Article

Alvin Karpis

Published Online January 24, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Alvin Karpis, gangster (b Albin Karpowicz at Montréal 1908; d at Torremolinos, Spain 26 Aug 1979). Nicknamed Old Creepy, he was among the most notorious of the Depression-era bandits in the US.

Karpis, Alvin

Alvin Karpis, gangster (b Albin Karpowicz at Montréal 1908; d at Torremolinos, Spain 26 Aug 1979). Nicknamed Old Creepy, he was among the most notorious of the Depression-era bandits in the US. As a henchman of the infamous Barker Gang, he robbed numerous banks and participated in 2 sensational kidnappings. After the FBI broke up the Barker Gang and killed such legendary hoodlums as John Dillinger and George "Baby Face" Nelson, Karpis became Public Enemy No 1. He was captured in New Orleans in 1936, allegedly by J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the FBI. After serving a long prison term, including a record 26 years in Alcatraz, Karpis was paroled and deported to his native Canada in 1969. His autobiography, Public Enemy Number One (1971), is a graphic and chilling account of his criminal career.