Wanted Comics #15

When a young Italian immigrant named Stefano arrives in America, he brings with him the ruthless traditions of the Mafia—and a chilling ambition to build a criminal empire in the streets of a major U.S. city. As the mysterious "Black Hand" terrorizes shopkeepers and kills those who defy them, Inspector Griffith must find a way to penetrate the society's veil of fear and silence. An undercover policeman named Frank Di Paolo poses as a Mafia recruit, risking his life to gather evidence against Stefano and dismantle the organization from within.

When Dr. Charles Wilmot Townsend is shot in his bedroom on the exact anniversary of a woman's death at a hospital, Inspector Schmittberger uncovers a chilling pattern: the gunman was waiting to strike at a precise moment, checking his watch in the darkness. The investigation leads to John Bell, whose wife Mamie died under the care of multiple doctors—and whose gravestone bears the ominous words "Life is Sweet, But Revenge is Sweeter," suggesting a plan to kill one physician each year for four years. Even after Bell's conviction and sentence are commuted, the inspector watches uneasily as the next anniversary approaches, knowing the killer's compulsion may not be finished.

Sleepy Dan earns his nickname from the heavy-lidded eyes that mask a ruthless criminal nature—starting as a blackmailer at sixteen and escalating into a murderous enforcer who preys on working people and dance-hall girls. When he shoots a girl named Eloise for refusing to extort her friends, she survives to identify him to police, setting in motion a trap that finally catches up with this cold-blooded killer.

Skip Tracer arrives in Los Angeles to wrap up a case, but a roadside encounter with the notorious "Badge Bandit"—a killer posing as a deputy sheriff—leaves him shot and hospitalized. While recovering, Skip pieces together that his charming driver Lillian is connected to an embezzler named John Homers, and that the pair have orchestrated an elaborate trap to eliminate him before he can bring Homers to justice. Skip must outwit both the criminals closing in on him and the dangerous bandit still prowling the city's lover's lanes.