In a prematurely bitter autumn, 1981, New York City is ignited as EMS workers gurney out from a modest Harlem convent a young nun who's been violated, mutilated and beaten into a coma. The infamy of the crime attracts the media and forces the hand of the Police Department's downtown brass. A hastily

In a prematurely bitter autumn, 1981, New York City is ignited as EMS workers gurney out from a modest Harlem convent a young nun who's been violated, mutilated and beaten into a coma. The infamy of the crime attracts the media and forces the hand of the Police Department's downtown brass. A hastily-assembled task force takes over, eliminating Dietl and his partner Duke Finnerty from the most important manhunt to invade their beat. Principled yet rebellious, Bo and Duke continue their own unauthorized investigation, using contacts that include Dietl's childhood friend, Richie LaCassa, an underboss in the Florio crime family. As the duo's search bears fruit, Dietl's personal life is tested by Duke's mounting gambling debts to a Florio clan loan-shark, and Deitl's own affair with LaCassa's mistress, Josephine "Joey" O'Hara. The partners' successful apprehension of the assailants (who later confessed) is tainted by a retaliatory FBI probe into Dietl's Mob "ties."