Wanted Comics #44

Big Jim Colosimo climbs from railroad laborer to crime lord through a fateful encounter with Victoria, a shrewd woman who runs rooming houses in Chicago's slums. When a brutal moment sends him fleeing the law, he discovers in Victoria not just shelter, but a partner who can show him how crime and corruption yield real power—and he's willing to do whatever it takes to claim his share. This true-crime chronicle traces how one man's desperation became the foundation for organized crime itself.

When Eddie Anders, a desperate death row inmate, learns his execution date is closing in, he hatches a ruthless plan to escape—by coercing a prison trusty named Tommy Megan with threats against his wife. Anders's scheme spirals into a violent prison break that forces Tommy to make an impossible choice between his captor's demands and his own survival. This gritty crime tale follows the collision between desperation and conscience in the unforgiving confines of the death house.

In January 1945, Michigan State Senator Warren Hooper—a key witness in a bribery investigation—receives death threats but insists on testifying; days later, he's found shot three times in a wrecked car outside East Lansing. Police interrogation of known criminals finally yields a lead: Myron Selik, who allegedly offered $2,500 for the senator's murder. Selik's conviction for conspiracy sparks a cycle of appeals, bail releases, and new crimes—including an armed robbery—that ultimately sends him fleeing the state as a fugitive.

Mrs. Marie Larsen, a meticulous housekeeper with a professional eye for detail, finds herself at the center of a baffling murder case in this true-crime mystery. The investigation into the death of a bridge expert unfolds as readers piece together clues in this installment of the ongoing "Great Unsolved Mystery" contest series.

A petty criminal named Tony Spasso finds himself caught between two warring impulses: the underworld's code of silence and his own conscience, which forced him to sing to the cops about a murdered associate. Now, with both the mob and his own fractured psyche closing in, Tony must navigate a minefield of suspicion, violence, and betrayal to stay alive. Desperation drives him to make increasingly dangerous choices—each one pulling him deeper into a trap he may not escape.