ALVIN KARPIS

I got a friend who was abducted by a hideous being. He was missing for twelve long years. Oddly it was the same amount of years he was married. I was reading a book called “Public enemies” the other night when I remembered him being happy, without the influence of the witch he married. The thought, obviously, put a big smile on my face. It never crossed my mind he was going to marry the first bimbo he came across with. 

A little while after midnight, at almost the same time, some fascist groups were burning Barcelona to the ground, my attention was drawn to Alvin Karpis, nickname “creepy” for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930´s. He was the last public enemy to be taken. The karpis- Barker gang became one of the most formidable criminal gangs of that era. They robbed a number of banks, hijacked mail deliveries, and soon turned to the lucrative field of kidnapping. 

The kidnapping, however, lead to the gang´s end, Karpis was arrested on May 1, 1936. A couple of versions of his arrest have been reported since then. Karpis himself told in his memoirs was that Edgard Allan Hoover came out after all the agents had him seized. Sentenced to life in prison, Karpis was incarcerated at Alcatraz. He was known as a obsessive reader and was involved in fights constantly with fellow inmates. I could not put my book on Karpis down. Especially after reading that spent thirty-three years behind bars then paroled from the federal prison at McNeill island, Washington, in January 1969 and deported to Canada. He authorized two ghostwritten books, including an autobiography before moving to Spain in the early 1970`s. He died in Torremolinos from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, on August 26, 1979.  Karpis is buried at the magnificent Cementerio of San Miguel in the Capital of the Costa del Sol. And you know what? His voice in Alcatraz has to come to life again. 

I will keep you posted.

Sergio Calle Llorens