Alvin Karpis

ALVIN KARPIS

However, not all of the literary figures were at first welcomed in the town: the local residents became somewhat alarmed at the arrival of an infamous American named Alvin Karpis, who set up home there during the 1970's.

Alvin Francis Karpis was a Depression-Era gangster turned author who was part of the Baker-Karpis gang, one of the most notorious criminal gangs of the 1930s; best known for the myth that it was run by the gun totting Ma Baker.

Karpis moved to Torremolinos in 1973, shortly after being released from Alcatraz, where he had served a twenty-six year prison sentence for kidnapping, armed robbery and murder. He published his first book, Public Enemy Number One in 1971 and wrote his second, The Alvin Karpis Story, whilst living in Torremolinos between 1973 and 1979. His death, in 1979, was originally ruled as suicide, but was later changed to death from natural causes, but there are those who believe foul play may have been involved.

Living in Andalucia