In the process, he saves and then begins a romance with a low-level syndicate money-runner named Cuddles (Dolores Dorn).

Becoming a secret informant for the police, Tolly ends up playing both sides in his cagey campaign to bring down the remaining mobsters.

As Tolly prepares to leave, Gus arrives and informs him that Connors has assigned them to kill Cuddles and several other innocent witnesses.

Producer Ray Stark asked Fuller to write and direct a film based on the title of a magazine article written by Joseph F. Dinneen.

[5] A wanted poster of Tolly Devlin appears in a police station in Columbia's film of Sail a Crooked Ship (1961).