Dive into the intense world of FBI manhunts and the dramatic final moments of America's most notorious criminals. From Depression-era gangsters to modern-day fugitives, we'll explore the high-stakes encounters that ended with these dangerous individuals meeting their ultimate fate.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A week's long manhunt for a fugitive from Maryland came to an end yesterday.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 10 well-known fugitives and
00:09criminals who were killed by the FBI. Come on, boys, we're going for the record.
00:13Three banks in two hours. Roy McGrath.
00:16The ex-chief of staff for Maryland's former governor died during a shootout in Knoxville,
00:21Tennessee. Video from the scene shows a car window that appears to be shattered from gunfire.
00:27This political operative served as director of the Maryland Environmental Service and
00:30briefly worked as chief of staff to the governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan. However,
00:34he was forced to resign after getting caught in a financial scandal and was later charged
00:38with falsification of records and wire fraud. However, he failed to appear in court and became
00:43a federal fugitive. There has since been a three-week manhunt, which ended tragically
00:47in Knoxville, Tennessee last night. Law enforcement caught up with Roy McGrath,
00:52who'd been on the land for nearly a month. The FBI tracked him down through cell phone
00:56signals and credit card records, and on April 3, 2023, agents moved to arrest McGrath outside
01:01of a Tennessee Costco. He fled, resulting in a police chase that ended when he became boxed in.
01:06FBI agents shot McGrath at the exact same time that he turned his gun on himself. It's unclear
01:11which was the fatal blow. The autopsy determined McGrath suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound
01:16to his head and another shot, striking his left cheek, fired by an FBI agent.
01:21Craig Robertson
01:22New details about the Utah man who was killed by the FBI as they tried to arrest him for
01:27allegedly threatening to assassinate President Biden.
01:29In September of 2022, 74-year-old Craig Robertson made his first of many threats
01:34against President Joe Biden, writing,
01:36"...the time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe, then Kamala."
01:40Biden was a repeated target of Robertson's online threats, but so too were California
01:44Governor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Attorneys General Letitia
01:49James and Merrick Garland.
01:50Robertson made threats against President Biden and other officials on social media before his death.
01:57His violent posts eventually caught the attention of the FBI National Threats Operations Center.
02:02They began monitoring Robertson, and on the morning of August 9, 2023,
02:06they arrived at his Utah home to serve an arrest warrant. However, Robertson was prepared and
02:10allegedly began firing at the agents with a revolver. He was killed by returning fire.
02:14Robertson was killed when agents say they tried to arrest him
02:18for posting dozens of threats against President Biden online.
02:22Toby Wiggins
02:23More breaking news tonight out of Atmore. The FBI has shot and killed a wanted murder
02:28suspect out of Charlotte, North Carolina, in Escambia County, Alabama, tonight.
02:32Back in 2020, Alabama native Toby Wiggins attracted the attention of the FBI. He had
02:36become the prime suspect in the death of 39-year-old Kashana Tate, and he was charged
02:40with first-degree murder. With federal warrants out for his arrest, FBI agents stormed Wiggins'
02:45trailer park home in Atmore, Alabama.
02:47The FBI did not release any information about what led up to the shooting,
02:50but witnesses say they heard multiple gunshots.
02:53They provided a telephone to Wiggins, and a tense standoff occurred with Wiggins periodically
02:57breaking from the conversation to wave at the growing crowd and blow them kisses. With
03:01negotiations having failed, Wiggins later emerged from the trailer with a shirt over his right arm.
03:06It's believed that this shirt concealed a weapon, as agents soon fired multiple
03:10shots into Wiggins, killing him at the scene.
03:12You can see in the distance a tense setup and crime scene tape still surrounding the home
03:16where Toby Wiggins was shot and killed yesterday.
03:19Robert T. Matthews
03:20I remember thinking that finally, after all this work, I'm going to come face-to-face
03:26with Bob Matthews.
03:28The manhunt of Robert T. Matthews sounds like something out of a movie. Matthews was a known
03:32neo-Nazi, and in 1984, he shot and wounded an FBI agent in Oregon. The bureau then tracked
03:37Matthews to a house on Whidbey Island in Washington and laid him under siege for two days. Matthews
03:43proved confrontational, and after tear gas failed to flush him out, agents began firing
03:47into the structure with machine guns and other large weapons.
03:50The roar of the weapon that Matthews was using was, it was unbelievable.
03:54Well, I've been involved in gun battles during my tenure in the FBI, but never anything like this.
04:00Meanwhile, gunfire continued to erupt from the house, suggesting that Matthews was still alive.
04:04Eventually, an FBI helicopter fired illumination flares into the house,
04:08resulting in a huge explosion that destroyed the homestead and killed Matthews.
04:12The leader of the order never emerges from his safe house.
04:16I will never submit, nor surrender. Goodbye, Kinsman.
04:22Bob Matthews' war with the government has finally come to an end.
04:26Greg Carlson
04:27Armed, dangerous, and on the run,
04:29Los Angeles man wanted for sex assault is now on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
04:33In September of 2018, Greg Carlson was added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list after committing
04:38a series of armed sexual assaults in the greater Los Angeles area.
