The series' sensationalized recountings of the deeds of gangsters such as Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly were illustrated by artists Bob Wood, George Tuska, and others.

Stories were often introduced and commented upon by "Mr. Crime", a ghoulish figure in a top hat, and the precursor of horror hosts such as EC Comics's The Crypt Keeper.

Biro and Wood discussed the matter and eventually came up with a concept that would become Crime Does Not Pay, a comic book series chronicling the lives of murderers and gangsters based in part on real world people.

Biro is reputed to have been inspired by a meeting with a kidnapper and pimp one night in a bar,[3] although publisher Arthur Bernhard has stated that the entire concept was created by Gleason.

Biro designed and drew the first cover and wrote stories about mobsters Louis Buchalter and "Diamond Joe" Esposito, and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok.

Issue 24 introduced the Biro-designed figure of Mr. Crime, the cartoon mascot of the series, who narrated and commented on the action depicted in the comics, addressing his readers in a joking, conspiratorial tone.

The character of Mr. Crime pre-dated the Horror Hosts of EC Comics and other publishers, and his ghostly presence is very similar to that effected by Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone television series and of Raymond Edward Johnson on the Inner Sanctum radio program.

In Fall 2011, Dark Horse Comics published a collection called Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer which went on to become nominated for a 2012 Harvey Award [8] (for Best Domestic Reprint Project).