Acting on intelligence from a snitch, New York City's finest stage a raid on a Latino nightclub in 1979, triggering a dramatic if far-fetched vendetta that's not resolved for over a decade in a twisty tour de force from Leuci (Fence Jumpers, 1995, etc.).
Tipped by Cuban émigré Rodrigo Punto that the proprietors of Los Campos are trafficking in guns and dope, detective Nick Manaris obtains a warrant for the Organized Crime Control Unit to search the popular Queens bistro. The off-hours bust degenerates into a shoot-out that leaves two police officers and several suspects dead. Also a casualty is Diego Cienfuego, an innocent falsely identified by the cuckolded Punto as a power in the local drug trade; he's hauled off to Rikers Island and brutally murdered on orders from the hardened offenders who've already killed Punto. In addition, DEA agents put the real villains of the piece, Benny Matos and his Colombian accomplice Cano, in the federal witness- protection program. Despite the operation's tragically inconclusive outcomes, all hands benefit to some extent. Along with Sonny McCabe (a silky-smooth lawman probably on the take), incorruptible Nick becomes an investigator for his mentor Andre. More than ten years later, the retired Sonny (now a celebrity author) is on the talk- show circuit while Nick soldiers on. At the same time, Natalia, the informant's widow, is preparing to take revenge on those she holds responsible for her husband's slaughter. Having helped in the assassination of lower-echelon hoods, Diego's comely daughter Maria Clara seduces Nick (whom the conspirators have marked for death). He soon figures out what she's up to, but faced with losing a last chance at happiness, Nick masterminds a scheme that, with an assist from the ambivalent Sonny, brings Benny and Cano to rough justice.
Notwithstanding improbable plotting at the close, this is gritty, gripping fare from an ex-cop who knows the mean streets of Manhattan and also of the Big Apple's outer boroughs.
