Ironically, 57 years after this infamous prison closed down, Alcatraz is more populated than ever. Now that it’s a museum operated by the National Park Service, nearly two million visitors enter it annually. Local author Julie Thompson’s book, The Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio, will soon be captive on Alcatraz Island in the museum bookstore, alongside Alvin Karpis’s autobiography and numerous other true crime accounts from Alcatraz inmates.
Alvin “Creepy” Karpis was the penitentiary’s longest-serving inmate after having been deemed Public Enemy #1 by J. Edgar Hoover for pulling off the last great American train heist in Garrettsville back in 1935. The takedown of this Depression-era gangster by the newly-formed FBI also gave rise to the enduring G-Men mascot of James A. Garfield School District, which nods to the FBI’s Government Men.
Thompson’s book was released nationally back in April 2019 and was made available online and in-store through Amazon, Target and Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. The book is now being released from Alcatraz, as well. It is also being promoted on several Alcatraz websites, including Alcatraz History and alcatraztherock.com.
“At this point, it looks like I will be featured on the island in late April or May” for a book-signing, Thompson reports. Alcatraz authors are expected to stay at least one week for daily interaction with visitors to the Island and its bookstore. Thompson’s book-signing appearances will also include Ian Craig, Alcatraz Interpreter and writer of the book’s foreword. Thompson’s book-signing will be featured on Alcatraz’s main tourist website, Alcatraz Cruises.
Thompson and her husband will soon be moving to the Washington, DC area after decades in Freedom Township. Lucian will serve as an officer with the Transportation Security Administration. Thompson plans to focus on research, perhaps working with The Library of Congress’ Publishing Office or the Congressional Research Service, to provide information to congressional leaders.
Before she leaves northeast Ohio, Thompson will appear in a train heist re-enactment and book-signing at Mentor Public Library at 6:30pm on February 13. Preregistration to attend The Hunt for the Last Public Enemy is encouraged by calling (440) 255-8811 or online at mentorpl.org. The live reenactment will also feature two Hiram College theater students, Denise Hart and Abigail Stevenson. In addition, Freedom Township native Phil McCoy and Lucian “Ed” Thompson will join this group of re-enactors.
The reenactment will involve five bandits who terrorize spectators at the Garrettsville train station, open fire on a train cab, force clerks to yield money pouches, and flee in a brand-new Plymouth sedan parked nearby. Folks will see the likes of Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, Freddie Hunter (Karpis’ accomplice from Warren) and Eliot Ness. Be prepared for audience interaction, with folks being held up at gunpoint and threatened by dynamite. Thompson adds, “This train robbery was Karpis’ last crime and the act which provided criminal evidence for his path to Alcatraz Island.”
Meanwhile, Thompson reports that promotion for her book has been going very well. “Markedly, it has been one of the best-selling true-crime books for The History Press—being sold everywhere from Hale Farm & Village, the Ohio State Reformatory, and now at Alcatraz Island off the San Francisco Bay.”
