Who wants to buy a horse farm?
When criminal mastermind Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider is released from prison after seven years, he goes to see a bookie named Cobby in an unnamed Midwest river city (probably Cincinnati), who arranges a meeting with Alonzo Emmerich, a lawyer. Emmerich listens to Doc's plan to steal jewelry worth half a million dollars or more. Doc needs $50,000 to hire three men—a "box man" (safecracker), a driver, and a "hooligan"—to help him pull off the caper. Emmerich agrees to provide the money and assume the responsibility for disposing of the loot.
Doc hires Louie Ciavelli, a professional safecracker. Ciavelli only trusts Gus Minissi, a hunchbacked diner owner, as the getaway driver. The final member of the gang is Dix Handley, a friend of Gus. Dix explains his goal to Doll Conovan, who is in love with him. His dream is to buy back the horse farm that his father lost during the Great Depression.
During the crime (an 11-minute sequence in the film), the criminals carry out their work. Ciavelli hammers through a brick wall to get into the jewelry store, deactivates a door alarm to let in Doc and Dix, and opens the main safe using home-brewed nitroglycerine ("the soup"). On their way out, Dix slugs an arriving security guard, who drops his revolver, which discharges and wounds Ciavelli in the belly. The men get away unseen, but a police manhunt begins.
Dix Handley