HAMILTON: Under arrest (above) and on TV (below). IMAGE: history.com/gangland

When a film crew from the History Channel arrived last January to document the rise of gangs in Portland, it interviewed Ronald “Spider” Hamilton, one of the original gangsters who migrated here from Los Angeles in the 1990s.

Hamilton appears throughout the Gangland episode that first aired April 19. After his history of gunning down rivals and trafficking in cocaine, the Southeast Portland man tells viewers he wants a different life for his kids. But he also claims he’s still a member of the Hoover Criminals, one of the city’s most violent gangs.

“I’m still considered a Hoover, I just don’t gangbang anymore,” Hamilton tells the camera. “If I say I don’t want to be a Hoover no more, I can say that. But I’m not saying that.”

Seven months after his moment in the spotlight, Hamilton now sits in the Multnomah County Detention Center, awaiting sentencing Nov. 17 after a jury convicted him of armed robbery in a bizarre episode at a Southeast Portland Denny’s last spring.

During his arrest, Spider seemed disappointed by the fleeting nature of his fame. He was surprised when police failed to recognize him from TV. He also mentioned he’d been smoking a cigarette dipped in “sherm,” or liquid PCP.

Hamilton, 41, faces a minimum of seven-plus years when Multnomah County Circuit Judge Edward Jones decides his fate next week. Hamilton’s attorney, Scott Raivio, did not reply to telephone and email messages seeking comment.

According to court records, Hamilton arrived at the Denny’s on Southwest Stark Street at about 2:30 a.m. on June 16 in a tank top, boxers and bare feet. A surveillance camera captured the scene, which was replayed at the trial Nov. 2-4.

The tape shows Hamilton, 5 feet 9 and 220 pounds, walking into the video poker room at the back of the restaurant and sitting at one of the machines. Then he rises, approaches a man and woman sitting nearby, and starts raining punches on the man’s head. The man falls, then Hamilton throws the woman to the ground.

The couple flees and Hamilton walks into the restaurant carrying a knife, demanding money from a waitress. He throws the cash register down, picks something off the floor and leaves.

Police caught Hamilton about 10 minutes later driving a late-model Cadillac sedan northbound on I-205. According to court records, an open lock-blade knife and two Denny’s gift cards—worthless because they hadn’t been validated by the restaurant—lay on the seat beside him.

At trial, Raivio argued the robbery charge shouldn’t stick because Hamilton hadn’t intended to pull a heist. The jury didn’t buy it, convicting Hamilton of first-degree robbery plus two counts of harassment for the fight.

Hamilton’s rap sheet includes prior felonies for identity theft, assault and felon in possession of a firearm, plus assorted misdemeanors for resisting arrest, eluding police, giving false information, criminal mischief and assault. But Judge Jones tells WW that for a longtime gangster, Hamilton has a surprisingly clean record.

Hamilton told the History Channel he moved to Portland in 1993 after doing prison time in California for a gang-related shooting. He says he made easy money here selling cocaine but also enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

“I just fell in love with Portland, Oregon,” Hamilton says on Gangland. “It was just cool, you know? There was a lot of ganging and a lot of banging, but not really gangbanging.”

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FACT: According to Gangland, the Hoovers were one of the first gangs in Portland after a group from L.A. moved up I-5 and “straight into P-town” in 1987.