Al Brady

Alfred James "Al" Brady (October 25, 1910 – October 12, 1937) was an Indiana-born armed robber and murderer who became one of the FBI's "Public Enemies" in the 1930s. He and an accomplice were shot dead in an ambush by FBI agents in downtown Bangor, Maine, in 1937. The spectacular public gun-battle that led to the demise of "The Brady Gang" is an essential part of Maine history, and was even the subject of a re-enactment in 2007.

Biography Al Brady lost his father at age 2, his mother at age 16 and his stepfather at age 18. Two months after his stepfather's death he committed his first robbery, in Indianapolis, Indiana, in which he was shot and wounded. On release from jail, he teamed up with Clarence Lee Shaffer Jr., James Dalhover, and Charles Geisking. The gang stole cars and committed armed robberies across Indiana, mostly of grocery stores. They eventually murdered a 23-year-old Indianapolis store clerk, and then Indianapolis policeman Richard Rivers. The gang was also suspected of killing a policeman in Anderson, Indiana, in 1935. The four were captured in 1936, but Brady, Dalhover, and Shaffer escaped from a jail in Greenfield, Indiana, and then robbed a bank in Goodland, Indiana, in May 1937. In fleeing the robbery, they managed to ambush and kill one of their pursuers, Indiana State Police trooper Paul Minneman, and severely injured another. The gang then relocated, first to Baltimore, then to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and eventually to Bangor, Maine.

In Bangor, Maine Marker in Bangor, Maine, where Al Brady was killed by FBI agents. The three arrived in Bangor, having accumulated about $5,000 from their spree of robberies. Brady believed Maine to be an easy place to procure large numbers of guns and amounts of ammunition without suspicion, because of the extensive hunting in the area. On September 21, 1937, they first approached the store. Brady asked the owner, Everett Hurd, for 500 rounds of .30-caliber ammunition. One of the party took out a large roll of money in large bills, which drew the suspicion of the owner.

Photographs of their bullet-ridden bodies lying dead in the middle of Central Street became iconic local images, and long hung behind the counter at Dakin's. In the photographs, a large crowd of people is shown gathered. Coincidentally, it was Columbus Day, and celebrants had already thronged the streets before the shooting began.