Hidden Agenda | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

[Music] in the mid-1990s a gang of professional bank robbers raided cities across seven states disguises and speed protected their identity from cameras and the police they stole hundreds of thousands of dollars always leaving a bomb to terrorize their victims with no need and little evidence the fbi had to find the bandits before someone got killed [Applause] [Music] [Music] across the midwest a band of armed robbers struck banks at the rate of nearly one per month they attack with lightning precision and lethal force they are in and out in five minutes i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office the stakes were raised when the fbi discovered the robbers had an agenda beyond personal wealth to stop these violent extremists the fbi need to capture their terrorist leaders in 1994 the citizens of ames iowa enjoyed the peaceful life provided by a small college town [Music] many newcomers had moved to ames because of the area's low crime rate on january 25th at 10 30 in the morning two men entered a bank in town all right this is a robbery everybody down the floor down down down on the ground down they wore ski masks and held semi-automatic pistols they ordered everyone to the floor the teller managed to set off a silent alarm without being seen the fbi office in nearby des moines was alerted to the robbery in progress the agency had primary investigative jurisdiction and crimes involving federally insured money agents immediately responded but they were 30 miles away from the bank [Music] the bandits quickly emptied the cash don't look at me face the ground one of them pulled out what appeared to be [Music] he warned that no one should move for five minutes or it would explode the employees and customers evacuated as soon as they could the local police cordoned off the bank as explosive experts worked inside the bomb proved to be a diversion two road flares bound with duct tape the employees described how one of the gunmen leaped over the counter to grab the money they grabbed thousands in cash and were in and out of the bank in less than five minutes agents interviewed the witnesses so did you guys don't want to add anything else they said the gunman sometimes used in spanish when talking to each other the security camera provided photographs of the robbery ski masks effectively hid the faces of the assailants but investigators had images of their disguises and their weapons nine millimeter semi-automatics because the perpetrators wore gloves they did not leave any fingerprints detectives used electrostatic tape to recover a footprint from the counter the precautions taken by the bandits had effectively obscured their identities special agent ken moore of the des moines iowa fbi field office was immediately concerned that they were dealing with dangerous professionals now most bank robbers try to enter banks as quietly as possible go up to one teller counter and proceed to rob the bank and then leave as quietly as they can these individuals came in very violently fast [Music] agent moore wanted to apprehend the suspects as quickly as he could but the fbi had nothing of value to lead to their identity several weeks later a communique came into the des moines office it alerted area fbi of a february 15th bank robbery in davenport iowa agents contacted the davenport office to see if the incident might be related the agent described two gunmen wearing ski masks and black overcoats that had invaded a davenport bank the thieves used the same spanish phrases as the des moines bandits they also hopped over the counter to empty the cash drawers there was one significant difference this time the bandits left a real explosive a pipe bomb instead of a fake fortunately the detonator was missing disarming it had slowed down the investigation what that device does is it uh requires more manpower that could be out conducting an active investigation instead they're at the bank making sure things are safe investigators believe that the similarities between the incidents were more than coincidental after the davenport bank robbery we realized that the same individuals were responsible for both bank robberies and this was our first connection to possible syria serial bank robbers okay in the next four months cincinnati green bay and kansas city suffered similar crimes there appeared to be a pattern of their robberies there appeared to be two regions where they were robbing banks the the midwest region as well as the ohio region we were trying to logically connect those two regions and why banks were being robbed that way the robberies occurred between 10 and 11 in the morning when banks were less populated each time the bandits were out in less than five minutes always leaving an inert bomb as they fled the wide geographic spread of targets made their next moves impossible to predict the fbi needed to find some evidence that would lead to the suspects on june 8 1994 the bandits hit a bank in springdale ohio they drove away with over 11 000. the bystanders saw them use a brown chevrolet as their getaway car on june 17th a security guard became suspicious of a car on his employer's lot it had been sitting for a week without anyone claiming it he saw a police scanner he also spotted a pager next to a stained twenty dollar bill a springdale officer came out to check the car he began a search to ascertain the vehicle's ownership right here he made an effort to force open the glove compartment the grenade tumbled out the hand grenade turned out to be another inert explosive but its presence linked the car to the bank robbery agents used the car's serial numbers to track down the dealership where it had been sold they talked to the salesman who had handled the deal the sale had been made less than two weeks earlier but he couldn't give a description of the buyer the dead ends left investigators feeling the pressure we were becoming frustrated because the escalation of violence seemed to have been increasing they were more brazen were brandishing firearms scaring bank employees they were scaring customers leaving behind booby traps so we were very frustrated uh and we were concerned on december 27th the bandits finished 1994 with their 12th robbery in as many months they hit a bank outside st louis this time there were four gunmen now we were concerned