Edward Bremer

Edward Bremer
Nationality	USA
Known for	kidnap victim

The Kidnapping of Edward Bremer was the last major criminal enterprise of the Barker-Karpis gang. Though successful in netting the gang a large ransom, it brought down the full force of the FBI on the gang, resulting in the death or capture of its main members in the months afterwards. The kidnapping was organized by racketeer Harry Sawyer, and the principal kidnappers were Fred Barker, Alvin Karpis, Arthur Barker, Volney Davis and George Ziegler.

The successful capture and prosecution of the kidnappers greatly enhanced the reputation of the FBI. The strong suspicion that members of the local police were working with the criminals helped fuel campaigns against police corruption.

The Barker-Karpis gang operated in St. Paul, Minnesota under the protection of corrupt police chief Tom Brown and local racketeers Jack Peifer and Harry Sawyer. Sawyer had orchestrated their previous successful kidnapping of William Hamm. He now proposed that Edward Bremer should be their next victim. Bremer was 34, and was president of Commercial State Bank. His father, Adolph Bremer, was also a banker and the owner of the Schmidt beer brewery.

It is thought that Bremer was not chosen simply because of his wealth, but also because of a personal vendetta, possibly linked to the ending of the prohibition era. Schmidt breweries were widely believed to have survived in the prohibition era by working with bootleggers such as Sawyer. With prohibition over, the Bremers severed ties with their criminal associates. According to Sawyer's wife, her husband and Ed Bremer "got into a dispute over alcohol."Alvin Karpis later said that Sawyer had some sort of "beef" with the victim and that he "sure didn't like Bremer". When the FBI investigated the kidnapping, they discovered that Bremer had many enemies. An FBI report noted that he "is very much disliked, not only by his family, but generally. He has an uncontrollable temper, is very selfish, and has few friends".

On January 16, 1934 Bremer was kidnapped from the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota. He was on his way to work, having just dropped his daughter off at school when he was approached by two men, one of whom was Arthur "Dock" Barker. Barker repeatedly punched and pistol-whipped him, forcing him into the back of the car and placing blindfolding goggles over his eyes. After having some difficulty starting the vehicle, the kidnappers forced the bleeding Bremer to show them the starter button, then drove off, later switching to another car. The blood-stained vehicle was later recovered, leading to fears that Bremer had been killed.

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Wikipedia