In the 1970s, the Boston underworld is in chaos. Dozens of Irish neighborhood gangs have spent decades brawling over turf, creating a power vacuum. But one Machiavellian foot soldier will scheme and kill his way through the ranks to become the most famous gangster in Boston history, leaving a unified Boston Irish Mob and the longest manhunt in U.S. history in his wake.

In the 1970s, the Colombian cocaine trade is wide open. Hundreds of small-time smugglers compete for control of the lucrative new racket. But a petty thief will soon rise to become the most powerful criminal in history, unleashing a bloody reign of terror to create the first global drug cartel, and become the first billionaire kingpin of the 20th century.