Jim Harris and his two accomplices plan a daring heist on a Harlem count house controlled by a Mafia-fueled web of local black gangs. The job spirals out of control as Harris kills both the black gangsters and the white mobsters, then squeezes out of Harlem by murdering two police officers during the getaway. The news of the robbery reverberates through the neighborhood and reaches Nick D'Salvio, the son-in-law and enforcer of Don Gennaro, who fears their grip on Harlem slipping away and resolves to restore order by any means necessary.
Back in Harlem, Captain Frank Mattelli arrives at the chaotic scene and discovers a wall of silence. No one wants to talk, mired in Omertà, mutual distrust of the police, bribery, or a blend of all three. Mattelli is a veteran who prides himself on knowing the area, yet his prejudices against Black communities and his aggressive style clash with Lt. Lt. William Pope, who informs him that the case is technically his to run for political reasons.
Nick confronts the head of Harlem’s Black mob, Doc Johnson, to press for answers about the security lapse and to declare his intention to capture and torture the robbers. The exchange is loaded with insults, and Johnson cautions against Italian intrusions into Harlem. Johnson’s right-hand man, Shevvy (played by Gilbert Lewis), roams the neighborhood pressuring bystanders and bribing witnesses to stay quiet. He targets Jim’s girlfriend Gloria, Norma Donaldson, with whispers and intimidation to keep Jim’s whereabouts from surfacing.
The investigation leads to the discovery of a retrieved getaway car abandoned in the river. The car’s former owner is arrested and reveals he sold it the previous week. Mattelli harshly chastises the man, calling him a junkie and beating him before Pope steps in and questions the ethics of Mattelli’s methods and his racial biases. Shevvy and his crew press the owner’s wife to reveal the buyer, and soon they track down Henry J. Jackson, who has been flaunting the money at a club. Henry J. is brutalized, dies in an ambulance, and it’s revealed that he suffered crucifixion and castration during torture. Mattelli pleads with Doc Johnson to curb the violence, but Johnson feigns ignorance and deflects blame onto the Italians. An attempted bribe to Pope is rejected by the officer, who refuses to be bought.
As the net tightens, the pursuit turns toward Jim’s ally Joe Logart, played by Ed Bernard, who is coerced for information before being dragged into further danger. Joe’s fate hinges on his attempts to flee town, and a brutal chase erupts into the night. Jim seeks refuge in an abandoned tenement, where a medical requirement for epilepsy complicates his already perilous position. Gloria, Norma Donaldson, unwittingly becomes the beacon that guides Jim’s pursuers to his hideout.
Doc Johnson’s call to Pope finally narrows the focus to Jim, who, amid daydreams with Gloria, becomes the target of a final, deadly rooftop confrontation. The firefight claims the life of Gloria and one of Nick’s henchmen. Jim shootsNick in a climactic exchange, then guns down a fleeing thug and a getaway driver, triggering a police pursuit through the streets. Mortally wounded by sniper fire, Jim casts his money to a group of schoolchildren below, a moment that sews together desperation and mercy in a bleak world.
Mattelli moves in, but the ending is swift and brutal. Pope delivers the final killing blow to Jim, ending the ex-con’s manhunt. In a stunned moment, Pope holsters his weapon, only to have Shevvy shoot Mattelli in the head with a silenced pistol from a neighboring rooftop, leaving the veteran captain to collapse while gripping Pope’s hand in a sorrowful, fateful goodbye.
