Lieutenant Nick Thomas was the brightest star in the LAPD and readily accepted the task of bringing down the cityas most notorious gangster Melvin Dupree, a.k.a. the Sickle. However, the resourceful drug lord proved more than a match for ordinary police tactics. He made a laughing stock of his would-be captors. Frustrated and embarrassed, the mayoras office demanded justiceaMelvin Dupreeas organization had to be stopped at any cost. Abandoning conventional methods, Lieutenant Thomas leads a small band of undercover detectives right into the fangs of the serpent and discovers loss, betrayal, and death. All will be scarred in this epic struggle of good vs. evil. Who emerges victorious? The reader must decide.