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A newspaper headline prompts Clete Vine (John Craven) to recall an incident in his childhood, 35 years ago. Growing up in a gang-infested neighborhood, young Clete (played by Glenn Walken, the brother of Christopher Walken) idolizes local mob boss Mr. Rose (Dennis Patrick), while Clete's best friend, Iggy (Barry Gordon), reserves his idolatry for his own father (Biff Elliot). When both boys witness Rose in the act of killing a man, Clete is intimidated into silence, but Iggy immediately heads to the police -- thereby setting off a four-decade marathon of duplicity, disillusionment, and death.