BY REASON OF PRIVILEGE

When nine-year-old Tomás Colón is run over by the drunken son of a wealthy businessman, police uncover evidence of an international heroin-smuggling operation that is responsible for several murders. The young victims uncle, Detective Luis Ortiz, heads up an investigation that begins as a slam-dunk arrest. But a slick, influential attorney convinces the State Attorneys Office that the evidence is circumstantial and insufficient to secure a conviction, and the charges are dropped. Determined to gather concrete proof, Ortiz continues the case. He soon meets Kathryn DiAgostino, a forensics investigator who stirs up passion in him that he thought had died with his previous marriage. Its up to Ortiz and his fellow law enforcement officials to sift through a superficial, shallow world of privileged thugs in their effort to put a stop to a string of heinous crimes. As they do so, however, treachery and deceit spread like a cancer among business associates, friends, and lovers. They all seem to have the same goal