In the Brighton Beach area of New York City, a man named Yaponchik kills a Russian Elder by shooting him in the face with a 12 gauge pistol. It becomes the third such killing in which the perpetrator mutilated the body to prevent positive identification. Frank assists N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant McCormick, Yura Surova, from the Moscow Police Department, and undercover officer Andrei Medikov with the investigation. While inspecting the Elder's corpse, Frank notices an odd mark in the shape of a inverted "V." But he is unable, at first, to determine its meaning.