Boyd Gang

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The Boyd Gang was a notorious gang in Canada led by Edwin Alonzo Boyd. Edwin robbed a Toronto branch of the Bank of Montreal with a gun on September 9, 1949 while drunk, and by 1951 became the nation's most notorious bandit and leader of The Boyd Gang. Other members include Lennie Jackson (a hairdresser from Niagara Falls and the gang's fastest runner, despite his artificial foot), Steve Suchan (who is said to have traded in his violin for a .455 Smith and Wesson revolver), and Willie "The Clown" Jackson.

The gang was a favourite of the media at the time because of its sensational actions, which included bank robberies, jail breaks, beautiful women, gun fights, manhunts, and daring captures. For three years police, prison authorities, and bank officials were frustrated in their attempts to bring the unruly mobsters under control.

1 Death of a policeman
2 Demise
3 External links
4 Bibliography

[edit] Death of a policeman

On March 6 1952, Detective Sergeant Edmund Tong and his partner, Sergeant Roy Perry stopped a vehicle containing two men. These two men, who turned out to be Suchan and Jackson. As Tong approached the vehicle, one of the suspects drew a .455 pistol and shot him and shot at Sergeant Perry in the police car, wounding the latter in the arm.

Tong died of his wounds on 23 March 1952. Both suspects were arrested in Montreal after a shootout with police that left both men wounded. Both men were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of the policeman.

[edit] Demise

On December 16, 1952, Suchan and Jackson were hanged back to back in Toronto's Don Jail. Edwin Boyd, who had not been present at the murder, was sentenced to eight life terms plus twenty-seven years concurrent. Willie Jackson received thirty-one years. Both served their terms in Kingston Penitentiary. Boyd was released in 1966 on parole for life, and moved to the west coast of Canada where he re-married. He died in 2002.