The System plot
"The shakedown shootout monster-reign that crimedom called... The System"
The head of a syndicate in a major city, John Merrick, is the target of an investigation started by a newspaper. The owner of that newspaper uses this target to break off John Merrick's relationship with his daughter. When he is called to testify in a trial, John first breaks the fifth commandment of the United States Constitution. But a series of personal problems and the realization that his syndicate is choking him leads to an abrupt change of feeling on the witness seat.