In the film, a yakuza member is released for prison and finds that his former territory has been taken over by a rival criminal organization.

Upon his release from prison, Kazama, accompanied by his fellow yakuza Takamoto, sets out to take vengeance on the gang that took over his territory and has meanwhile evolved into a prosperous and well-connected organization of businesses with significant influence.

He gathers the struggling members of his old gang who are willing to participate, including destitute gambler Kusunoki and his wife Masae as well as young Shiga, a.k.a.

Takamoto calls the company president of Daido Real Estate where Ogata works and demands 60 million yen as a ransom for the chairman, which the board approves.

Takamoto tells the company president to deliver it to a restaurant on the coast called The Seagull and to come alone, but the board suspects that Ogata is an inside man and assigns the transport to someone else.

Kazama shoots the bagman but is chased down by other yakuza before being picked up by Nagashi, who dies fighting the rival gang to buy time for the others to escape.

[8][3][9] In an interview with Fukasaku contained in the book Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, Chris Desjardins said, "The Gang series, even though a bit old-fashioned at first, as it progressed it became more true to life, for example your League Of Gangsters – a precursor of the jitsuroku type of yakuza picture that became commonplace in the seventies.

Such films as Gyangu domei (League of Gangsters, 1963), Kyokatsu koso waga jiinsei (Blackmail Is My Life, 1968), the science-fiction horror film Gamma daisan go: Uchi dai sakusen (The Green Slime, 1968) and Shikingen godatsu (Gambling Den Heist, 1975) typify Fukasaku’s early output.