Always looking to expand their area of control, the mob is now out to get control of the bakery industry. Eliot Ness is in New York to testify at a trial and the local US Attorney asks him to stay on to help with the problem. Under the control of the Syndicate, Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter tasks Bryan "Bull" Hanlon to gain control of the industry by establishing a truckers association to get control of deliveries. Hanlon's inclination is to start with small bakers and slowly move up but under orders, he goes after the largest baker in the industry, Adam Stone.

After mob hit-man Frankie Gruder kills a warehouse guard -- and is almost nabbed by Ness and his men in the process -- he turns to his old friend Julius Vernon to get him out of it. Vernon conspires with Willie Willinsky, who knows practically every crook in town, to find someone to plead guilty to the murder. The fraud works so well that Vernon suggests the three of them form an employment agency of sorts. Anyone who wants a crime committed need only tell them what they want done.