A crime spree in New York forces the police commissioner to turn to Englishman Simon Templar, who fights lawlessness and corruption through unorthodox methods. Templar sets his sights on individual crimes bosses, and after bringing down two vicious leaders through disguise and deception, discovers that there is a mastermind behind all the city's crime.

Annie (Ann Gillis), an orphan, (based on Harold Gray's comic strip but who is at no point in the film called 'Little Orphan Annie), is befriended by a fight manager, 'Pop' Corrigan (J. Farrell MacDonald). She brings him Johnny Adams (Robert Kent), a promising prizefighter. Annie gets the people of the neighborhood to finance his training. But on the night of Johnny's big fight, a gambling syndicate locks him in a gymnasium and it appears the neighborhood folks will lose their investment.