 Labor racketeer Carmine Ricca is acquitted of a multiple murder on a technicality, but after leaving the courthouse amid a sea of reporters and a mob of angry demonstrators, he is driven away - and some time later that day is found shot to death with his driver, lawyer, and a bodyguard. Inspector Harry Callahan and his new partner Earlington "Early" Smith drive by but are asked to leave by Callahan s boss Lt. Neil Briggs, who had Harry and Early transferred out of Homicide to Stakeout because he despises Harry s methods. Another mob figure is gunned down in his pool with a large gathering of guests, but it not until the killing of a known pimp - and after Harry has foiled a plane hijacking and liquor store holdup - that Harry and Early are reassigned to Homicide to head the investigation of these killings. Harry soon clashes with Briggs over the police s primary suspect, Frank Palancio - a clash that becomes hotter when a Palancio associate and a uniformed traffic officer are shot to death, and a subsequent raid on Palancio explodes in a firefight - a raid that Harry finds was a setup by the real killers.