| Director | Joseph M. Newman |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, film noir |
| Runtime | 79 min |
| Country | United States |
Allen Bardeman is a prominent, married lawyer who collects money from the numbers racket for the syndicate. His legal secretary, Angela Walsh, is also his mistress, and he provides her with a house of her own, where Sam Henry – a corrupt New York City administrator who acts as a "bag man" for the syndicate – makes a weekly visit to pick up money from Bardeman. Bardemans lavish lifestyle and tax problems have placed him deeply in debt. Angela urges him to solve his money problems by staging a robbery of the syndicates money, using a man he knows will play the role of armed robber for him. She then visits Ed Rackin, a nightclub owner who looks out for the syndicates local interests and who Henry also visits to collect syndicate numbers proceeds. Their conversation reveals that Bardeman is unaware that they know one another, and that Angela and Rackin are scheming to take Bardemans money after the staged robbery and run off together.
Bardeman arranges to have the robbery take place at Angelas house during Henrys weekly visit. During the robbery, Henry unexpectedly pulls a gun on the disguised robber, who shoots and mortally wounds Henry. The robber turns out to be Rackin, who drives off in Henrys car with the money and the dying Henry. When the police find Henrys body at the wheel of his car alongside a road soon afterwards, New York Police Department Captain Matthew Gower and his homicide squad launch an investigation into his murder.
Gower is an idealistic and honest cop and outspoken critic of the corruption he finds all around him in the city government and police force. He has faced repeated reprimands and disciplinary action, including a demotion from deputy inspector to captain, at the hands of the corrupt Police Commissioner James Deane, who punishes him when he interferes in syndicate activities. When Mayor Harold Emshaw, facing pressure from the press to clean up the city government and police department, removes Deane from his position, he appoints Gower as acting commissioner, promoting him over the head of his superior, Chief Inspector Gus Honochek. Gower sets about creating a hand-picked team of honest detectives to work directly under him to investigate organized crime activities, including Sergeant Frank Orte and the resentful Honochek.
Gowers men quickly determine that Henry was a syndicate collector, and observe Rackin meeting Joe Selkin, a syndicate troubleshooter, at the airport. They secretly begin to follow Selkin. Selkin visits Bardemans office, accuses Bardeman of stealing the missing money, and orders him to return it by the following morning. After Selkin leaves, Angela comforts the panicky Bardeman. She urges him to call Rackin and tell him to bring the money to Bardeman; she tells Bardeman to threaten to tell Selkin that Rackin has the money if Rackin does not bring it. Bardeman agrees to make the call. Meanwhile, when word of Selkins visit to Bardeman reaches Gower, Gower and Orte begin to suspect that Bardeman is a frontman for the syndicate
Rackin visits Bardeman in his law office that evening without bringing the money and pulls a gun on Bardeman. When Bardeman tells Rackin that he has a way of protecting himself from such threats, Rackin shocks him by replying that he knows because Angela told him; it is the first time that Bardeman realizes that Angela and Rackin know one another. Rackin then shoots Bardeman to death and removes the audio tape from a tape recorder in Bardemans desk drawer that Angela had told him would be making a recording of the encounter. When Angela arrives at the office the following morning, she enters Bardemans office, sees his body on the floor, checks to make sure the tape is missing, and then collects a second tape recorder that has been running overnight and was hidden under a statue in the office. She then feigns emotional distress and calls the police.
That same morning, Selkin, unaware of Bardemans death the evening before, calls Rackin and orders him to kill Bardeman for not delivering the stolen money on time. A delighted Rackin agrees, realizing that the syndicate suspects only Bardeman of having stolen its money, and does not tell Selkin that Bardeman already is dead. Immediately afterwards, Honochek brings Selkin in for questioning. Orte reports to Gower that ballistics evidence shows that the same gun killed both Henry and Bardeman, and Gower hypothesizes that someone else was involved in Henrys murder and then killed Bardeman to avoid having to split the money stolen from Henry. When Honochek reports that Selkin had called Rackin that morning, Gower informs Selkin – much to Selkin's surprise – that Bardeman had been murdered the previous evening and orders Selkin held on suspicion of homicide. Deciding that Rackin is the man who can tie together Bardemans death with syndicate activities, Gower orders Honochek to tail Rackin.
Angela telephones Rackin and plays the second audio tape over the phone to him; it clearly incriminates him in Bardemans murder. When he expresses gratitude that she found it instead of the police and asks her to erase or destroy it, she informs him that instead she will give the tape to him, but only if he gives her all of the stolen money. They agree to meet at the train station to exchange the tape for the money. Meanwhile, Ortes questioning of Angelas officemates at Bardemans law firm reveals that she entered his office every morning to retrieve and transcribe audio tapes Bardeman used for dictation, and the tape being missing on the morning Angela found Bardemans body prompts Gower to order that Angela be brought in for further questioning. Before the police can do so, Honochek, tailing Rackin, telephones Gower to report Angela meeting with Rackin at the train station. Gower and Orte immediately drive to the train station and join up with Honochek.
When Angela meets Rackin, she admits to him that she had been planning all along to double-cross him as well as Bardeman.