Eddie Coyle is a veteran of the Boston underworld. He is a middleman dealer who supplies stolen weapons to the mafia. His “friends” are the “sixers” and “tough guys” of the Boston Mafia. The novel describes in detail from the inside the everyday life of the gangster business (including a series of armed raids on banks), and the operational work of special police units to combat organized crime, the “mechanics” of underground trade deals between gangsters and American military personnel... The novel, written in a harsh manner, presents is a classic example of a new type of crime action film (in the spirit of Joseph Wombo), without a romantic flair, showing a brutal duel between gangster syndicates and American law enforcement agencies. (The film of the same name was released in the USA in 1973. Directed by Peter Yates).