Growing up fast in the ethnic enclave of Boyle Heights, gangster Rudy Wright learns the ways of the street early on. Educated in the ways of crime, first by his father, then by his father's associate-Jimmy Cadillac. Rudy soon forms a bond with Chico, a fellow gangster of Mexican-American ancestry. Together they form a criminal organization. Reunited with Rudy is Jimmy Cadillac, a gangster who worked for the notorious Mickey Cohen. Acting as a consigliari or counselor to Rudy and his crew they plot a takeover of Los Angeles. In this pot-boiler of a story, originally conceived by Andrew Pressman, people are not what they seem. Rudy has his hands full. He has a beautiful stripper girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend with a child by Rudy and an informer or two in his crew. Doggedly pursued by his childhood friends girlfriend who works for the L.A.P.D. and an FBI agent determined to bring him to justice. The streets are dark and dreary. The city is dark.