Wanted Comics #14

Big Jack Zarto climbs from jealous schoolyard bully to ruthless gang lieutenant, learning that fear and cowardice can be just as profitable as muscle—but his rise through the ranks of organized crime sets him on a collision course with the law. Partnered with his knife-wielding enforcer Gyp, Zarto proves himself too clever by half, willing to take the fall for his partners' sake. As a narrator grimly observes, no criminal stays bigger than the law forever, and Zarto's lesson in the handbook of crime plays out to the beat of tommy-gun fire and the screams of innocent victims.

Skip Tracer investigates the brutal aftermath of a major Chicago vault heist, tracking down the criminals responsible—but when the gang turns on one of their own, the case takes a deadly turn. With most of the robbers caught and the stolen loot recovered, Skip works to identify the one fugitive who slipped away, hoping the readers of Wanted Comics might help close the book on this dangerous crime.

Two second-hand dealers who buy a mysterious trunk at a railway auction stumble onto something far more valuable—and far more illegal—when they discover it's packed with marijuana worth thousands. Treasury agents launch a four-year investigation to trace the narcotics ring, ultimately raiding the operation and arresting most of the gang, but the ringleader, Vincent Pellicer, gets tipped off and disappears before he can be captured. This true-crime story follows the feds' pursuit of a major dope kingpin still at large and plying his vicious trade somewhere beyond their reach.

Carl Straka is a man living a double life—a respectable appliance salesman by day in Bellaire, Ohio, and a cunning criminal mastermind known as "Mr. Dynamite" by night, orchestrating daring robberies with explosives and outsmarting every scheme thrown his way. When a stolen car crosses state lines during one of his jobs, federal agents catch the scent of their elusive quarry and close in on the farm outside Armstrong Mills where Straka conducts his criminal operations. This true-crime tale follows a criminal genius convinced he'll never be caged as law enforcement tightens the noose around his carefully constructed double identity.