Morris, Sol and Harry Rabishevsky grew up poor in a tiny flat on the Lower East Side. The death of their father thrust them into having to fend for themselves and support their large family. Morris dropped out of school at 12 years old and apprenticed himself to a garment cutter in a clothing factory, while Sol headed to accounting school. But Harry fell in with a gang of thugs as a teenager and can't be lured away from the glamour, power and money that come from his association with Louis Buchalter, with whom Morris has battled since his youth and who has risen to become the most ruthless mobster in New York. And when Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that staff the garment makers' factories, a fatal showdown is inevitable, pitting brother against brother.