"A Piece of the Action" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon, and directed by James Komack, it was first broadcast on January 12, 1968. The Enterprise visits a planet with an Earth-like 1920s gangster culture, with Runyonesque dialog and costumes. This was the last Star Trek script credited to Gene L. Coon. Its repeat on August 30, 1968, was the last episode to air in the 8:30 pm time slot on Friday nights on NBC. Plot The Federation starship USS Enterprise has been ordered to Sigma Iotia II, where the space vessel Horizon was reported missing 100 years earlier. The ship receives a message from Bela Okmyx, an Iotian, who promises information about the Horizon and invites the crew down to the planet. First Officer Spock notes that their interference in the planet's development could violate the Prime Directive, but Captain Kirk points out that the Horizons arrival a century ago would have already contaminated the culture. Kirk, Spock, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy transport to the planet. They find themselves in a city fashioned after an American city of the 1920s, and some of the residents appear to be gangsters carrying Tommy guns. Okmyx's men escort the landing party to his offices; en route, they observe a drive-by shooting that kills one of their escorts, but the other continues on as if nothing had happened. They arrive at Okmyx's office, where Okmyx orders his men to make a retaliatory attack against a rival gang led by Jojo Krako. Spock discovers an Earth book, Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, published in 1992, and determines it was left by the crew of the Horizon. The Iotians have modelled their entire society on "The Book", which they regard with near-religious reverence. Okmyx demands the Enterprise crew supply his gang with "heaters" (phasers), and when Kirk refuses, threatens to kill them. The landing party is held while Okmyx uses a communicator to repeat the demand to Chief Engineer Scott. Kirk distracts their guards by intruding on their poker game and teaching them the fictitious game of "fizzbin", allowing Spock and McCoy to overpower them. McCoy and Spock flee to a radio station to contact the Enterprise and transport back to the ship, while Krako's men capture Kirk. Krako demands phasers of Kirk