Odessa Beach — Bob Leuci

Fleeing the KGB, a Russian conman decamps for New York City to build a new empire of crime

Nikolai “Niki” Zorakoff has made a killing on the Soviet black market. He smuggles in luxury goods from the West -- the blue jeans and perfumes that wealthy Muscovites simply can't do without -- and sells them for small fortunes. But when the KGB takes an interest in Niki's operation, he knows he must run or die. And so, with a forged passport and as much money as he can carry, Niki heads to the Russian haven of Odessa Beach, where a man without a conscience can live like a god.

It isn't long before Niki makes contact with the mobsters of South Brooklyn, who loan him the capital to start a restaurant that becomes one of the area's hottest nightspots. But when the time comes to pay, Niki decides he would rather not settle up, starting a gang war that will pit two generations of mobsters against each other in a fight to the death.