In Spirou in New York, the Italian Mafia of New York is dismayed as their criminal activities seem to be cursed and Don Vito "Lucky" Cortizone, the Mafia Godfather, initiates a plan put forward by his second-in-command, Alfredo, to reverse their uncannily rotten luck: to plant a golden key into a Cortizone & Son product, Lucky's Pizza, and rewarding a million dollars to the lucky finders.

Informed they simply have to travel to New York to collect their prize, The Mafia believe they are receiving a talisman to counteract their misfortune.

When they arrive in New York, they learn the true identity of their hosts and promptly leave without accepting any mafia money, but are unexpectedly attacked by members of the Chinese Triad, the Mafia's chief rivals, and as a result, Spip is abducted.

Forced to collaborate with Cortizone in order to rescue Spip, they break into the Triad headquarters and discover the source of The Mafia's constant misfortune, a table with the power to influence good and bad fortune onto the subject of a photo placed onto the field, shaped in the design of a Taijitu, like the yin-yang, which is selected by Cortizone's Triad counterpart, "The Mandarin", who is the leader of the Chinese Triad and hides his deformed face with a hideous and grotesque mask.

Having levelled the balance of fortune, Cortizone and the Mandarin engage in a personal battle over briefcases containing money and a bomb, and following a deceptive swap of suitcases, the two rivals explode above the Hudson River.