Underworld Crime #4

When a young hiring foreman named Brock Hordan refuses to bow to the mob's stranglehold on New York's docks, he sets himself on a collision course with the racketeers who've controlled pier employment for years. Caught between his conscience and the brutal threats of the organization's enforcers, Brock must decide whether to expose the corruption to the authorities or protect his own life. "Death on the Docks!" is a hard-hitting look at the everyday workers trapped under the mob's thumb and the one man who might dare to challenge them.

When Stooge Bancroft murders the notorious gangster Phil Madoon with his bare fists, he seizes control of the dead man's underworld gang—and immediately proves he'll use brutal force to keep them in line. His first big score is a factory payroll heist, executed with Stooge posing as a police officer while his terrified crew does the dirty work, but the scheme spirals into a deadly chase that claims innocent lives and leaves Detective Branigan hot on their trail. Now, with the heat rising and his gang growing restless over unpaid shares, Stooge's reign as "underworld mauler" faces its first real test from the very men he's been bullying.

In the Fourth Ward's shadowy underworld, ruthless loan shark Big John Markey runs his extortion racket with an iron fist—squeezing desperate victims like the owner of Herman's Luncheonette for every penny they owe. When a well-connected young man named Harvey Deane borrows two thousand dollars with a ruinous fifty-percent weekly interest, Big John spots an opportunity far more lucrative than simple loan collection, leveraging the boy's position at his uncle's bank to set a trap that will yield far greater profits. As Deane is forced deeper into criminality, the consequences of Big John's greed begin to spiral beyond his control.