Bootleggers Louis Scorpio (Wallace Beery) and Johnny Franks (Ralph Bellamy), with the advice of their alcoholic lawyer Richard Newton (Lewis Stone), try to muscle in on the territory of gangster "Smiling Joe" Colimo (John Miljan). Franks kills Colimo's brother and tries to frame Scorpio, but Scorpio kills both him and {Colimo. Newspaper reporters Hank Rogers (Johnny Mack Brown) and Carl Luckner (Clark Gable) investigate with help from "The Secret Six," a consortium of businessmen eager to fight crime, but when Scorpio's moll Anne Courtland (Jean Harlow) tries to help them, Scorpio kidnaps her and Carl. The two hostages are rescued by "The Secret Six" and the police, and Scorpio and Newton shoot each other fighting over their money.