Gangsters Phone Lines Required
When the Barker-Karpis gang moved to Grand Avenue in 1933, they rented three apartments to accommodate their associates. Their brood included swindler Earl Christman, and Jess Doyle, a gunman involved in about half of the gang’s bank heists, and others returning to Minnesota after fleeing the frigid Minnesota winter in warmer climates. But the Barker-Karpis gang forgot one important thing. The telephone Harry Sawyer insisted upon to tip them off about police or FBI raids.
The Barker-Karpis gang hadn’t been at 1290 for a month and had yet to set up this vital service. Unfortunately for them, on March 4, Harry Sawyer got a tip from a contact at the police department about an impending raid. Police still conducted raids to keep up appearances for the feds. Not having a phone could have had deadly consequences, had it been anywhere except St. Paul.
