Once Upon a Crime

The transition from petty crime to armed robbery may seem unthinkable to some, but for a young boy from the east end of Glasgow it was an almost inevitable progression. Growing up surrounded by a hard and sometimes violent culture, Jimmy Cryans' criminal career began with the theft of a pair of die and ended in jail time.

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Robbery was never a choice for Jimmy, but a way of life. The characters and criminals he met along the way coloured his experience of a lifestyle many would condemn, a lifestyle he strives to explain within these pages. His personal accounts of felonies including heists on banks, jewellers and security vans give a unique insight into the workings of a criminal mind driven by desperation. Yet his crimes are only half the story, as Jimmy also reveals the motivations that lay behind his chequered past. Failed relationships and questionable friendships abound, but these are the aspects of life that pushed him, slowly but surely, back towards an honest path. Now, Jimmy shares his tale of triumph over adveristy and enforces his opinion that it really is never too late to change.