387: The Beatle Bandit w/ Nate Hendley

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On July 24, 1964, twenty-four-year-old Matthew Kerry Smith disguised himself with a mask and a Beatle wig, hoisted a semi-automatic rifle, then held up a bank in North York, Ontario. The intelligent but troubled son of a businessman and mentally ill mother, Smith was a navy veteran with a young Indigenous wife and a hazy plan for violent revolution. Outside the bank, Smith was confronted by Jack Blanc, a former member of the Canadian and Israeli armies, who brandished a revolver. During a wild shootout, Blanc was killed, and Smith escaped ― only to become the object of the largest manhunt in the history of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force. My guest is journalist and author Nate Hendley. He joins me to talk about his book, The Beatle Bandit: A Serial Bank Robber's Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that Shook the Nation. More about the author and his books on his website: https://natehendley.ca/ The author has included these links for those interested in purchasing The Beatle Bandit: Amazon.ca: https://amzn.to/3KQZ90P Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/3Bh5HCF Apple Books: https://tinyurl.com/3xkb7w5t Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/6h2p7epz Walmart: https://tinyurl.com/4bdksr8h Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:31.8	Hello, this is Matt and McKinley from History Dispatches.
0:43.0	We are the father-son duo bringing you the weird, the wild, the wacky, and the craziest tales from across time.
0:45.6	From the Ice Bowl to the Great Heathen Army.
0:47.3	And the head of Oliver Cromwell.
0:49.8	The same head they kept on a pike for three years?
0:52.3	Yep. All here on History Dispatches.
0:54.1	New episodes every weekday. Find out more at History Dispatches. New episodes every weekday.
1:46.3	Find out more at History Dispatches.com or wherever you get your podcast app. Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Most Notorious podcast. I'm Eric Rivenis. So great to have you here. And I am so pleased to introduce my guest today, Nate Henley. He is a Toronto-based freelance journalist, copywriter, and award-winning author.
1:50.6	He has written several books, mostly in the true crime genre.
1:57.6	They include the Big Con, Great Hoaxes, Frauds, Griffs, and Swindles in American History,
2:04.7	The Mafia, A Guide to an American Subculture, American gangsters, then and now,
2:11.9	an encyclopedia, and the book that is the subject of today's interview, called The Beetle Bandit, a serial bank robber's deadly heist, a cross-country manhunt, and the insanity plea that shook the nation.
2:21.9	Thank you for being a guest on Most Notorious.
2:26.3	Thank you for having me, Eric. Appreciate it.
2:29.0	Yes. So do you remember when you first heard about this guy, Matthew Carey Smith, and what he did?
2:37.0	I knew absolutely nothing about this case until a few years ago, I was doing a presentation about a completely different subject.
	...

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