When Wallace Laughton is killed by Federal Agents, a mysterious man known only as The Partner orders that the agent responsible be eliminated. The Partner is a mysterious man whose identity is known to only a very few. He is reputedly the top man in organized crime. Lee Hobson is the agent responsible for shooting Laughton but when Eliot Ness gets wind of the contract, he claims responsibility and makes a point of telling the Press. Lee is taken aback with Eliot's moves and resents what he sees as his boss taking all the glory.

In the Gypsy quarter of Chicago, drunkenness is taking its toll in fights and killings. The local community elders, known as the Senate, want to bring it to an end but come into conflict with Janos Colescou, owner of much of the illicit liquor distribution in the area. He kills the head of the Senate, Victor Bartok and when the opposition continues, kills his brother Fedor. Throughout, Colescou has revived an old custom of posting his victims name on an old tree in the neighborhood.