Crime and Punishment #68

Floyd "Cowboy" Devers was a carnival stunt rider haunted by the fear of poverty—until he spotted a brain-damaged ex-rider and decided to take the criminal shortcut instead. Now a motorcycle bandit pulling high-speed jewelry heists, Devers uses a vulnerable carnival worker named Stupe as both a reminder of what he's avoiding and the perfect fall guy to frame when the heat closes in. But a detail the clever criminal overlooked might just be his undoing.

Fancy Phil Grunner fancies himself a theatrical crook who craves the spotlight, so when a small-time bank heist fails to make headlines, he hatches an audacious plan to rob the Pacific Express and its massive payroll. His girlfriend unknowingly feeds him intelligence about the train's cargo, and Phil executes his scheme with characteristic showmanship—but his need to perform and gloat may prove costlier than he bargained for.

Young Henry Warner discovers his uncle dead in the bathtub and calls for help, but a detective's suspicions quickly turn toward the inheritance-hungry nephew—until a careful examination of the scene reveals a crucial detail that changes everything. This 1954 crime tale hinges on evidence that even the most obvious suspect can't explain away.

When a police crackdown bans gun sales to stop gang violence, mob boss Tom McGuire hatches a scheme to smuggle weapons across the border and profit from the ensuing turf wars—but his cynical plan to play the rival gangs against each other backfires with deadly consequences. This hard-boiled tale of greed and betrayal shows how McGuire's attempt to profit from chaos ultimately consumes him in the very firepower he thought he controlled.