Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that flourished in Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma's favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart; earned a degree from Bible college; and settled into a family and a stable career. Needless to say, it was a big surprise when Cousin Danny started robbing banks. Known as the "Floppy Hat Bandit," Courson robbed nineteen of them in a torrid six-week spree before being caught and sentenced to seven years in prison. When he tried to escape, they tacked on another year. And when he finally got out, despite seeming to be back on the straight and narrow, Cousin Danny disappeared. Banks started gettingn robbed again. It seemed Cousin Danny might be gunning for the record. Chas Smith's Blessed Are the Bank Robbers is the wildly entertaining story of an all-American antihero. It's a tale of bank heists, art-and-jewel theft, high-speed chases, fake identities, encrypted Swiss email accounts, jilted lovers, and the dark side of an evangelical family.
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