The Devil’s Party

In Hell's Kitchen, Marty Malone and the Death Avenue Cowboys attempt to steal fruit from a warehouse. Marty deliberately starts a fire to distract the watchmen, but the blaze grows out of control. He is caught by the police as the flames rage.

After the fire, Marty is questioned by police and refuses to name his friends, protecting them. His defiance leads to punishment, and he is sent to a reform school for delinquents. This marks the end of his gang years.

Many years later, Marty becomes the owner of the Cigarette Club, a cabaret and casino in Manhattan. He uses hired goons to collect a gambling debt, brutally beating a customer. The goons' actions escalate and the man dies, with an attempt to cover it as if a neon sign fell on him.

The emergency squad includes Joe and Mike O'Mara, former childhood friends. Authorities dismiss the death as an accident, but Joe suspects murder after discovering the support under the neon sign was cut rather than weathered.

A reunion dinner brings Marty's boyhood friends together at his club. Jerry Donovan is now a priest, Helen McCoy performs, and Mike O'Mara dances with her all evening. The gathering rekindles old tensions and affections.

Joe, trying to press the case, returns to the scene where Diamond and Sam corner him. They push him off the roof to his death. The murder confirms to Marty that the past is not finished.

Marty arrives at the scene and is upset that his men have killed Joe. The homicide bureau still treats the earlier death as an accident, while Mike grows more suspicious of a connected crime.

Diamond and Sam rob a jewelry store, plant a bomb next to Marty's club, and send notes to Mike that implicate Marty. Mike loses control and attempts to kill Marty, but Jerry stops him; Mike is arrested.

Marty tells Jerry that he never intended any deaths to occur and confesses involvement in the crimes. He continues to protect others even as the net tightens around him.

Diamond and Sam plan to rob Polar Gardens, a popular ice skating rink, and kidnap Helen to coerce Marty. Helen informs Jerry of where she is going and helps avert the kidnapping, signaling a rising danger around Marty.

Diamond and Sam alert Mike to the plan, hoping he will kill Marty. Mike again loses control, but Jerry intervenes to stop him from acting on his violent impulses.

In a climactic shootout with Diamond and Sam, Marty dies while taking a bullet intended for Mike. His sacrifice preserves Mike's life and shifts the remaining tension toward the future.

Marty's death brings Mike and Helen together. As Marty had wished, a playground is built at Jerry's boys club in Marty's name, symbolizing his protective legacy over the kids he once knew.