over possible takeovers of banks possible entry into the bank vault with four people there's a lot more they can do [Music] bystanders of the st louis robbery saw the bandits put on their ski masks before entering the building the teller got a glimpse of one of them inside the bank these witnesses helped fbi artists make composite sketches of the suspects the fbi distributed the drawings to other agencies in the media they hoped it might bring someone forward who might know something more [Music] the television and news reports generated hundreds of calls into the fbi offices agents followed up on all credible tips but none provided any lead value the assailants communicated with the media as well they sent letters and cartoons to newspapers the correspondents ridiculed federal agents in their attempts to catch them in one letter the gang dubbed themselves the midwestern bank bandits the bandits sent another message to authorities in one of their getaway cars and investigators searched a vehicle used in a robbery near st louis on the front seat the gang had left a newspaper clipping about timothy mcveigh the oklahoma city bomber [Music] in less than two years the bandits had hit at least 15 banks across the midwest by the end of august 1995 agents from seven states and fbi headquarters gathered in louisville kentucky if we can get a shadow or something to raise the serial number all the offices were now working together to identify and apprehend the suspects [Music] all information and leads were to be channeled through a single office then distributed to the others right we'll uh we'll work on that special agent moore in des moines served as the point man the meeting also resulted in all case agents going back to their office reviewing all files to see if there's anything they may have missed or anything of lead value that might assist us in identifying the suspects supervisory special agent david welker found a phone tip that came into his cincinnati office after a june 1994 robbery the informant had named two men as the leaders of the midwestern bank bandits peter langan and richard guthrie well you determined at the time that uh they had criminal backgrounds that uh as we set out our leads that they had been arrested in georgia uh for the robbery of a pizza hut and then we found also at the time that the u.s secret service had looked at langen as a result of threats made to the president at the arrest police seized semi-automatic guns and grenades weapons similar to those used by the bank bandits the suspect served a brief prison sentence before being released [Music] agent welker was able to pull their mug shots he compared the photographs with the artist's sketches made after the saint louis robberies and they were so close then that it was it was phenomenal it it appeared that the the composite artist used these photographs to draw the composite drawings that's how close they were agents now had names for the gunman in pursuing the fbi was about to uncover a far more deadly plot than bank robbery in 1995 the fbi hunted the midwestern bank bandits the day before thanksgiving the four gunmen struck another bank in saint louis their 21st robbery their disguise included atf hats the same caps worn by federal agents from the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms they also left their signature pipe bomb none of these explosive devices had gone off they had either been inert or lacking detonators now agents knew how to defuse the bombs themselves they weren't going to let the rules slow the investigation down anymore supervisory special agent david welker of the cincinnati office had names for two of the bandits but peter langan and richard guthrie were living underground surfacing only when they struck another bank clearly we've identified the right people we're trying to develop as much information about these people and their contacts as possible but the best part about it is we have leads to follow in the intervening months the informant who had provided the names had moved from ohio the first set of robberies to uh special agent ed woods of the cincinnati fbi field office tracked the informant to georgia where he lived with his new wife and child this fellow had been an associate of of langan and guthrie in the past had had removed himself from that lifestyle and was starting a new life for himself and i think he was he was ready to put all that behind him so when i interviewed him he cooperated fully i need to ask you a few questions the informant had met langan in 1991 and a white supremacist rally the bible says thou shalt not come at thy neighbors they shared similar beliefs a year later langan proclaimed his intention to form the aryan republican army [Music] he was going to start a revolution against washington and its federal agencies like the fbi and atf that's your tax money langan had been inspired by the order an established terrorist group you know what i'm saying the order had financed their racist agenda by robbing four million dollars from banks and armored cars that evening langan introduced guthrie as his compatriots two months before the first bank robbery they asked the informant to become a member of the aryan army well i've got some stuff here he declined to join the new gang certainly but he did agree to pitch in what we got from this cooperating witness was the scope of of their activities the the surgical planning for the their bank robbery activities the fact that now we learned for the first time that their activities aren't just bank robbery and and criminal matters it relates to white supremacy [Music] the informant helped langan case the bank in springdale ohio [Music] but before that june 1994 robbery the informant had a change of heart and cut himself off from the bandits things like that he had participated enough to be charged as an accomplice the fbi promised not to prosecute him if he assisted right now they were ready to make a deal to capture langan and guthrie once we determined that they had broken off other white supremacist organizations to form their own it certainly ratcheted the uh the investigation up just another notch agent welker suspected it was only a matter of time before the midwestern bank bandits turned their racial prejudice into violence the gang was back in cincinnati hitting another bank in december 1995. during their escape one of