The Alvin Karpis Story

by Alvin Karpis, Bill Trent, Sam Sloan

“My profession was robbing banks, knocking off payrolls, and kidnapping rich men. I was good at it. Maybe the best in North America for five years front 1931 to 1936. . . . In another set of circumstances, I might have turned out to be a top lawyer or maybe a big-time businessman. I might have made it to any high position that demanded brains and style and a cool, hard way of handling yourself . Certainly I could have held the highest job there was in any line of police detection work. . . " These are the opening lines of Alvin “Old Creepy” Karpis' unique auto-biography. In its nostalgic pages, one of the 1930's most notorious and colorful underworld figures - Public Enemy Number One in an era that saw such contenders for the title as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd-tells all and tells it like it was. "The book," Karpis writes, "is basically the story of what went on among us better known thieves of the Depression era and also what seemed to make us tick." And tick it does, like a time bomb set against a safe. From his early days as a petty thief, his meeting with Freddie Barker and the Karpis - Ma Barker gang's personal crime wave that swept the Midwest and carried them into the headlines, to his enduring duel of nerve and wits with his nemeses, J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Alvin Karpis recalls a remarkable life in crime. At the same time, he re-creates the full flavor of a unique chapter in American the desperado-ridden years of the Depression, when payroll heists and bank robberies, and gunpoint confrontations between cops and robbers filled the front pages and the daring escapades and high living of the Karpis-Barker gang provided a colorful contrast to the severity of those very hard times. Completely candid and startling in its revelations, The Alvin Karpis Story brings to dimensional life all the legendary and infamous characters who peopled that extraordinary world.

Genres: Crime, History, True Crime, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew a little about Alvin Karpis from Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies. Karpis was the last of the great Depression Era Gangsters. Unlike most of his contemporaries who were killed, Karpis was captured alive by the FBI in 1936, and served more time in Alcatraz than any other prisoner. He was paroled in 1969 and died in 1979.

This is the inside story of the Karpis-Barker gang, told by Karpis himself. I couldn't put it down. It's a good read if you like reading about crime in the 1930's.

[Rob Amundson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Alvin Karpis, one of the most notorious crooks of the 30s as a member of Barker-Karpis gang. At one point, Karpis was number one of the FBIs most wanted list. Karpis was even the last prisoner to be transferred off the rock, or better known as Alcatraz prison in California.

Karpis lived an exciting life, one on the edge and often over the line of what is expected or even legal. As such, his book is an action packed read that I enjoyed from cover to cover.

[Aivaras Žukauskas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure about its literary value, but the guy had one hell of a 5 year-run, and a life as a whole. And as much of a piece of shit he was, I am inclined to believe him regarding Hoover.

[Osama Ben Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gruesome, unbelievable, hilarious, insane: the man lived in a cartoon world. One of the best things I’ve ever read. A must-read if you have any interest in life at all.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. Especially after reading John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour Of Crime And Corruption in St Paul, 1920-1936 by Paul Maccabee.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Karpis frolics his way through the depression, Prohibition and the gangsters with an unholy glee, busting a number of FBI myths in the process. He's one of the view Public Enemies to have survived and lived to tell the tale, and it's a fascinating tale. He makes no apologies, offers no excuses, just presents his life as it was. His views on Dillinger, the Barkers, Baby Face Nelson and co are fascinating. A thoroughly enjoyable read - I couldn't put it down.

[ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can only aspire to be as uncaring and nonchalant about life as Creepy Karpis was