A moonlit, seedy Rome, the scene of a ferocious slaughter. A Grand Project that will bury its suburbs under a pour of concrete. Two old enemies, a bandit and a carabiniere, engage in their final challenge. Meanwhile, as Italy sinks, politicians, high prelates and corrupt administrators scramble to participate in the perpetual orgy of this Low Criminal Empire.

"The Lebanese was dead. So many others were dead, some had become infamous, some were quietly doing time, dreaming of starting over, perhaps with an unpretentious little job. The Samurai was still there. The ancient battle name now denounced only abandoned dreams. It had been given to him by the Dandi, but he had tried to be worthy of it. And the power, that one, was concrete, alive, real. The Samurai was number one."