**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
sentenced to hang. His murderous rampage had tragic consequences for
multiple families and fuelled a national debate about the death penalty,
gun control, and the insanity defence.