Bio

Alvin Francis Karpis was born Albin Francis Karpavičius on August 10, 1907, in Montreal, Quebec. His parents were Lithuanian immigrants, John (Jonas) and Anna (Ona) Karpavičius. He was of Lithuanian descent and later used the name Alvin Francis Karpis. He was raised in Topeka, Kansas.

Around age ten he began spending time with gamblers, bootleggers, and pimps. He stayed with that crowd through his early teens and spent much of his youth around them.

Murder Story

Alvin Francis Karpis (born Albin Francis Karpavičius; August 10, 1907 – August 26, 1979) was a Canadian–American criminal of Lithuanian descent. He led the Barker–Karpis Gang in the 1930s. He was nicknamed "Creepy" for his smile and called "Ray" by his gang members. He was one of only four men ever named Public Enemy Number One by the FBI, and he was the only one of the four taken alive. He served the longest time as a federal prisoner at Alcatraz, serving twenty-six years.

The FBI located Karpis in New Orleans on May 1, 1936. J. Edgar Hoover went there and took charge of the arrest. On May 2, agents surrounded Karpis' car and told him he was under arrest. Accounts differ about whether Hoover grabbed him or came forward after other agents had seized him. The car had no back seat and no one had brought handcuffs, so Karpis was tied with an agent's necktie.

Karpis was brought to trial in St. Paul. He at first pleaded not guilty. He later changed his plea and the court accepted it. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Karpis was sent to Alcatraz in August 1936 and stayed there until April 1962. He worked in the prison bakery and had frequent fights with other inmates. In 1958 he was temporarily transferred to Leavenworth for six months, then returned to Alcatraz. He served twenty-six years at Alcatraz, the longest time of any prisoner there.

In April 1962 he was moved to McNeil Island Penitentiary. While there he met a young Charles Manson and gave him some guitar lessons. Karpis was released on parole in 1969 and deported to Canada. He had difficulty getting a passport because his fingerprints had been removed in 1934.

Karpis settled in Montreal and published a memoir in 1971. He moved to Spain in 1973. He died on August 26, 1979, in Málaga. His death was first ruled a suicide because sleeping pills were found, but it was later ruled to be from natural causes. No autopsy was performed, and he was buried the next day.