A brave longshoreman lingers on after being gunned down by 3 racketeers, as a determined assistant D.A. searches hard for fearful witnesses against the men.

Three men gun down Solly Pitts, a rebel against the racket-ridden Longshoremen's Union. Before dying, Pitts tells his wife that 'Cockeye' Cook was one of the killers...but won't repeat it to the police, nor will anyone else help them. It seems it's a dockyard tradition to handle private battles without help. Bill Keating, new to the D.A.'s office, is just naive enough to think he can make a case against Cook; but his efforts seem to be leading only to further violence.—Rod Crawford <[email protected]>

Bill Keating is a young lawyer just starting his career in the Homicide Division of New York City's D.A.'s office, and is about to get married to well-bred New Englander, model Dee Pauley. With all his other staff occupied, Bill's boss, Howard Rysdale, reluctantly hands Bill the case of Solly Pitts, a longshoreman shot point blank in his 10th Avenue apartment building. Solly is currently in the hospital, his life hanging on a thread. Howard's reluctance stems from believing Bill being unable to navigate the issues of the docks, where there is a certain equilibrium in things not operating above board but each side using traditional tactics of intimidation and violence to achieve their ends. Howard's reluctance is also despite Bill having a working-class background, coming from a Wilkes-Barre coal mining family. Bill is certain that Solly knows who shot him and why - telling his wife Madge Pitts that it was "Cockeye Cook and two of his meatballs", with the strings most-likely pulled by union leader Al Dahlke - but no one, from Solly to Madge to any of the other longshoremen including his best friend Benjy Karp who was waiting for Solly outside the building to go to work together, talking to Bill in believing the authorities either too scared or in some higher-up's pockets. Even Lt. Anthony Vosnick, who is handling the case for the NYPD and who is friends with many people on the docks including Solly, can only get them to say anything if it is off the record. In navigating through this silence, Bill believes the key to getting at least Solly to admit to anything is Madge, arguably having only a short time frame in the possibility that he won't pull through. And even if he can get some evidence, Bill will have to convince Howard that they have a case, and that the evidence will hold up in court in front of a jury. In the process, Bill, and by association Dee and Madge, could get caught up in the violence inherent within this struggle on the docks as some may resort to old tactics in seeing Bill sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.—Huggo