An elderly career gangster recounts his life in candid, unvarnished detail — from a poverty-stricken childhood and initiation into the criminal underworld to years spent running gambling dens, managing prostitutes, serving prison time and fighting in wartime, all governed by a strict code of loyalty and ritual. Told as a series of personal reminiscences, the narrative illuminates the day-to-day workings and brutal realities of organized crime, the physical markings and ceremonies that bind men to their bosses, and the mix of camaraderie, pride and moral compromise that sustained him, while also reflecting on aging, loss and the social changes that gradually made his way of life obsolete.