
Vinnie Terranova does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city neighborhood form the underlying dramatic base throughout the series, bringing him into conflict with his conservative mother and other family members while acting undercover as syndicate enforcer.

Vinnie is released from prison where he has been for two years to establish his cover. He meets his boss, Frank McPike and gets to see his coach and mentor, Jerry Greco. Greco is killed and Vinnie demands to be put in to finish the investigation. He uses his ingenuity to get a foothold in the Steelgrave crime family, but it will take a while to finish this job.

Vinnie and Sonny's right hand man, Tony Grecco, has a run-in with the cops causing Vinnie to be arrested. The Steelgraves find that guns are being exported illegally using their pier and decide to take possession of the guns and sell them back to the owner.

In an attempt to take over Sonny Steelgrave’s business, mob head Paul Patrice frames Sonny for several murder attempts he makes on the life of the special prosecutor investigating Sonny.

A psychopathic murderer posing as Sonny's nephew double-crosses Sonny and holds Vinnie's girlfriend Gina hostage.

Vinnie nearly blows his cover when he becomes obsessed with finding out who killed his cousin, causing Frank to threaten him with dismissal. Frank desperately wants Vinnie to concentrate on nailing the Zaratzos, who are trying to arrange a drug smuggling deal with Sonny, because they killed one of Frank's agents.

After several deals go sour, Sonny starts suspecting Vinnie may be a plant. Frank orders Vinnie to drop the case when he finds out the local police have an informer in Sonny's operations. Sid has Frank picked up and tortured, but Vinnie and undercover cop Karen Malloy rescue him. Karen's disappearance points the finger at Sid as the leak.

After his mother is mugged in Brooklyn, an enraged Vinnie sets out to find the punk who did it, but when he visits his mother in the hospital, it breaks his heart that she still won't forgive him for his life of “crime.”

Sonny’s cruel punishment of a lounge singer who wants out of his contract triggers a cascade of events that leads to Vinnie’s being photographed with McPike — a photo that is to be delivered to Sonny.

Sonny’s impending marriage to a syndicate boss’ daughter begins a supposedly businesslike realignment of “families,” but Vinnie learns that the wedding is a pretext for a bloody gang war.

An outraged Sonny Steelgrave accuses Vinnie of betraying him to his arch-rival, then realizes the devastating truth — that his paisan is an undercover Federal agent.
Created by: Frank Lupo, Stephen J. Cannell
Available on: CBS