The Lawbreakers is a 1961 American film directed by Joseph M. Newman. Made in a film noir style, the crime drama is based on the pilot episode of the 1961 television series The Asphalt Jungle and stars an ensemble cast including Jack Warden, Vera Miles, Robert Douglas, and Arch Johnson.
The film tells the story of a scheme to double-cross the syndicate and steal its money, and of a police commissioners efforts to investigate homicides that take place as the scheme unfolds while also fighting corruption in the city government and police department.
Plot summary
Allen Bardeman (Robert Douglas) is a prominent, married lawyer who collects money from the numbers racket for the syndicate. His legal secretary, Angela Walsh (Vera Miles), is also his mistress, and he provides her with a house of her own, where Sam Henry (Robert Bailey) – a corrupt New York City administrator who acts as a "bag man" for the syndicate – makes a weekly visit to pick up money from Bardeman. Bardemans lavish lifestyle and tax problems have placed him deeply in debt. Angela urges him to solve his money problems by staging a robbery of the syndicates money, using a man he knows will play the role of armed robber for him. She then visits Ed Rackin (Ken Lynch), a nightclub owner who looks out for the syndicates local interests and who Henry also visits to collect syndicate numbers proceeds. Their conversation reveals that Bardeman is unaware that they know one another, and that Angela and Rackin are scheming to take Bardemans money after the staged robbery and run off together.
Bardeman arranges to have the robbery take place at Angelas house during Henrys weekly visit. During the robbery, Henry unexpectedly pulls a gun on the disguised robber, who shoots and mortally wounds Henry. The robber turns out to be Rackin, who drives off in Henrys car with the money and the dying Henry. When the police find Henrys body at the wheel of his car alongside a road soon afterwards, New York Police Department Captain Matthew Gower (Jack Warden) and his homicide squad launch an investigation into his murder.
Gower is an idealistic and honest cop and outspoken critic of the corruption he finds all around him in the city government and police force. He has faced repeated reprimands and disciplinary action, including a demotion from deputy inspector to captain, at the hands of the corrupt Police Commissioner James Deane (David White), who punishes him when he interferes in syndicate activities. When Mayor Harold Emshaw (James Seay), facing pressure from the press to clean up the city government and police department, removes Deane from his position, he appoints Gower as acting commissioner, promoting him over the head of his superior, Chief Inspector Gus Honochek (Arch Johnson). Gower sets about creating a hand-picked team of honest detectives to work directly under him to investigate organized crime activities, including Sergeant Frank Orte (Douglas Odney) and the resentful Honochek.
Gowers men quickly determine that Henry was a syndicate collector, and observe Rackin meeting Joe Selkin (Robert H. Harris), a syndicate troubleshooter, at the airport. They secretly begin to follow Selkin. Selkin visits Bardemans office, accuses Bardeman of stealing the missing money, and orders him to return it by the following morning. After Selkin leaves, Angela comforts the panicky Bardeman. She urges him to call Rackin and tell him to bring the money to Bardeman; she tells Bardeman to threaten to tell Selkin that Rackin has the money if Rackin does not bring it. Bardeman agrees to make the call. Meanwhile, when word of Selkins visit to Bardeman reaches Gower, Gower and Orte begin to suspect that Bardeman is a frontman for the syndicate
Rackin visits Bardeman in his law office that evening without bringing the money and pulls a gun on Bardeman. When Bardeman tells Rackin that he has a way of protecting himself from such threats, Rackin shocks him by replying that he knows because Angela told him; it is the first time that Bardeman realizes that Angela and Rackin know one another. Rackin then shoots Bardeman to death and removes the audio tape from a tape recorder in Bardemans desk drawer that Angela had told him would be making a recording of the encounter. When Angela arrives at the office the following morning, she enters Bardemans office, sees his body on the floor, checks to make sure the tape is missing, and then collects a second tape recorder that has been running overnight and was hidden under a statue in the office. She then feigns emotional distress and calls the police.