 A middle-aged crime boss (Malcolm McDowell) smugly reflects back from 1999, narrating the brutality which made him triumphant - and feared. As an unnamed young hood (played by Paul Bettany) in Swinging 60 s London, he seemed to ape his mod boss Freddie Mays (David Thewlis), and do anything for him. But his narration exposes all-consuming envy: of Freddie s supremacy, and especially his tall bird (Saffron Burrows). The baby shark develops his viciousness and backstabbing, scheming to be Gangster No. 1.