Racket Squad in Action #25

A store owner hit hard by an accident he can't afford to fix gets sucked into a loan shark's trap—and when he can't keep up payments, Tuffy Quinn offers a way out that's far worse than the debt. Caught between violence and coercion, the old man must choose between his conscience and his survival as Quinn pushes him deeper into a criminal scheme.

Detective Bob Underwood of the Bunco Squad investigates a spiritualist racket run by Madame De Fayne, who preys on grieving people by posing as a medium channeling their deceased loved ones—all while an accomplice researches their finances to determine how much they can extract. When a desperate widow is lured into handing over five thousand dollars, Underwood moves in with evidence gathered from the medium's own records. A tense 1957 crime story about how con artists exploit humanity's deepest desires.

When a small grocer refuses to pay protection money to a racketeer who's planted rancid butter in his store, he takes the brave step of reporting the extortion scheme to police. The Racket Squad is ready to catch the criminal red-handed on his next visit, turning a frightened shopkeeper into a witness to justice in 1950s America.

Con Burkley's got a slick real estate scheme down to a science—he poses as a legitimate agent, shows unsuspecting families palatial homes that aren't actually for sale, and pockets their cash before disappearing to the next city. When a suspicious typist and an observant buyer blow his cover, Burkley scrambles to escape the net closing in around him and his crooked lawyer accomplice. It's a sharp lesson in how the most dangerous con artists aren't always the flashiest—they're the patient ones who've perfected their craft.

His Brother's Keeper pairs a man named Bailey with a clever lesson in police work: Captain Lynch and his team stage an elaborate blackmail scheme to show Bailey firsthand how anyone can fall victim to extortion and coercion. When Bailey finally learns the truth—that his blackmailers are actually police personnel including a policewoman and a photographer—he comes away with a hard-won understanding that in the fight against crime, we all have a stake in protecting each other.