When his best friend is killed, Isaac Sidel looks for revenge in the Bronx

Though incorruptible—at least by New York Police Department standards—Detective Isaac Sidel knows that sometimes it's useful to look a little dirty. To gain access to the Bronx-based Guzmann crime syndicate, rumored to be building a human trafficking operation in Spanish Harlem, Sidel had himself kicked off the force on a corruption charge. With the help of Manfred Coen, a young cop whom Sidel once mentored, he posed as a desperate, dirty cop in hopes of infiltrating the Guzmann family. The gamble got Coen killed, and left Sidel with nothing but guilt, bruises, and a tapeworm.

Now the detective craves revenge. To break down the syndicate, he targets Patrick Silver, the Guinness-addicted handler of forty-four-year-old man-child Jerónimo Guzmann. When a crush on Odile, porn queen of the Bronx, confuses Patrick's loyalty, the family begins to tear itself apart. It's up to Isaac Sidel to make sure they don't take the city with them.