AllMovie

This stylishly photographed drama is set in the Lower East Side area known as "Alphabet City." There 19-year-oldJohnny has become a drug lord in charge of the neighborhood gangs and pushers. Unfortunately, he too has a boss and when he asks Johnny to burn down the tenement building that houses his mother and sister, the boy refuses and decides to go straight for the sake of his wife and child. This doesn't set well with his boss who sends gangsters out to kill him. Of course, the gangsters have to catch Johnny first.