The Stopwatch Gang

Tony Barclay is a retired juvenile corrections probation officer and a
former public-health research associate at the University of Toronto.

This astonishing true story follows the career of three Canadian bank
robbers who, over a number of years, succeeded in stealing money and
gold from dozens of banks, and managed to escape from several prisons.
It is told by a journalist who knew them intimately. The lively
anecdotes he includes make this a very human document.

To appreciate the book, one must suspend moral criticism. The story is
well told from the point of view of the criminals (though readers may
find the tough crime-reporting style of the narrative irritating). These
were con men who spent much of their lives deceiving people, telling
lies, and stealing money. Their individual talents were perfectly suited
to the needs of the group: brains in one, daring in a second, and an
ability to grasp details in the third.

The police—local, FBI, and RCMP—and the prison staffs do not come
out well in this account. Faring no better is California’s criminal
justice system, which is shown to be inefficient, inflexible, and
heavily reliant on informers (freeing the guilty to convict the guilty).
There is also strong evidence of corruption and political interference
in some of the incidents related in the book. Nor does the story
disappoint us at the end. The final act is only a strong speculation,
but plausible enough based on what has preceded it.

This is really a story of how three unscrupulous, imaginative, daring,
and well-organized people made two justice systems look foolish. The
book has all the elements of a good thriller: action, suspense,
interesting character development, and a surprise—even happy—ending.
What more could one want?