"West Ham is mediocre. But their firm is first-rate." So a young American is told soon after arriving in London. West Ham is a London football team. "Firms" are the names for organized gangs of supporters who plan and provoke fights with the firms of opposing teams. The firms are quasi-military, the level of violence is brutal, and then the gang members return to their everyday lives as office workers, retail clerks, drivers, government servants, husbands and fathers.