Born in 1907 in Canada, Alvin Karpis became in the 1930s in the United States the infamous leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang, one of the most formidable gangster associations of the time. He remained in power until 1936, when he was arrested and became the longest-serving state prisoner at Alcatraz. Released in 1969, he wrote his autobiography before going into exile in Spain, where he died in 1979 in troubled circumstances.
