Famous Crimes #5

Leo Smith orchestrates an audacious maritime heist, chartering a yacht and assembling a ruthless crew to transform the vessel and pull off an insurance scam—but his iron-fisted control and violent methods plant the seeds of betrayal among those forced to do his bidding. As the S.S. Ferret sails toward Santos and beyond, Smith's scheme spirals into high-seas chaos when authorities close in and loyalties fracture in ways he never anticipated.

Basil Banghart claws his way up Chicago's underworld as a ruthless bootlegger and enforcer, but his violent streak and hair-trigger temperament keep landing him in the law's crosshairs—first as a smuggler, then as an escaped con, and finally as the triggerman behind an escalating spree of kidnappings and armed robbery. Caught between dodging federal agents and plotting ever bolder crimes with his partner Roger Touhy, Banghart's hunger for bigger scores pushes him toward a job that may finally be too dangerous even for someone as cold-blooded as him.

Monk Eastman—born Edward Osterman—rises from pet shop owner to ruthless gang leader on New York's East Side, driven by a violent ambition to dominate the underworld and crush the rival Five Point gang led by Paul Kelly. When Kelly's crew strikes at Eastman's territory and his operations, Monk plots swift and brutal retaliation, enlisting allies like Glamorous Gloria to set his enemies up for revenge. A two-year gang war erupts across the Bowery in a battle for supremacy that tests the code of the streets themselves.