Sam Spade dictates a letter through Effie to John M Lawless a known gangster who hired Sam Spade yesterday. The subject was Joe Moralis. Flashback to when San Francisco was recovering from VJ Day and crime was practically at a standstill because the number one competitor in the west coast mob's had just been wiped in a hit and run accident out and Lawless was on trial for the same. Nothing about the trial made any sense that Lawless was taking the rap for his best friend Joe Moralis and what made even less sense was that the lawyer defending him was Joe's brother.