Thirty-five-year-old Jewish-American convict and junkie, Butch "Bullet" Stein, is released from prison on parole after serving an 8-year sentence for being an accomplice to a robbery, perpetrated by his friend, Irish-American gangster Paddy.

He also robs drug runner Flaco and stabs him in the eye, telling him to notify his boss Tank of his return.

Bullet keeps himself occupied by shooting heroin and robbing his neighbor's house for jewelry, which he and Lester sell to an Italian-American gangster named "Frankie Eyelashes".

He also encourages Ruby to follow his artistic dreams and has a deep friend-to-friend talk with Lester over his potential closeted homosexuality, because of his mother abandoning him and his father's death when he was a child, but he denies it.

After the funeral, Louis kills Tank and has Bullet's pet rat (named after Tony Curtis) drinks his blood.