Public Enemies #1

Three gunmen—Irving Miller, Merton Miller, and Abe Faber—pull off a high-stakes gambling room robbery in 1933 Boston, netting thousands and launching their bid to build a criminal empire. As they carefully plan their next moves and execute robberies across Massachusetts, Abe's seemingly innocent school attendance and social connections begin to offer the gang unexpected opportunities. The line between keeping a low profile and seizing the next big score becomes dangerously thin.

Two brothers who worked for Dutch Schultz—Pete and Vince Coll—decide to strike out on their own and build a crime empire, starting with a kidnapping scheme that backfires when they're arrested. Desperate to avoid jail time and now hunted by every gangster in the East, Vince makes a brutal choice: he'll wage all-out war against his former boss, willing to do whatever it takes to settle old scores.

Bill Evans has a weakness for fine things—hand-knit ties, patent leather shoes, and the finer points of the criminal life—but his taste for flashy accessories becomes his undoing when he and his gang pull off a string of drugstore robberies in 1922 Brooklyn. After a botched job turns deadly, a stickpin and a fondness for catching the second show at the movies give detectives exactly the thread they need to unravel his carefully dressed image. What does the well-dressed holdover man wear to the electric chair—rags or resignation?

Martin Janson's bitter hatred of cops—born in reform school and nurtured through years of incarceration—sets him on a dark path that culminates in the unthinkable: he shoots a pharmacist during a robbery, then flees with his partner. Now the police hunt the cop killer across the city, and Janson learns the hard way that there's a price to pay for crossing a line even hardened criminals won't forgive.