Edward Sacchi is a wealthy and apparently content married man but underneath he is driven by a desire to seduce and discard women. One of his conquests, Lucy, falls in love with him and when spurned, commits suicide. Edward is shocked but continues as before. Each of his lovers are subsequently murdered and he is arrested. However, his wife saves him by arranging an appointment with the real killer...

Sicily, Fascist Italy, 1925. Dictator Benito Mussolini appoints Cesare Mori, a man as tough as he is honest, as the new police prefect of Palermo and entrusts him with the arduous task of putting an end to the Mafia, a sinister criminal organization that has sown terror on the island for centuries.