The Beatle Bandit - A Serial Bank Robber's Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that Shook the N

The sensational true story of how a bank robber killed a man in a wild shootout, sparking a national debate around gun control and the death penalty.

WINNER of the 2022 Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

On July 24, 1964, twenty-four-year-old Matthew Kerry Smith disguised himself with a mask and a Beatle wig, hoisted a semi-automatic rifle, then held up a bank in North York, Ontario.

The intelligent but troubled son of a businessman and mentally ill mother, Smith was a navy veteran with a young Indigenous wife and a hazy plan for violent revolution.

Outside the bank, Smith was confronted by Jack Blanc, a former member of the Canadian and Israeli armies, who brandished a revolver. During a wild shootout, Blanc was killed, and Smith escaped - only to become the object of the largest manhunt in the history of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force.

Dubbed -The Beatle Bandit,- Smith was eventually captured, tried, and s