04:42Carlson was arrested for the crimes in 2017 but fled after posting bond.
04:46He was later spotted in Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina,
04:49and the FBI became involved when he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
04:53He was then sighted in Jacksonville, Florida in November of 2017,
04:57then in Daytona Beach in late November of 2017, and nothing since then. He's vanished. Gone.
05:04Fast forward to February 2019,
05:06when a North Carolina police officer spotted Carlson's car in the parking lot of a local hotel.
05:11The FBI was called and stormed his hotel room,
05:14resulting in a brief altercation that ended in Carlson's death.
05:17The agents tracked him down to this hotel behind me early this morning,
05:20where they say he was shot and killed by an FBI agent as they tried to take him into custody.
05:26Ma Barker
05:26And I'll help you, Cody, like always. You'll be out soon, back on top of the world.
05:33When you're around, Ma, nothing can stop me.
05:35Real name Arizona Clark, Ma Barker was purported to be the genius matriarch of
05:39the Depression-era Barker-Karpus gang. But this was mostly just FBI propaganda.
05:44No, Barker wasn't entirely innocent. She was most definitely an accessory,
05:48as she knew of her children's criminal empire and even helped them hide from the police.
05:52Top of the world, son.
05:54Don't know what I'd do without you, Ma.
05:55But she was no leader. As told by bank robber Harvey Bailey, she couldn't even plan breakfast.
06:00Regardless, Barker was grouped with her sons, and on January 16, 1935,
06:04the FBI stormed their Florida hideout, killing Barker and her son Fred. It's now widely believed
06:09that director J. Edgar Hoover made up the claims about Barker to justify their shooting of her.
06:14The house was made famous in 1935 when gangster Fred Barker and his mother
06:19were killed in a shootout with the FBI.
06:21Al Brady
06:22It's a case that concluded with one of the bloodiest firefights in the history of a New
06:26England state.
06:27Bangor, Maine, is known for two things, being the home of Stephen King and the
06:31location of Al Brady's explosive final moments. Brady was a Depression-era gangster and murderer
06:36who became an FBI public enemy after stealing roughly $5,000. He eventually made his way to
06:41Bangor and attempted to purchase 500 rounds of ammo from a local gun dealer. Suspicious with
06:46the request and the large bills that Brady had used, the owner contacted the police,
06:50and when Brady returned to pick up his order, he found FBI agents waiting for him.
06:54We staked out the place. We put two agents in the store acting as clerks. We had two
06:59agents upstairs. We had agents out on the street.
07:02The furious shootout then erupted, with Brady and his partner Clarence Schaefer being gunned
07:07down by FBI agent Walter Walsh. The story soon became a famous piece of Bangor lore.
07:12While it was a tragic and dramatic event,
07:14it really has just those lingering effects in the fabric of our history.
07:20Babyface Nelson
07:21One of the most notorious criminals in American history, Babyface Nelson was a known bank robber,
07:34and on November 27, 1934, he was public enemy number one. It was on that date that Nelson
07:40would go down in what is now known as the Battle of Barrington. Nelson and a car full
07:44of FBI agents passed each other on Highway 12 in Illinois, resulting in a violent chase.
07:51It ended in Barrington's Northside Park, where a massive shootout occurred. Two agents were
08:02killed in the exchange, and Nelson was fatally wounded after receiving nine shots, eight shotgun
08:06pellets to the leg and one slug to the gut. He made it to his safe house in Wilmette,
08:10but succumbed to his injuries later that evening.
08:17Pretty Boy Floyd
08:21Floyd! Halt!
08:25These old-timey gangsters loved him a good nickname. Another famous bank robber of the 1930s,
08:30Pretty Boy Floyd attracted attention not just because of his exploits, but because he freed
08:34many people from debt by burning mortgage documents. In this regard, he was considered
08:38something of a folk hero by the American public. But folk hero or not, his crimes still attracted
08:48attention of the FBI, and they got him on October 22, 1934. The story has about a million different
08:54versions as accounts differ wildly depending on who's telling it, but the result is the same.
08:58Floyd was shot and killed in a cornfield outside the city of East Liverpool, Ohio.
09:02His funeral was attended by up to 40,000 people.
09:11Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about
09:15our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
09:20If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
09:27John Dillinger
09:30Accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations, John Dillinger is one of the most
09:35famous of the Depression gangsters, and his death is Chicago legend. On July 22, 1934,
09:41Dillinger was leaving the Biograph Theater when he spotted federal agents waiting for him.
09:45He fled into a nearby alley, but the FBI had planned for this and had already closed it off.
09:59Three agents pursued Dillinger into the alley and shot at him,
10:02hitting him a total of four times. The fatal shot entered his neck and severed his spinal cord,
10:06effectively killing him instantly. Legend has it that bystanders were so enamored with the scene
10:11and the legend of Dillinger that they dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood as a macabre souvenir.
10:19What do you think of these stories? Let us know in the comments below.
10:27Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
10:31and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.