St. Paul was a haven for notorious criminals in the late 1920s and early 1930s when local law enforcement turned a blind eye to the underworld activities of gangsters, bank robbers, and bootleggers. One of the most cold-blooded groups to take up residence in the city was the Barker-Karpis gang. Between 1931 and 1935, the […]
Barker-Karpis Gang
Stockyards Exchange Building
South St. Paul’s rise and fall as the king of the meat packing industry began in 1886 and lasted for over one hundred and twenty years. Today, however, most of what was once one of the largest stockyard operations in the world has been lost to the wrecking ball. As the meat packing operations in […]
South St. Paul Post Office
On August 30, 1933 at 9:45 AM, just outside the South St. Paul Post Office, one officer was shot dead and another severely injured when the Barker-Karpis Gang robbed two bank messengers escaping with $33,000 in payroll intended for employees of Swift and Company. A Brazen Crime Around 9:10 AM that morning, South St. Paul […]
