Shock Detective Cases #20

A career criminal with two decades of cold-blooded crimes behind him, Joseph Medley orchestrates an elaborate kidnapping and robbery targeting a wealthy ex-mayor named Mr. Merton—but his success proves short-lived when betrayal from within his own gang threatens to unravel everything. This true crime story, based on actual cases, traces Medley's rise through forgery and extortion to his downfall, driven by the chance observance of those he's wronged.

Inspector Roc investigates the murder of Valda, a beautiful and cunning nightclub owner in New Orleans, who has left a trail of jilted lovers and wronged associates in her wake. When a knife is found in her body but yields no blood, the inspector realizes the weapon was planted after her death—and the real killer used poison. As Roc methodically exposes the truth behind Valda's demise, he corners the person responsible and reveals the twisted motive that lay beneath her glamorous facade.

When Joe Corregio and Sammy Green hit Frenchy's Bar for a holdup in 1943, their botched robbery leaves bodies in its wake—and no witnesses the police can rely on. The pair embarks on a desperate crime spree across upstate New York, but their luck and nerve begin to fray as each job brings closer calls and higher stakes. What starts as a race against the clock becomes a test of whether the law's patience will outlast the killers' ability to stay one step ahead.

Vicious criminal Hank Trude and his partner pull off an armored car robbery, only to have their stolen cash seized by an undercover cop posing as a fence. After being locked away for life, Hank engineers a daring prison break and the two fugitives hit the streets again, planning a factory payroll heist that spirals violently out of control when a determined watchman stands in their way. This hard-boiled crime tale from 1952 shows how desperation and ruthlessness lead these hoods down a path with nowhere left to run.