Gang Smashers follows an undercover female agent who poses as a cabaret singer to expose a racketeering Harlem nightclub owner. It features the actor Lawrence Criner who also starred in The Flying Ace and Black Gold. This poster incorporates many of the quintessential tropes of 1930s gangster movies, including a character with a fixed, stony expression; a fur coat; a reference to gun violence or other action (as suggested by the miniature figures surrounding McKinney’s name); and a gun aimed at the viewer.