These were my boss’s orders:

"FIND A GIRL FROM THE UNDERWORLD. LIVE WITH HER."

That was my assignment – to be the magazine’s New York underworld reporter. Only one man knew about it, my editor.

It wasn’t hard, if you could live with violence, brutality, sordidness, B-girls, gunmen, gamblers, stick-up artists, all these I met. I became one of the mob. It was easy until the day I met Fister Marrock.

Fister took a liking to me, gave me a cut of his rackets. I was an underworld celebrity – sharp tailor-made suits, a big roll of money. Men feared me.

Then I learned to fear myself, to fear the man I had become. A crook who like to steal. A racketeer who got a bang out of smacking people around.

I LIKED THE LIFE TOO MUCH!