"The Syndic" by C. M. Kornbluth is a science fiction novel published in 1953. In a future North America, rival criminal gangs have overthrown the federal government and divided the continent between them. Charles Orsino, a low-ranking protection money collector for the Syndic, volunteers to go undercover and infiltrate the exiled government after a failed assassination attempt. His dangerous mission will force him to question everything about the society he serves and what it means to govern. (This is an automatically generated summary.)