The Beatle Bandit: A Serial Bank Robber’s Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea That Shook the Nation

Drawing on court transcripts, interviews, newspaper articles, and police documents, journalist Hendley (The Big Con) takes an engrossing deep dive into the life of Canadian bank robber Matthew Kerry Smith. On July 24, 1964, Smith, wearing a mask and a Beatle wig, and armed with a semiautomatic rifle, robbed a bank in North York, Ontario. One customer, a Canadian Army veteran named Jack Blanc, grabbed a revolver, which all banks routinely kept for the safety of the staff, and pursued Smith. Blanc died in the ensuing fire fight, and Smith wasn’t caught until four months later after another bank robbery. He confessed, but tried to get off on an insanity defense, as his mother had been mentally ill for years and he had been diagnosed as “deeply disturbed” as a child. Convicted of murdering Blanc, Smith was sentenced to hang. Though his sentence was commuted to life in prison, he died by suicide in 1966. In the wake of this case, the practice of keeping sidearms in banks was discontinued, gun laws were strengthened, and debates were sparked on the death penalty. Hendley does a fine job putting Smith’s crimes in the context of Canadian culture decades ago. Students of true crime won’t want to miss this thoughtful book. (Dec.)