[opening narration] They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the trigger. And then it was over.

Life was good. A house on the New Jersey|Jersey side across the river. The smell of freshly cut lawns. The sounds of children playing. A beautiful wife and a baby girl. The come true. But dreams have a nasty habit of going bad when you're not looking.

The sun went down with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding.

I didn't like the way the show started, but they had given me the best seat in the house, front row center.

When the darkness fell, New York City became something else, any old Frank Sinatra|Sinatra song notwithstanding. Bad things happened in the night, on the streets of that other city. Noir York City.

Turn around, walk away, blow town. That would have been the smart thing to do. I guess I wasn't that smart.

Lupino thought he could get to us by taking out Alex and leaving me to take the fall for it. All he had gotten was my attention.

It was a lucky break. The goons inside were spooked, but luck always came with a price tag.

[after listening to a radio report accusing him of murdering his colleague] I had just gotten my fifteen minutes of fame.

One thing you can count on: You push a man too far, and sooner or later he'll start pushing back.