Minnesota Then
By late 1933, the Barker-Karpis Gang had already discovered that kidnapping wealthy businessmen could be extraordinarily profitable. Their successful abduction of William Hamm Jr. months earlier had netted a significant ransom with relatively low risk compared to bank robberies. Bremer, with his brewery fortune and predictable habits, presented an irresistible target for another lucrative score.
Despite the allure of a hefty ransom, the gang wasn't without its internal debate. Alvin Karpis, one of the gang's leaders, told Harry Sawyer, the man who organized the kidnapping, that he would rather rob a bank than take Bremer. Karpis feared the potential public outcry over a high-profile abduction. Ultimately, the chance for a big payday was too great to pass up.
The gang's confidence in operating from St. Paul wasn't unfounded. For years, the city's police had maintained an informal arrangement known as the Layover Agreement, which tolerated gangsters as long as they committed no crimes within city limits. By 1934, this tolerance had made St. Paul a haven for criminals, complicating any investigation before it even began.
On the frigid morning of January 17, 1934, at 8:25 am, Edward Bremer dropped his daughter Betty off at Summit School at 1150 Goodrich Avenue before heading to work. He was ambushed and abducted only blocks away at the corner of Lexington and Goodrich. Later identified as the Barker-Karpis Gang, his kidnappers had studied his routine for weeks through detailed surveillance.
With Bremer now captive, the gang called his trusted business associate and former chauffeur Walter Magee to demand a ransom. It echoed their past success with William Hamm Jr.'s kidnapping: $200,000 for Bremer's safe return. Specific instructions mirrored the Hamm case - no new or sequential bills, placed in two large suitcases. The message was clear: cooperate or face the consequences. The note closed by reassuring that if the family did their part to see Bremer's return, the gang would release him.
The kidnappers instructed the family to place a coded message, "We Are Ready, Alice," in the Minneapolis Tribune's personals section when they were ready to make the ransom payment. Disagreements arose between the FBI and local police. While the feds, eager to apprehend the entire gang, wanted the ransom drop to be a sting operation, local law enforcement planned to kill the kidnappers. The tension between federal and local authorities reflected the broader complications created by St. Paul's history of tolerating organized crime.
Coming mere months after William Hamm Jr.'s, the abduction sent shock waves countrywide. President Roosevelt, politicians, and the national media all looked to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI for answers. Hoover personally oversaw the investigation, recognizing that the high-profile nature of the case offered an opportunity to demonstrate federal law enforcement's capabilities. Minnesota's Governor Olson offered full support from state law enforcement, while within the gang, tensions flared; Fred Barker suggested killing Bremer in retaliation but was overruled.
Despite the FBI's objections and a failed attempt to reduce the ransom, the family paid the hefty sum after twenty-one days. Adolph Bremer penned a plea to his son's captors. The note, delivered with the ransom, offered a desperate bargain: "This money is not marked... I am counting on your honor... Be sports and do the square thing by turning Edward loose at once."
On February 7, 1934, Bremer was released on a deserted road near Rochester. The gang told him to make his own way home. With limited information due to his blindfolded confinement, he could only tell the FBI he was held by three men in a sedan. Fearful for his daughter's safety due to the kidnappers' threats, Bremer remained tight-lipped about his captors.
Despite an initial reluctance, Bremer became a crucial asset to the FBI. He tried to remember every detail he could, including the wallpaper used in the house he was held in, aiding investigators in linking the gang to the crime. Some have suggested the FBI may have possessed leverage that encouraged his cooperation, though such claims remain speculative.
Bremer's high-profile abduction, coming on the heels of the Hamm Jr. case, galvanized the nation and empowered the FBI. Hoover used the case to push for expanded federal authority and enhanced coordination across state lines, centralizing crime records and establishing protocols that would define modern federal law enforcement. This would be the last major crime of the Barker-Karpis Gang. Within two years, the FBI's relentless pursuit effectively ended the era of the gangster.