Lorenzo Carcaterra – Shakes to his friends Michael Sullivan and Tommy Marcano – were best friends as children. Their childhood was in Hell’s Kitchen. It was a neighborhood filled with scams and shakedowns. However, the rules were well-known and understood by all. They admired Father Bobby Carelli as a father, because he understood their children better than many adults. He also knew more about them than any adult would. Their lives were forever changed in 1967 when they fell for a common teenage prank. They were sentenced to different terms at Wilkinson Home for Boys. They were abused physically, emotionally, and sexually by Sean Nokes (the predatory guard in their cell block), and his fellow guards Ralph Ferguson and Henry Addison. However, there were also other good figures at the home including some other guards. The home had a profound impact on the lives of the four men. Not all were able recover from it. They made a promise to never talk about their experience with each other or others. Now, thirteen years later, Tommy and Johnny are career criminals. Michael is an assistant district attorney, and Shakes is a newspaper reporter. Their friendship has become looser than ever since they were kids. Tommy and John stumble upon Nokes in a restaurant. This leads to Shakes, Michael and their alliance to seek revenge on Nokes as well as the four guards who abuse them. Michael knew the details of his plan for revenge long before Tommy and John saw Nokes. However, this sighting changes everything. Michael is in a precarious situation, as John and Tommy are. The plan fails. Shakes is responsible for most of the implementation of the plan. He has to recruit Hell’s Kitchen’s mob boss King Benny and Carol Martinez (John’s childhood friend), to help him. The plan includes co-opting Danny Snyder, an elderly lawyer who admitted that he is not the most suitable choice for him as an alcoholic. However, the key part of the plan is the requirement for an irreproachable figure who can perjure himself or herself. That person is Father Bobby, which Shakes and Michael hope will be their Father. Even if Father Bobby knew about the abuse, he may not have the ability to give his friends that huge favor. It is he who must balance the morality and reality of the situation within his own head in order to decide what to do. –Huggo