Gang Bullets (1938)

When racketeer "Big Bill" Anderson arrives in Bridgetown after being thrown out of several other towns, district attorney Dexter Wayne and his assistant, John Carter, can do nothing to stop his illegal activities until Chief Reardon gets something on him. As Big Bill's crimes become more brazen, the local newspaper, published by Jim Wallace, attacks the district attorney's office and prints a series of scathering letters opposing him, written by someone calling himself "Junius." Feeling powerless because of the town's weak laws on gambling and racketeering, and also because public opinion in town is turning against him, Wayne meets with Big Bill and accepts a bribe. John, who is engaged to Wayne's daughter Patricia, secretly makes a recording of the meeting, thinking that it will incriminate Big Bill, and and plays it for Pat and her father the next day. Pat breaks the record and goes to Big Bill to plead her father's case by returning the money. Soon another letter from Junius appears in the paper, this time giving the exact details of the bribe, and Wayne and Big Bill are soon tried and convicted of bribery. Awaiting their transferral to prison, Wayne learns that Big Bill is planning their escape, so he slips Pat a message for John, signed Junius. When John gets the note, he realizes that Wayne was merely pretending to take a bribe to trap Big Bill and that the district attorney himself was the person who wrote the Junius letters to the newspaper. After their escape, Wayne is able to prevent Big Bill from killing him and leaving the country by threatening the racketeer with a grenade. When the police arrive, Big Bill is apprehended and Wayne is cleared.