84%
The Valley of the Wolves (2003)
Plot Summary:
Kurtlar Vadisi was a Turkish television drama which broadcast mainly on Show TV and then transferred to Kanal D, then atv for its last season. It was mostly about an agent named Polat Alemdar who leaked into the mafia after his plastic surgery. The scenario has direct and indirect references to the Turkish politics and political history from a viewpoint of an undercover agent. Kurtlar Vadisi became one of the most successful TV programmes in Turkey and produced a successful feature film named Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Turkey
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, brutal, captivating, suspense
Similar in 89%
Queen of the South (2016)
Plot Summary:
Teresa flees Mexico after her drug-runner boyfriend is murdered. Settling in Dallas, she looks to become the country's reigning drug smuggler and to avenge her lover's murder.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico, Spain, Malta
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, suspenseful, erotic, crime thriller, suspense, telenovela
Similar in 86%
El Halal Mountain (2014)
Plot Summary:
The tale of "Mansour Abu Heiba" - the self-righteous patriarch of Abu Heiba family - from upper Egypt, one of the 5 largest organized crime dynasties in the world; the pioneers of arms trafficking and monuments merchandising in the Middle East. The series explores the organized crime scene in Egypt and the Middle East through the rise and fall of Abu Heiba, his relationship with the European Mafia and his struggle with keeping his family close.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 135
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Egypt
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Black Widow (2010)
Plot Summary:
Carmen, the daughter of a notorious Amsterdam drug lord, reluctantly takes charge of the family's smuggling business in order to clear her husband's debts.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, serious, realistic, atmospheric, interesting
Similar in 85%
Villain (2020)
Plot Summary:
After 10 years, Eddie Franks is out of prison and trying to stay on the straight and narrow, but his drug-mule brother, Sean has other ideas. Rival gangster brothers demand Sean repay his debt to them, causing Eddie to get tangled in the crossfire, and he ends up using his life savings to calling in favours with mobster friends to try and help.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, tense, captivating, disturbing, social, hood
Similar in 90%
Blinded by the Lights (2018)
Plot Summary:
An eight-episode story charting seven days from the life of a cocaine dealer whose perfectly organized life begins to sink into chaos while he is forced to make the most important choices in his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, suspense, entertaining, disturbing, anthology, hood, interesting
Similar in 85%
Gomorrah (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on Robert Saviano's bestselling book, this gritty Italian crime drama paints a portrait of the brutal Neapolitan crime organisation the Camorra, as seen through the eyes of Ciro Di Marzo, the obedient and self- confident right-hand man of the clan's godfather, Pietro Savastano.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, Germany
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, disturbing, realistic, dramatic, hood, crime thriller, bleak, rough
Similar in 88%
La Reina del Sur (2011)
Plot Summary:
After years of blood, sweat and tears, a woman of humble origin ends up becoming a drug trafficking legend, with all that that means.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Mexico, USA, Spain, Colombia
Duration: 378 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, novela, tense, suspense, realistic, soap opera, telenovela
Similar in 89%
Romanzo criminale - La serie (2008)
Plot Summary:
Romanzo Criminale – La serie - is a television series Italian based on the eponymous novel by judge Giancarlo De Cataldo, and it is the second adaptation of the film Romanzo Criminale directed by Michele Placido. The first series quickly achieved cult status in Italy. This is the second fiction series after Quo Vadis, Baby? that was produced by Sky and broadcast on Fox Crime, Sky One and on Sky Arts with English subtitles in 2012. The series is set in about 1977-89 and follows a criminal gang in Rome that has a near monopoly of the city's heroin trade. Most of the characters use the Romanesco dialect. The gang is led by three old friends, Libanese, Freddo and Dandi. As well as its internal feuding, the gang has to deal with the Camorra and Sicilian Mafia that both supply its heroin, the police led by Commissioner Scialoja and the Italian secret services. The plotline is based on the Banda della Magliana of the 1970s-90s.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration:
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, suspense, realistic, suspenseful, interesting
Similar in 83%
The Lord of the Skies (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1990s, these are the life and times of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, a man who became the head of the Juárez cartel. Nicknamed “El Señor de los Cielos” (Lord of the Skies) because of the large fleet of airplanes he used to transport drugs, he was also known for washing more than $200 million through Colombia to finance his huge fleet. He is described as the most powerful drug trafficker of his time.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Mexico, Colombia
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspenseful, serious, realistic, tense, novela, telenovela
Similar in 77%
Godfather of Harlem (2019)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his piece of Harlem.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, disturbing, exciting, inspirational, anime, crime thriller
Similar in 86%
McMafia (2018)
Plot Summary:
Alex Godman, the English-raised son of Russian mafia exiles, has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of their past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca. But when a murder forces his family's past to return to threaten them, Alex is drawn into the criminal underworld and must confront his values to protect those he loves.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, intellectual, neo noir, captivating