Wanted Comics #37

Mike Skelly trades his street life for a shady scheme—starting as a small-loan business to win his girlfriend Marie's heart, he builds what looks respectable on the surface but masks a brutal loan-shark operation that bleeds his desperate customers dry. As his criminal enterprise grows and his "respectable" family life takes shape, Skelly discovers that the veneer between the man Marie believes he is and the ruthless operator he's become grows increasingly fragile. This 1951 crime story exposes the dark contradiction at the heart of one gangland operator's attempt to have it both ways.

In 1951, the obsessively germaphobic gangster Bromo Bates runs his criminal operation with an iron fist and a medicine cabinet full of pills and tonics—but his phobia becomes a liability when a botched payroll heist leaves one of his own wounded and bedridden in his house. When Bromo's crew lines up another job to steal from Turner Finance Corp., they grab the cash only to discover the bills are marked with traceable serial numbers, forcing them to bury the hot money in a remote warehouse by the swamp. What Bromo doesn't know is that a watchful neighbor has spotted the suspicious nighttime activity and decided to call the authorities.

This 1951 wanted poster tells the true crime story of Joseph F. Moore, a Boston burglar who broke into a wealthy collector's home on October 2nd, 1946, only to have his plans go fatally wrong when the homeowner unexpectedly returned and discovered the robbery in progress. When the victim cried out for help, Moore and his gang turned violent—and things spiraled into tragedy when police arrived on the scene. Now a fugitive with distinctive identifying marks including a three-inch scar near his left eye and a cleft chin, Moore remains at large as authorities close in.

Ralph Jackson's violent temper and bitter marriage to Juanita reach a breaking point when a heated argument over breakfast escalates into a dire confrontation—one that sends him fleeing Detroit as a wanted man. This true-crime account from 1951 details the domestic clash that led to murder and a manhunt that still seeks to locate the fugitive.

Two young men are discovered dead in a basement with no signs of violence, and Lieutenant Dundy and Dr. Gage of the police crime lab must piece together how they died. When forensic analysis reveals benzine fumes in their lungs, the detectives uncover a scheme involving arson and insurance fraud—and set a clever trap to catch the man responsible.

A man is found dead in his home, and the clues point to someone he knew and trusted—but the killer's identity remains hidden in this classic crime mystery from 1951. Can you solve the case of Charles Browne's murder before the reveal?

A desperate ex-con named Dan Harker loses his war plant job in 1942 and spots an opportunity for the big score he's been waiting for—until a moment of violence forces him to flee with a stolen payroll and far worse troubles ahead. Now a fugitive, Harker must stay ahead of the law while traveling under a false identity, but his luck and his options are running out fast.

Patrolman Harry Sloan's unlikely path to the police force began in the uncertain world of theater—where bit parts and folding shows left him hungry for steady work. Now that his acting days are supposedly behind him, the 56th Precinct discovers his greatest talent lies in playing a role, assigning him undercover work that demands every ounce of his dramatic training. When a high-stakes operation against Big Dan's mob requires Sloan to infiltrate the criminal underworld, his "rehearsal for death" becomes the performance that could save his life—or end it.