Crime Does Not Pay #73

Charles Biro's cover for this March 1949 issue captures a breathless rooftop pursuit, with a purple-suited criminal teetering across a plank while police officers close in from one roof and panicked accomplices scramble below — the desperate "Help! I'm falling!" speech bubble saying everything about how badly this caper is going. It's a perfectly composed snapshot of the pressure-cooker tension that made Crime Does Not Pay "The Original and Best" true-crime anthology of its era. Inside, George Tuska illustrates the story of Peter Feflin, a lawman whose nerve holds steady even when staring down two revolvers in the hands of a frenzied killer — exactly the kind of gritty, morally clear storytelling this series did so well.