Shepsel comes back to East Harlem after a thirty year absence to make an amends to his half brother the Barracuda, but is met with anything, but kindness as he is drawn into a web of insanity by Barracuda which places both their lives in Jeopardy.

SYNOPSIS:

In this gangster - esque drama, Shepsel, succcessful suburbanite, and recovering alcoholic, braves Louie's Pool Hall in East Harlem to visit his half brother, Salvatore( AKA Barracuda) in order to make amends for running from a botched robbery attempt in which Salvatore took the fall, landing in prison. Shepsel, peace - loving, and acculturated, finds in Salvatore a bruised, and badly beaten, washed up drug dealer hanging on to his tenuous gang identity, and mourning the loss of his self respect - forced out of the family business, unable to live up to their father's brutal mob standards of masculinity. Clearly in the midst of some kind of crisis, embittered and drinking himself to oblivion, Salvatore makes it clear that if Shepsel wants his forgiveness he's going to have to earn it by acting like a real man - one who boozes, brawls and randomly fires a bee bee gun out an open window. When the wife of Carlos, a rival gang member - the rival gang member who inflicted Salvatore's bruises - is shot in the face by a stray bee-bee, the situation spirals out of control. As Carlos promises to retaliate, Shepsel becomes so embroiled in his brother's lifestyle that escaping his quest alive becomes more and more unlikely. When Carlos returns with a gun, Salvatore realizes that only he has the power to stop the downward spiraling events. With worlds hanging in the balance, Salvatore makes the ultimate sacrifice, and in this bold move earns a kind of redemption for both himself and his step brother.

SHEPSEL AND THE BARRACUDA