NYPD Detective Buddy Manucci has been getting flak from the higher-ups in the New York City police force he works for because his team of renegade policemen, known as The Seven-Ups (the name comes from the fact that most convictions done by the team heralds jail sentences to criminals from Seven years and Up) has been using unorthodox methods to capture criminals; this is illustrated as the team ransacks an antiques store that is a front for the running of counterfeit money.
Also, there have been a rash of kidnappings; the twist is that it seems that only upper echelon criminals (Mafioso and white-collar types) are the ones being kidnapped, illustrated when Max Kalish is kidnapped and a ransom is paid at a car wash. This leads to many plot twists in which Manucci tries to figure out the puzzle, with help supplied to him by an informant (Tony Lo Bianco), who turns out to be untrustworthy, leading to the death of one of the Seven-Up officers.
Manucci figures out the puzzle, but not before The Seven-Ups splinter from the fallout, and Manucci's life is placed in jeopardy.
Where is a ransom paid?
at a car wash