 NYPD detective Buddy Manucci has been getting flak from the higher-ups in the New York City police force because his team of renegade policemen, known as the "seven-ups" (so called because most criminals they arrest receive sentences from seven years and up) has been using unorthodox methods to capture criminals; this is illustrated as the team ransacks an antiques store that is a front for the running of counterfeit money.There's also been a rash of kidnappings of mafia figures and white-collar criminals, such as when Max Kalish is kidnapped and a ransom is paid at a car wash.

Manucci and the squad learn of the kidnappings when crooked bail bondsman Festa is grabbed in public by two men claiming to be from the district attorney's office.Buddy gets information from his regular snitch, informant Vito Lucia, who turns out to be untrustworthy.