“THE LAST OF THE HARD MEN!”
I understand that is the way the former Chief of the CIB, Donald Hancock loved to refer to himself, using the monicker, Hard Man.
In fact nothing could be further from the truth. This bloke was best referred to as a businessman licensed to carry arms. His main claim to fame was the fact he had the Mickelberg brothers convicted of the Mint Swindle. History has now seen them exonerated and paid compensation. Instead of taking the way of the hard men, Hancock and his cohorts took the short easy way. There was not enough evidence for a conviction, so take the law into your own hands and manufacture some!
Verbals were the order of the day and plenty of Hancock’s followers were ready and willing to oblige. Just fill in the empty gaps with snippets of half evidence that the court accepts on the bent copper’s word that it is a confession. Throw in a couple of random beltings, reports of perpetrators breaking out in tears of remorse and “Wham Bam, thank you Ma’am”, a successful collar goes down, Guilty.