The Gang They Couldn't Catch: The Story of America's Greatest Modern-Day Bank Robbers--And How They Got Away with It

In her impressive true-crime story, Weyermann, a former reporter for the Arizona Daily Star , writes less about crime than about people. Focusing on David Grandstaff, she leaves little doubt that he was the mastermind among the three men who robbed the Valley National Bank depository in Tucson in 1981, hauling away more than $3 million. Grandstaff, whom she interviewed, emerges as an exceptionally intelligent man from an impoverished Des Moines, Iowa, background, who--like his fellow gang members, called ``The Boys''--never had the opportunity to develop his abilities. Arrested for the first time when he was 12, Grandstaff became a career criminal. He, his friends and his lawyers are interesting players in this absorbing drama that culminates with a jury that would not convict The Boys for the Valley National Bank heist on the basis of dubious evidence. Grandstaff now works as a painting contractor in Des Moines. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)