They are the gods of crime - a political bogeyman used to scare up votes come election time. They are cabal of international arms dealers, money launderers, and assassins, their identities and the location of their base of operations mysteries. To those in the underworld, they are the Council.Once the center of America's silk trade, Paterson, New Jersey, is now a grim specter of its former self. In an abandoned warehouse, Council member Alice Kent has set up shop selling the Japanese nerve gas Sarin, enough to poison the entire island of Manhattan. The problem: Patsy De Marco has stumbled across Alice's operation and wants it out of his neighborhood. The Council has never had a problem dealing with nosy locals like Patsy, and Alice is their most ruthless killer. Getting rid of DeMarco will be her pleasure.But Patsy is no ordinary local. Famous in his prime as a boxing trainer and promoter, Patsy has two adopted sons, Tommy Boyle and Miguel Meza, who are local legends: they competed against each other for the Golden Gloves, the ultimate prize for young welterweights. Patsy's daughter, Natalia, is a supermodel living in Manhattan with the son of - and heir apparent to - the head of the Scotti crime family, John Scotti.But Patsy's vision for his sons didn't go as planned. Tommy became a Paterson cop working the night shift in a neighborhood overrun with crime and corruption; Meza works for the Scotti crime family in Paterson and is one of the country's most sought-after and respected enforcers.When Patsy's car goes over the Paterson waterfall, it's business as usual for the Council. But when Stephanie Shane, an investigator working for the navy, starts asking questions, Tommy, Meza, and John Scotti realize that De Marco's death was no-run-of-the mill homicide. Together with Natalia and Stephanie, this unlikely group, working from both sides of the law, will have to battle the greatest criminal minds the world over - or die trying.