Crime and Punishment #13

From Lev Gleason's long-running crime anthology comes this April 1949 entry, with a cover by Charles Biro that drops readers right into a tense backseat exchange — a sharp-dressed man in a yellow suit lights a cigarette while trading nervous small talk with a mustachioed accomplice in a green jacket, and a third figure slumped in the background hints that something has already gone very wrong. The banner along the bottom teases Police Sergeant Thomas Dorne closing in on the most dangerous criminal of his time, setting the stage for the kind of hard-boiled true-crime drama Lev Gleason's titles delivered so well. At a full 52 pages for just a dime, and sweetened by a $1,500 prize contest announcement, this is a genuinely satisfying snapshot of crime comics at their mid-century peak.