Detective Victoria has never been shy about robbing heroin addicts. He loves the looks on their faces when he kicks down their doors and finds them with needles hanging out of their arms, their highs gone in an instant. After seventeen years on the force, Victoria has no delusions about being an honest cop. And that makes him a perfect bagman for Tommy Doyle. Doyle is the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, the top dog in a very dirty bunch. To young Bobby Porterfield — who's deeply in love with Doyle's daughter, Cathy — the old man is a legend. But as Porterfield is drawn deeper into the dark side of the department, he finds that justice is never black and white. And when Doyle's top men begin to die, Porterfield fears he may be next.