An ambitious detective is recruited into a clandestine gang, where corruption and retribution reach the top of California's political system.

SYNOPSIS:

A lone Internal Affairs investigator sits in LAPD HQ. He listens to a laptop recording through headphones. Garbled. Useless. A quick tour of Renzo and Sam’s modest apartment: photos of Sam’s dream ranch business. Sam on a horse, Sam at the stables. None of Renzo’s dreams. His first day on the LAPD after policing Canada sees grisly domestic murder: a child’s body spread around a suburban Christmas kitchen. Here, empathetic Renzo gets to meet new partner George Mitchum (48): tough, vain, alpha. Their military pasts seem to suit the partnership. Renzo appears to be the only one tormented by PTSD. George tests Renzo, introduces him to super-cool Stevie. They discuss California Governor S S Thesiger’s public approach to street crime, revealing what George and Stevie want to hear: Renzo is raw Guncrew material.

Across town, Mayor Elizabeth Stuart’s grand office. Beth to her cohorts, she plots and politicizes, adores Thesiger on TV. The Naval thread kicks in: from George’s USMC tattoo; to Thesiger’s initials; to Beth’s nickname (Old Goat), her Volunteer Reserve work and how she, ultimately, chooses to murder George (her USMC bayonet). In a grotty South Central household, gang members raping a mother, ensuring her silence by threatening her baby. The Guncrew receives the tip off. They zip over to the house, destroy the rapists, offer help to the girl in the shape of a revolver. Cut throat justice and promises of career advancement are all Renzo needs: he’s in. Renzo, George and Stevie celebrate their expansion while innocent Sam shops for pregnancy tests. Renzo gets cold feet: George lays it down - it’s time to go to work. Beth’s office, more of the city’s Guncrew Alphas. She commands them like a teacher over naughty teenagers, a twinkle in her eye. For the absent new recruit, she advises the usual: blackmail the Boy by using the Girl. Pictures of Sam’s daily life anonymously appear. A first tinge of paranoia: Beth records it all for Thesiger; the real mastermind, his public office persona a mere front.

Renzo, repentant one minute, jubilant the next, whisks Sam to Carmel for a break. Sam, enthusiastic in her dream business research, has a working ranch all planned. Their first night out of town, George calls Renzo back for his first solo kill. Sam, outraged, still unaware of Renzo’s predicament, tells him to just go. Membership is tough on everyone. George’s personal demons see his marriage dissipating, and it’s not like the poor girl hasn’t tried. His wife, Vicky, shows him the door. George and Renzo, back together, go about counter-blackmailing Beth with her daughter’s drug habit. Internal Affairs continue to monitor everyone, achieving their breakthrough: a recording between George and Thesiger. Allegiances begin to unravel. Paranoia grips. Renzo refuses to help George steal informant money. The IA Chief, ‘Thorough’ Jackson, taunts Beth, lays his trap. At an outdoor public relations event, Beth severs ties with the past, spinning her Naval resignation to the Press. Thesiger manipulates from above. A huge job comes in for all Guncrews. Dawn: the middle of nowhere. A ramshackle farmhouse, the barest of intelligence. It all goes to hell. It should be a handful of gangsters, but there’s a huge biker gang thrown in. Shotguns, machine guns, motorcycles, girls, cops, gangsters, bikers, all shooting, bleeding, dying. Police back-up arrives as the Guncrews go blood crazy, emerging the victors.

Back in LA, George, intending murder, closes in on Beth. At a night time rendezvous, Renzo challenges George to prevent Beth’s death, only to witness her stabbing George to death. In the small hours, Thesiger is disturbed in his home. Investigating, he finds a bloodied Renzo who easily overpowers him, interrogates him, empties his safe. Dawn again. Renzo makes it to his apartment, where surviving Guncrew members hunt him down. His training kicks in. He hides Sam as the assailants break in. The gun battle brings forth his composure and skill.

When it’s over, he takes a shell shocked Sam and, along with the stash from Thesiger’s safe, they head north to snowy Shasta County, where Renzo grew up. They take sanctuary in a remote hunting cabin. Just then, a twig snaps, a pine cone falls. They’ll never feel completely alone, or be completely safe, ever again.

THE GUNCREW