Ellen is in distress and informs Carney that Robert’s boss, a lawyer named Ned Garrity, has been found shot to death. The police want to question Robert because they believe he was the last person to see Garrity alive. Spurred by Ellen’s plea and pressure from Elizabeth and Marie, Carney agrees to search for him. After visiting two of Robert’s friends, Carney learns that Robert has a girlfriend named Ramona whom he hasn’t told Ellen about. Later, two detectives visit Carney’s store to question him about his nephew and the murdered lawyer, whose political work at Borough Hall may be connected to an ongoing Queens corruption scandal. One detective reveals that he knows about Carney’s past as a fence. Just after they leave, Robert calls Carney directly and says they need to meet.

Carney meets Robert, who reveals that he witnessed his boss’s murder. Robert explains that Garrity had ties to Donald Manes and was involved in questionable political and financial dealings. The night of the murder, Robert overheard Garrity arguing with a mobster named Lombardi about a broken agreement. Robert then watched Lombardi shoot Garrity in the face. He managed to escape after retrieving the office keys from Garrity’s body, with Lombardi firing shots at him as he fled. Fearing that the Mafia has influence over the police, Robert spent the night with his girlfriend rather than going home. Realizing the danger, Carney instructs Robert to go “[o]n the lam” at a specific hotel in Newark, New Jersey, under an alias (285). After sending Robert to Newark, Carney decides to call Pepper for help.

Retired mobster Carlo “the Rabbit” Blasi is summoned to a closed-down cathouse by his nephew Junior, who has just murdered a man without authorization. The killing violates orders to keep a low profile during a major federal crackdown on the crime families. The Rabbit reluctantly helps his nephew cover up the crime, taking his blood-stained clothes and gun. Junior reveals that a witness, a Black driver, saw him fleeing the scene. After learning where the murder occurred, the Rabbit says he will contact someone he knows in the 112th Precinct.

Carney meets with Pepper, who is also retired. At their former haunt, now a gentrified bar, Carney explains that the witness is his nephew Robert, who is now in hiding and afraid of the Mafia. Concerned that the Mob may come after Robert or his mother to ensure his silence, Carney asks for help. Pepper recalls someone who once worked for the Lombardis and agrees to help Robert.

Carney experiences another visitation from his dead cousin Freddie, this time giving him a tour of his Strivers’ Row home. Freddie praises Carney’s success and suggests that Carney’s past criminal actions indirectly caused his condescending in-laws to lose their own house, allowing him to get back at them as well. 

The next day, Carney meets with Henry Pierce, his late friend’s son, to gather information about the city’s corruption scandal under the pretense of helping a friend. Henry explains that Manes’s downfall has thrown the city’s network of bribery into chaos. When Carney asks about Lombardi, Henry identifies Carmine Lombardi of the Bonanno crime family as the only mobster by that name he knows. Meanwhile, Pepper conducts surveillance on Ellen. He observes a professional-looking man enter her building and follows him inside. Pepper finds the intruder holding Ellen at knifepoint. After a brief, tense standoff, the man flees. As Pepper bends to right the overturned table, he throws out his back.

The Rabbit meets his nephew Junior after violently collecting a debt. He reveals that his police contact confirmed that detectives investigating Garrity’s murder have made little progress. The Rabbit recounts his own attempt to intimidate the driver’s mother, which he abandoned after encountering another man at her apartment. He explains to Junior that they can’t risk any killings because of the impending Commission trial, making Junior’s unsanctioned killing extremely dangerous for them both. 

At the furniture store, Carney is unexpectedly visited by a pregnant Rita, who tells him that she hasn’t seen Uncle Rich since the Waldorf job. Later, Henry tells Carney that investigators are examining Manes’s mob ties and the Lombardi angle, including Carmine Lombardi’s son, whose cable-installation company sought lucrative contracts connected to Manes’s authority as borough president.

Carney visits Robert, who reveals that Garrity and Lombardi had been arguing over a bribe for a cable contract that never materialized and that he took the briefcase of cash while escaping. Robert wants to use the money to flee to California, which would give the Mob another reason to pursue him.

The Rabbit cases Carney’s Furniture before his planned confrontation with Carney. He calls his nephew Carmine Lombardi Junior, who reveals that his father, Carmine Lombardi, has learned that federal investigators are looking into cable franchises and has questioned Junior about his business dealings. Recalling how he has always cleaned up Junior’s messes, the Rabbit reflects on how ambitious gangsters meet violent ends and resolves to eliminate the witness to protect his own retirement. 

Meanwhile, Carney experiences another visitation in which Freddie tells him to save himself. After the injured Pepper is brought to the Carneys’ house, he tells Ellen and Elizabeth that Robert witnessed a mob murder and is currently safe. Carney also discovers a letter from Van Wyck Realty offering to buy his buildings. After reflecting on the different parts of himself and the city’s enduring cycles of corruption and power, Carney continues preparing his plan. Pepper, recovering at the Carneys’ house, strongly objects when Carney tells him about the dangerous plan, and he understands that Carney has shared it so that someone will know what happened if he doesn’t return. Carney admits that he once briefly considered letting Freddie suffer the consequences of his choices and that he recently considered giving Robert’s location to the Mob to end the situation. Pepper warns that the plan is extremely dangerous and urges Carney to wait until he can accompany him. Nevertheless, Carney resolves to follow through, hoping that this time he can “make it right” (337).

The Rabbit waits outside the offices of Viso-Tech, the cable company run by Junior. Expecting that Junior will have both Carney and the driver killed, the Rabbit reflects that although Junior is violent, he lacks the cold cunning of a real killer. Carney arrives alone and is escorted to Junior’s office, where he makes an elaborate sales pitch. He offers to return the stolen $100,000, adds an additional $100,000 of his own money as compensation, and provides Garrity’s business records concerning Viso-Tech. He also gives a “lifetime guarantee” that his nephew will disappear permanently and remain silent. Junior rejects the offer and signals the Rabbit to draw his gun as he demands the driver’s location. As Carney continues to plead his case, the Rabbit fatally shoots his own nephew. He informs Carney that he “bought” the deal because killing Robert and Carney would create too many bodies and too much attention. After Carney helps the Rabbit place Junior’s corpse into a body bag intended for him, he lets Carney go.

While at dinner, Carney and Elizabeth discuss a massive buyout offer for his 125th Street properties from Van Wyck Realty. The real-estate giant, acting on computer projections that the property will prove to be a valuable investment in over 20 years, has offered a life-changing sum. The offer leads Carney to consider retirement and the possibility of living elsewhere, but he finds himself deeply attached to the struggle and life of New York. Meanwhile, Carney sees Robert off as his nephew leaves for California to start over. Six months later, the gun used to kill Garrity is recovered from the home of a victim of a gangland killing, and the police clear Robert as a person of interest. Robert tells Ellen that he isn’t coming back, and Ramona joins him in San Diego. As Carney reflects on the Van Wyck offer, he remembers that it was the old man Van Wyck who had his cousin Freddie killed decades ago, leaving him to ponder the decision while feeling that leaving New York would be “like going on the lam from [him]self” (352).