Bad Apples: Edwin Alonzo Boyd and his Gang

Episode 207: After World War II, Canada’s economy rose. Work was much easier to come by than during the depression. Even though he’d been able to secure decent employment, family man and world war veteran with movie star good looks, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, was bored. He’d had his share of trouble already and was feeling the itch again. In the fall of 1949, he robbed his first bank. This crime kicked off events that would lead to one of the most infamous Canadian criminal gangs of the era. Over just a few years, The Boyd Gang, named for their charismatic de facto leader, Edwin, robbed numerous banks broke out of one of Canada’s toughest prisons, not once but twice. To some, they were folk heroes. However, public sentiment turned firmly against them after members of the gang, Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson, murdered Toronto Police Department Sergeant of Detectives Edmund “Eddie” Tong and severely wounded his partner Roy Perry.

Sources:

Regina v. Boyd, 1953 CanLII 88 (ON CA), <https://canlii.ca/t/g1k34>

Edwin Alonzo Boyd: Life and Crimes of Canada’s Master Bank Robber by Nate Hendley

Fatal Intentions by Barbara Smith – Ebook | Scribd

Line of Fire by Edward Butts – Ebook | Scribd

John J. Robinette by George D. Finlayson – Ebook | Scribd

The Desperate Ones by Edward Butts – Ebook | Scribd

Now You Know Canada’s Heroes by Doug Lennox – Ebook | Scribd

Lost Rivers — Don Jail

Historicist: Titillating and Terrorizing Toronto – Torontoist — Archived

Geocities — BOYD GANG

Toronto’s Infamous ‘Boyd Gang’ – CBC Archives