A FAST LIFE OF CRIME: DIETRICH KALTEIS'S CROOKED

There's something compelling about the Depression era robbers. Maybe it's that the tie to the old west with the outlaws switching their horsepower from hooves to V-8 engines. With Crooked, Dietrich Kalteis captures this criminal life with one of the few who survived it.

In the sunny Spain of the late Seventies, Alvin Karpis looks back on his illegal career over drinks bought by a curious couple. It mainly started in 1931 when he finds Fred Barker running a small group of stickup men in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With his smarts and Fred's bravado, they create one of the most formidable bank robbery gangs, including Fred's brothers Herman and "Doc". Supplied with fast cars and Tommy Guns, like many other criminals of the time, they outrun and outgun most law officers, jumping jurisdictions in little time. They move into kidnapping and near the end of their run attempt to pull off one of the last train robberies. They last longer than most with Alvin's planning and intelligence gathering.

By following one of the longest lasting gangs, Kalteis completely captures the time. The Barker-Karpis Gang run into fellow outlaws like George "Baby Face" Nelson and deal with Capone right hand and eventual heir Frank Nitti who takes a bite out of their action. Some of the humor comes from them feeling in competition with John Dillinger, They have an interesting relationship with the press, who dubs them "The Ma Barker Gang", even though the Barker matriarch just cooked for the boys. Due to a photo of Alvin with an odd smile, he gets the nickname "Creepy Karpis" to his chagrin. We track the growing power of the FBI that figures in their downfall.

Kaltleis pulls off a great magic trick of having us connect to Alvin and Fred while often reminding us they are violent criminal with little regard for the lives outside thiers and those close to them . This is partly due to introducing us to Alvin as a charming old man with those days behind him. He also drops us into the lives of The Barker-Karpis Gang and their crimes in a way that makes us feel like an accomplice. His quick, punching prose brings a an intense immediacy to the robberies and gunfights. He conveys the feeling of being on the run n a visceral manner. We also glimpse how the two struggle to keep their relationships and family together as they move from hideout to hideout with no permanent way to settle down.

Crooked travels down and outlaw road in a fast Ford coupe with bullets flying out and in and Kalteis's foot on the gas. He takes us through a midwest motor courts and farmhouses and posh hotels in Cuba and Miami, introducing us to corrupt cops, back alley abortionists, gangsters, and molls, all colorful yet human. Alvin Karpis proves to be a bad man who had a good story to tell.