Inside the Law

Billy heads a mob of seven thieves, who go to California for a change of lifestyle. When they arrive at the Los Angeles county line, they are still not within sight of the city, but take interest when a motorcycle officer pulls over a drunk named Stanley Blythe. The thieves manage to pick Blythe's pocket before he is taken away, and although there is no money in his wallet, they find a letter of introduction to the Walnut Valley Bank, where Blythe has been hired as manager. Billy impersonates Blythe and brings in the mob to run the bank so they can have easy access to the cash. Judge Mortimer Gibbs, president of the bank, welcomes Billy and allows him to dismiss his old staff in hopes of revitalizing the business. Billy introduces the gang as his staff: Dora Mason as his secretary; the elderly Mom Cobb, and her husband as nightwatchman; and Paul Kane and Peter Clifford as tellers. After Gibbs presents Billy with the combination to the bank vault, Billy discovers that the bank is cash poor. The gang soon stumbles on an idea with which to lure customers: Billy advertises that he will give $100 to any depositor who brings in a safe that his cohort, expert safecracker Jim Burke, cannot crack. No safe is too tricky for Burke, and as news of his talent spreads, more patrons deposit the money they once thought was safe at home. The bank accumulates over $72,000, and the mob decides to stay a little longer to accrue more money, but they stash the cash in Dora's suitcase in case they need to leave hastily. To maintain appearances, they all go to church. Afterward, Billy, Dora and the Cobbs have second thoughts about their criminal lifestyle, and decide to stay on and run the bank legitimately. When they find Burke stealing the suitcase, Billy struggles with him. After Burke knocks Billy out, however, Dora escapes with him. Secretly hoping to retrieve the money, Dora leaves the bank telephone off the hook as a signal to Billy. Burke and Dora head for the Mexican border but are waylaid by a customs officer who received a phone call from Billy asking him to detain the couple. While Billy runs them down, the real Blythe has come to the mob's apartment demanding to meet his impostor. They get Blythe drunk, but when the police chief arrives to arrest them for disturbing the peace, Blythe tells him that Billy has run off to Mexico with the bank's money. At the border, while Billy and Burke struggle for possession of the suitcase, Dora snatches the suitcase and escapes in Billy's car. Billy then knocks Burke out and follows Dora back to Walnut Valley. When they momentarily pull over, the chief of police arrests them and insists they return to town with him. The gang, meanwhile, has opened the bank so as not to arouse suspicion, especially as a bank examiner is due that day. When the bank examiner arrives, Mom Cobb locks him in the vault to stall for time until Billy returns with the suitcase. Everyone is shocked when they discover that the suitcase is empty, but the judge reveals that it has been his longtime habit to take the bank money home every Saturday night for safekeeping. Burke then shows up unexpectedly while they are all at the judge's house counting the money with the examiner. Stealing one of the judge's guns, Burke demands the money, but the gun is not loaded. With the money in its proper place, the police chief has no case against the gang, and the judge sentences them to running the bank honestly for the rest of their lives.