Nick Savoli's men picked the wrong insurance broker to rub out when they killed Claude Fellows. As one of the Shadow's agents, he personally goes on a rampage through the Chicago underworld.
- Anyone Can Die: The story proves that being one of the Shadow's agents does not confer immunity to bullets.
- Because Im Jonsey: The Shadow actually pulls this as a ruse to pull off a "two men in the same place" routine note
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Homicide Twins engage in a bit of this against Harry to make him talk. At first they don't even bother to ask any questions of him, making the torture at first border on For the Evulz.
- Distressed Dude: Harry Vincent, yet again.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Monk Thurman shoots off the trigger fingers of Schultz and Spirak — while feigning being asleep in a crowded casino.
- Latex Perfection: The Shadow uses this to disguise himself as Monk Thurman and an elderly gambling-house patron.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The Shadow sets one of these up between Savoli and Larrigan, by using himself as the bait — twice.
- The Mole: Both Harry Vincent and The Shadow himself infiltrate Savoli's operation.
- Mook Horror Show: Hymie Schultz and "Four-Gun" Spivak are treated to two showings — both thanks to The Shadow as Monk Thurman.
- No Chicago Outfit Members Were Harmed: Since this novel was published in 1931, while most of the Real Life gangsters were at liberty, this was most likely editorially enforced so as not to bring down the murderous wrath of the entirety of the Chicago mobs on Street and Smith. Be that as it may, it's fairly certain that Nick Savoli and Mike Borrango can only be Al Capone and Frank Nitti, while their nemesis Mike Larrigan is Bugs Moran, an Irish mobster who was Capone's arch-enemy. "Machine-Gun" MacGinnis might be Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, top Capone assassin. Tony Accardo might have provided the inspiration for the "Homicide Twins" Gennaro and Anelmo.
- Reconcile the Bitter Foes: Savoli and Larrigan make peace, cementing it with both Monk Thurman and The Shadow's blood ( They're both one and the same, and guess who actually ends up dead by the end of the novel.).
- Ripped from the Headlines/Very Loosely Based on a True Story: This story was written only two years after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and provided readers some escapism where they could see Al Capone and co. get the kind of justice they deserved in Real Life. As Capone and the rest were still at large, the ending for Savoli was very different from Capone's (Capone died of syphilis after a lengthy stay at both Leavenworth and Alcatraz, for instance)
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Essentially what the plot is — The Shadow dismantles Nick Savoli's organization from the inside out to avenge the death of Claude Fellows.
- And This Is for...: The Shadow explicitly namechecks Fellows' death as the reason he decided that the Savoli and Larrigan mobs had to be destroyed in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Savoli, Borrango and the rest of the mob.
- Torture Always Works: Harry was literally seconds from spilling everything he knew about The Shadow after the brutal torture he was subjected to. Fortunately The Shadow shows up at that exact moment to rescue him.
