Famous Crimes #14

Harry Wells, a bold train robber operating across the Texas badlands, becomes so enamored with his own newspaper mythology that he begins living up to the legend of "the Texas Phantom"—complete with dynamite, getaway cars, and an ever-growing body count. Alongside his partners Shorty Dell and Lank Smith, Wells orchestrates increasingly daring heists, but the real bullets fly faster than the romanticized tales that made him famous.

Leonard Scarnici arrives in New York as a small-time criminal looking to make his mark, landing a job with bookie Carney's gambling syndicate—but his ambitions quickly turn deadly as he targets vulnerable victims for robbery and murder. Working as a courier and leg man, Scarnici uses his access to the underworld's inner circle to identify and isolate marks, cold-bloodedly striking when the moment suits him. This is the rise of the "Lone Wolf" killer, a whispered name among hardened gangsters who fear his quiet cruelty and quick trigger finger.

Walter Tylczak earns the nickname "Zack the Killer" running a protection racket across Depression-era Detroit with his partner Spink Hudson, shaking down storekeepers and climbing the ranks of the underworld by any means necessary. When the big operators bring Zack and Spink into their organization, the two find themselves caught between enforcing brutal collections and the dangerous politics of the criminal underworld. As their ambitions grow, they discover that loyalty in the mob comes at a steep price.