The Boyd Gang was a notorious criminal gang based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named for member Edwin Alonzo Boyd. The gang was a favourite of the media at the time because of their sensational actions, which included bank robberies, jail breaks, relationships with beautiful women, gun fights, manhunts, and daring captures. Formation Edwin Boyd had committed a variety of crimes in his youth and served time in Saskatchewan's Prince Albert Penitentiary at the age of 22. After returning from service in the Second World War, Boyd robbed a Toronto branch of the Bank of Montreal with a German Luger on September 9, 1949, while drunk and escaped with With others, he committed six more robberies before he was caught and imprisoned in the Don Jail. There he met Willie Jackson and Lenny Jackson (not related) and together they broke out of jail with a hacksaw concealed in Lenny's artificial leg. After their escape, they were joined by Valent Lesso (a.k.a. Steve Suchan) and committed four more robberies in four months for . Although Lenny Jackson, a hairdresser from Niagara Falls, led the group, Boyd's charms and good looks led the media to label them the "Boyd Gang". 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 turned out to be Lennie Jackson and Steve Suchan. As Tong approached the vehicle, Suchan drew a .455 pistol and shot him and Sergeant Perry in the police car, wounding the latter in the arm. Tong died of his wounds on March 23, 1952. Both Jacksons and Suchan were arrested in Montreal after a shootout with police that left Lennie and Steve wounded. Both men were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of the policeman. Boyd was arrested separately, in Toronto. Second escape All four men were placed in side-by-side cells in the Don Jail. On Sept. 8, 1952, they managed to escape for a second time with the help of another saw blade, and a blank key smuggled in by a lawyer. They used a tactic where William Jackson, dehydrated himself enough to reduce his skin elasticity. Willy pressed the key on the palm of his hand, making a mark in the shape of the key. Using the new saw, they cut the blank key in the shape of the mark.