After rising bootlegger Slaughterhouse Scorpio eliminates his gangland competition, two reporters and a cabal of six businessmen work to expose him.

Bootlegger/cafe owner Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Louis 'Slaughterhouse' Scorpio to join his gang which is masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Richard Newton. Slaughterhouse eventually takes over Franks' operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of 6 masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair with the help of rival crusading newspapermen Carl Luckner and Hank Rogers. Waitress Anne Courtland is torn between her love for the honest newsman Hank and her financial dependence on her generous boss, Slaughterhouse.—Sandra Bockelman

Chicago attorney Richard Newton is a mob boss who handles the legal affairs of his associates, he usually needing to use intimidation and actual violence to achieve his end goals. Johnny Franks heads his bootlegging operation, they only needing to get competitor Joe Colimo out of the way to control the liquor distribution in town. Johnny has hired his rough-around-the-edges friend Louis "Slaughterhouse" Scorpio, so nicknamed for working at one of the slaughterhouses next to the stock yards, to work in the bootlegging operation. Slaughterhouse shows that he will do whatever for the organization while looking out for himself. Out of circumstance, Slaughterhouse rises to the head of the bootlegging operation. While the media has been easy on reporting on their operation, reporters Hank Rogers and Carl Luckner end up working for who are called the Secret Six, a tribunal of six unknown men working to take down Newton, Slaughterhouse and their criminal associates. The two are aided by Anne Courtland, who works in a bar operated by Slaughterhouse and thus can provide inside information, her assistance out of her love for Rogers.—Huggo