A secretive cadre of crime - The Black Hand - has tightened its grip on New York City's Little Italy of the early 1900s. Merchants are threatened, some horribly beaten. Citizens cower in fear rather than testify about crimes they've witnessed. And everyone dreads the extortion notes that say Pay or Die. But police lieutenant Joe Petrosino is determined to end the spree of terror. He sets up a special squad of investigators, systematically attempts to root out the criminals and makes a discovery he never expected: The Black Hand is directly tied to the Mafia. Ernest Borgnine plays Petrosino in this hard-hitting, fact-based crime saga directed by Richard Wilson, who created a stir the prior year with the gangster saga Al Capone (starring Rod Steiger).