Description

In early 1950s Los Angeles, LAPD Sergeant "Ed" Exley is determined to live up the reputation of his father, famed detective Preston Exley, who was killed by an unknown assailant whom Exley nicknamed "Rollo Tomasi". Already isolated from other officers by his intelligence, work ethic, and idealism, he volunteers to testify against them in the "Bloody Christmas" case in exchange for promotion to Detective Lieutenant. He rejects Captain Dudley Smith's advice that a detective should beat a confession out of a suspect or shoot him in the back for the greater good.

Plainclothes Officer Wendell "Bud" White, whom Exley considers a "mindless thug", is obsessed with viciously reprimanding woman-beaters. White confronts former cop Leland "Buzz" Meeks, a driver for Pierce Patchett, whose Fleur-de-Lis service runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to resemble film stars. White hates Exley due to his partner, Dick Stensland, being fired thanks to Exley's testimony. With the city's gangland kingpin Mickey Cohen imprisoned for tax evasion, Smith recruits White to torture out-of-town criminals trying to gain a foothold in Los Angeles.

Sgt. Jack Vincennes is a narcotics detective who moonlights as a technical advisor on Badge of Honor, a TV police drama series. Sid Hudgens, publisher of the Hush-Hush tabloid magazine, pays him for tips about celebrity arrests.

Exley investigates an apparent botched robbery and multiple homicide at the "Nite Owl" coffee shop. Stensland was one of the victims. Exley and Vincennes arrest three African-Americans for the murders; they later escape from police custody and are killed by Exley in a shootout. Exley is decorated for bravery.