# The FBI's blackboard plan for the arrest of Alvin Karpis, New Orleans (1936)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fbi-karpis-arrest-plan-1936/

Photograph of a chalkboard sketch of the New Orleans block where Alvin Karpis was arrested on 1 May 1936, with Canal Street, Jefferson Davis Parkway, the apartment buildings and agents' positions. A copy is stored here.

The FBI's Barker/Karpis page shows this photograph with the caption "The FBI's plan to capture Karpis was sketched out on a blackboard." The chalk drawing shows a street block with the labels "Canal" and "Jeff Davis Pkwy," rectangles marked "Bldg Apt," a "Board Fence," and handwritten assignments for agents, some marked "Shotgun" and "Machine Gun." Several labels are not legible in the published image and are not transcribed here.

The photograph is undated; the date given here is the month of the arrest. The Bureau's 1936 summary places the arrest at "Apartment 1, 3343 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana," at about 5:30 p.m. on May 1, 1936; see the [Bremer investigation summary](/items/fbi-vault-bremer-investigation-summary-1936/).

## Sources

- Federal Bureau of Investigation, History: Cases and Criminals (Barker/Karpis Gang): https://www.fbi.gov/history/cases-and-criminals/barker-karpis-gang