Mike’s memoir begins with his “first real job” (4)—the beginning of his career working for a criminal boss known as “the man in Detroit” (22). Mike references a criminal mentor figure whom he calls “the Ghost.” Mike has ridden his “old motorcycle” to Philadelphia from his home in Michigan and abandons the bike because it has just broken down. He hitchhikes the rest of the way, acknowledging this is especially difficult because he cannot speak. Mike is going to meet a group of criminals whom he calls “the Blue Crew” (4) because they contacted him via one of his color-coded pagers—the blue one. (He will explain the color coding in Chapter 4.)

The Blue Crew is a group of men from New York, and Mike nicknames them “Manhattan” and “Brooklyn” according to their accents and personalities. The men are taken aback at Mike’s youthful appearance, and they express skepticism. Mike is 17 years old but tells them he is 18. These men have already “planned the whole operation from beginning to end,” and Mike is “just the specialist” (6), brought in only at the last minute to exercise his special skill at picking locks.