Smith & Wesson chief did time for '50s armed heists [View All]

[donsu]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0212minder12.html


At 74, James Joseph Minder has had a professional career many would envy.

He is board chairman of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., parent company of the famous gunmaker. He also ran a successful non-profit agency serving delinquent and disabled Michigan youths for 20 years before retiring to Scottsdale in 1997.

But he also is a former convict who spent 15 years in prison in the 1950s and 1960s for a string of armed robberies and an attempted prison escape. News articles in the Detroit News said he was known for carrying a 16-gauge, sawed-off shotgun.

Other Smith & Wesson board members did not know about Minder's criminal record until he called and told most of them Wednesday, offering to resign.
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oh those gun guys, what a tribe!