Authentic Police Cases #25

A hardened career criminal who's served time for robbery and assault decides to make quick money as a hired killer to escape a life sentence as a fourth-time offender—starting with a hit on a grand jury witness in a downtown hotel. What begins as a lucrative one-job score spirals into a string of contracts across multiple states, each one pulling him deeper into the mob underworld, until his past finally catches up with him in the most unexpected way.

Three con artists fleeing a half-million-dollar phony gold-mine stock scheme across the Canadian border find themselves forced into increasingly dangerous territory when they adopt a brutal new angle to protect their operation—but greed and desperation set them on a collision course that none of them will escape cleanly. As related by Deputy Inspector W. J. O'Donnell, this 1953 case shows how a swindle can spiral into something far deadlier when the hunters and hunted both make moves they can't take back.

In 1953, a ruthless foreman named Ed Landers runs a brutal extortion racket at an Indiana rolling mill, forcing workers to pay "kick-backs" for their jobs and crushing anyone who resists—until a young worker named Paul Andrews decides to fight back with help from the police. When Landers learns of their plan and takes desperate measures to silence both Andrews and his girlfriend Ellen Wells, the tables finally turn on the "Kick-Back King."

Two seasoned con artists, Al Moran and Joe Bentz, set up a television repair shop in wealthy Farmington, New York as the perfect cover for a methodical burglary spree—systematically casing the town's richest families under the guise of customer visits. When patrolman Herlihy grows suspicious of their suspicious business practices and begins connecting the dots, the race is on between an honest cop and two career criminals who think they're always one step ahead.

Detective Steve Bullitt takes on a case for Mr. Lu Yin, a wealthy importer seeking a jade Buddha—a rare "winking Buddha" he acquired in Korea—that was smuggled into the States by a woman named Lola Vance and never delivered. As Bullitt digs into the mystery of the missing statue and its evasive courier, he uncovers a tangle of shadowy characters and unanswered questions about what makes this particular treasure worth the trouble.

Red Manning runs a mountain resort with a sinister purpose: it's a sanctuary for fugitives and criminals willing to pay exorbitant rates for shelter from the law. When three men suspected of robbing a bank arrive at the Maples, Manning recognizes an opportunity, but the other desperate guests have their own ideas about where that ninety thousand dollars might be hidden. As greed and suspicion boil over among the thieves under one roof, Manning uses every trick in his arsenal—intimidation, rigged games, and quick thinking—to keep control of his dangerous operation.

A Korean Communist spy's secrets pass through an unlikely courier—a glass eye smuggled inside a detention camp—and when the contact man flees, the F.B.I. dispatches Special Agent Frank Nelson to a border town to track him down. Racing against time and traitors who know he's coming, Nelson must outwit a network of spies before they vanish across the Mexican border with stolen atomic secrets. The hunt builds toward a confrontation at a camera shop where microfilm and gunfire will determine who walks away alive.

Holly Reid, a small-time gambler desperate to escape Los Angeles after a crushing losing streak, takes delivery of sixty thousand dollars meant for the men he owes—but decides to run with the money instead. Trapped in a remote town while his car is being repaired, Reid finds himself hunted by his creditors' hired killers, caught between their closing net and a local police chief who suspects something's amiss. As the noose tightens in his cramped hotel room, Reid must navigate a deadly game where every move could be his last.

When Marie Brandon discovers that her seemingly respectable boss Carlton Davies is actually bankrolling a criminal gambling racket, she becomes entangled in a dangerous web of blackmail and violence. Desperate criminals, a hidden ledger full of damning evidence, and a detective on the case all converge on Marie's small apartment, forcing her to choose between loyalty and survival. A tense showdown erupts as the truth about Davies and his criminal associates comes to light in this gritty tale of deception and double-cross.