Underworld

American MeMCA Universal Home Video This is a brutal, graphic film that unflinchingly explores organized crime and gangs in the Los Angeles barrio. It is an impressive directorial debut from Edward James Olmos, previously best known as an Oscar nominee for his work in "Stand and Deliver." Mr. Olmos, who emerged recently as one of the few, true community leaders in the wake of the L.A. riots, is an actor and a Mexican American with something to say.The message delivered here is by no means upbeat: Change must start with the people themselves.

MOSCOW -- Visitors who have finally made it through customs at Moscow's international airport are channeled toward a narrow doorway that opens to their first encounter with organized crime, Russian-style.Two lines of black-leather-jacketed men press in from either side, forming a sort of human chute. They are taxi drivers.They lean in close, seeking likely-looking fares among the emerging passengers, still disoriented by the scruffiness, the noise, the dim lighting and the apparent chaos of the airport known as Sheremetyevo-2.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals last night denied the transfer of a license to operate a Brooklyn Park bingo hall from a Florida man with alleged ties to organized crime to a group of investors that includes the man's former lawyers.The board voted 3-1 to uphold a December decision by Robert Dvorak, county director of inspections and permits, denying the transfer of a license to operate Bingo World from Steven B. Paskind to Arundel Amusements.Although Mr. Dvorak ordered Bingo World to close when he issued his decision, it has continued to operate under a court injunction that delayed closure until the appeal was heard.

STORYVILLE(Columbia TriStar, 1992)"Storyville" is a complicated political thriller that demands complete attention but doesn't make that a challenging task for the viewer.James Spader is really too young-looking to be completely convincing as Cray Fowler, a third-generation New Orleans politician running for the U.S. Congress. But Jason Robards is perfect as his salty and politically savvy uncle. Robards plays the brother of Fowler's father, who was killed years earlier in a hunting accident (which may have been suicide)

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Dan lives in a tunnel beneath a manhole cover on the edge of Bucharest's Gara de Nord railway station. It's a hellish, stifling and dirty space where warm pipes hiss and rats scuttle by. The stench is overwhelming.He shares the space with three other ragged boys, all in their mid-teens. They have spread torn cardboard boxes on the floor. They are grateful to have this warm place for the coming winter. In other tunnels, children have even managed to rig up electricity for makeshift lights.

The Shadow Thieves Anne Ursu Ptolemy's Gate Jonathan Stroud Miramax/Hyperion / $17.95 / Ages 12-15 The final book in a series is often the most difficult to bring off. Jonathan Stroud is successful, largely because, from the beginning in The Bartimaeus Trilogy, he created a character, the genie Bartimaeus, whose witty overview and curmudgeonly interactions with the central characters are believable. Bartimaeus narrates some chapters, and we learn his history from the times of Ptolemy in much detail.

Marie Daramy calls it an "underworld war. " It used to be that her street in East Baltimore was full of drug dealers — they sat on the steps, hung out on the corners. Residents knew this, and when a shooting broke out, Daramy said, it was easy to chalk it up to the activity outside. These days, the street is typically clear, and the overt dealing is largely a memory. But the violence persists. "This place was full, and every house had a drug dealer," said Daramy, who has lived in her home for 20 years.

At least in "Clockers," you always know what time it is: It's midnight in the American City and the American spirit."Clockers," derived from Richard Price's novel via a script by Price and director Spike Lee, is a two-hour reality check that begins with the phoniest trick in the book. It's about the cop who doesn't believe a confessed killer, the starting point for a thousand undistinguished novels and movies.The cop who doesn't buy it, in this case, is one Rocco Klein (the great Harvey Keitel)

A CHORUS OF singing gangsters rolls the dice to determine the outcome of love-me, love-me-not relationships in the musical "Guys and Dolls," which will be performed by North Carroll Middle School pupils at 7 p.m. April 13 and 14. Directed by music teachers Thilana Quick and Maryann Villa, this is a junior version of the Broadway hit, scored for middle school voices and scripted for their abilities. They chose this play because a large number of pupils could be involved, and a lot of boys wanted to sing on stage.

MIAMI -- When Roberto Rodriguez was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1989, apparently ending his reign as one of Los Angeles' premier cocaine dealers, a federal judge in Los Angeles gave the Cuban immigrant 30 days to get his affairs in order.That month became nearly a decade.Rodriguez jumped bond and headed south, embarking on an odyssey through the drug underworld of the Americas that made him a target of hit men in Los Angeles and Detroit, a drug supplier for street gangs in Chicago, Detroit and New York and a partner and friend to leaders of the Cali cocaine cartel in Colombia.