Video Transcript

Mollie Halpern: It’s a case that concluded with one of the bloodiest firefights in the history of a New England state. I’m Mollie Halpern of the FBI with Gotcha, the Bureau’s closed case of the week.

The infamous Brady Gang of the Depression Era wanted to restock their weapon supply. So, the fugitives ordered guns at a hardware store in Bangor, Maine, where they believed they would not appear suspicious. But as FBI Historian John Fox explains, the clerk told local police, who told the Bureau.

John Fox: We staked out the place. We put two agents in the store acting as clerks. We had two agents upstairs. We had agents out on the street.

Halpern: When the gang returned to pick up their order, a special agent arrested one of them. Another gang member shot and wounded an agent but was killed when agents returned fire. As for gang leader, Al Brady he told agents…

John Fox : I give up, I give up, but he starts reaching for a gun. And we fire and he dies, in the street there.

Halpern: The gang’s deadly multi-state robbery spree was over that October day—which was just 24 hours short of a year of when the FBI first got involved in the case. The only gang member left standing was sentenced to die for the murder of a police officer. For more on this case, visit www.fbi.gov