AllMovie

Marino Girolami directed this violent crime film under the pseudonym "Franco Martinelli." The story concerns a special undercover squad attached to the Rome police force and commanded by Inspector Betti (Maurizio Merli). Through various episodic encounters, including the tragic shooting of Betti's partner, who is later attacked and savagely beaten in his wheelchair, a portrait emerges of a city immersed in violence, and to which violence is the only answer. Police brutality is rampant in this film, and is presented as reasonable if not encouraged. When mobsters break into the home of the Police Chief (Richard Conte) and rape his young daughter (Daniela Giordano) in front of him, the retaliation from Betti's squad is swift and brutal, involving brass knuckles and baseball bats. Liberal viewers will not care for this film, which co-stars Silvano Tranquilli and John Steiner, but fans of violent Italian crime should seek it out. Girolami made the similar Roma, l'Altra Faccia della Violenza the following year.