the bandits bumped into a teenager the gunman demanded her purse she refused to comply only the sound of approaching sirens prevented the young woman from being seriously hurt betting that the bandits were still in the area agent welker brought the informant to cincinnati you know the fellas that are involved upon arriving the informant agreed to re-enter the white supremacist movement make sure that he has your pager agents instructed him to page the fbi when he made contact with the suspects but investigators became frustrated when more than a week passed without any results since he's been here for a week and a half and has provided no information at all and has arranged no meeting has virtually done nothing i was more than skeptical as to the what this cooperating witness could do for us and i was prepared to send him home because of my disbelief at the time at 2 30 in the morning of january 17 1996 the informant paged the fbi the call roused investigators from sleep to a secret meeting the informant claimed to have found guthrie he was finishing dinner with a friend when guthrie unexpectedly showed up the informant invented a reason for being in cincinnati and engaged the suspect in small talk get a minute talk to you outside come on [Music] while they said in the parking lot the suspect asked his old friend to reconsider joining the gang guthrie showed off an assault rifle and a bag of armor-piercing bullets [Music] yeah the informant provided a partial license plate number and description of guthrie's van agents still doubted his credibility so i had agent woods arrange to have the cooperating witness in the fbi office at four o'clock on sunday afternoon i didn't want him to know why he was there i just wanted him to be there and then i arranged for my division's polygraph examiner to be there and i wanted a polygraph of him i wanted to make sure that what he was telling us was true the informant agreed to take a lie detector test i think he's lying you think he's like all over the place give him a chance the examiner determined that the young man had been deceptive in his answers during the test i'm telling the truth listen a piece of paper there this polygraph to prove it he placed a call to the friend with whom he had had dinner hey what's going on man good man yeah the speakerphone allowed the agents to hear everything without prompting the friend immediately asked about his time with guthrie so now we have to make a decision and the decision is do we believe the polygraph or do we believe the phone call i think at the time i think the decision we made was the right one that is we have to believe the phone call it was an unprovoked response by the friend the informant arranged to meet guthrie on monday at their mutual friends apartment fbi agents assembled an arrest team they staked out the location ready to capture the suspect when he arrived the informant waited inside the apartment the friend did not know why the meeting had been arranged guthrie had promised to come sometime between 4 and 5 pm five o'clock came and went without the white supremacist arriving the informant knew that more than his credibility was at stake so was his cooperation agreement if the fbi believed he had deceived them they would turn him over to prosecutors for bank robbery at 5 20 there was still no sign of guthrie it looked like the suspect would not show up outside the arrest team grew impatient [Music] hey what's up yeah he's here it was guthrie on the phone he said they could meet at a nearby pizza restaurant in 30 minutes all right 30 minutes yeah yeah the informant needed to get word to the arrest team he told his buddy he was going out for [Music] cigarettes [Music] a little bit we're meeting just a little bit up the road everything's still fine [Music] several cars set out for the pizza parlor the agents could not help but wonder if this was the location or just another diversion along the way traffic separated the arrest team one agent was passing a convenience store parking lot when he spotted guthrie he turned around and radioed to the others that the suspect had been cited got into his van and started driving the agent stayed on the van's tail hoping the rest of the team would catch up he was alone following a suspect considered highly dangerous but he was determined not to let richard guthrie get away in january 1996 the fbi pursued richard guthrie the suspect was wanted for 22 bank robberies an agent separated from the arrest team had spotted the suspect at a cincinnati parking lot and began tailing his van he reported by radio his progress to the others where are you guthrie noticed that he was being followed an informant had reported that he was armed with automatic weapons and armor-piercing bullets the suspect tried to lose his tail the arrest team caught up with a lone agent and joined the chase he unwittingly turned into a cul-de-sac trapped he abandoned his van agent ed wood sprinted right behind he caught up to the gunman it was almost as if it was in slow motion where i like you could almost read his mind what he's thinking he's thinking i believe is this it is this the last standoff of this white supremacist and quite frankly what i expected him to do was to turn and start firing guthrie came to a riverbank he had no escape agents boxed him in i've been in law enforcement for uh over 20 years and i've never seen a look on a face like guthrie's at that time and guthrie as he was looking at us he was deciding whether he wanted to die right then he was deciding whether he wanted to pull a gun and take on everybody was standing there [Music] the suspect chose to live he submitted to arrest catching him it was it was a huge relief and catching him to where there was no violence attached to the arrest was even a greater relief once in custody guthrie began talking banks around the midwest he told investigators how he stayed in touch with the other primary suspect peter langan the friends used coded voicemails to contact one another he handed over his pager and pin number how about this one right here he claimed his next meeting with langan was to be in indianapolis guthrie's lawyer made an agreement with the fbi for later consideration in sentencing they could take the suspect with them to use his bait under the arrangement the accompanying agents weren't allowed to question guthrie about his crimes agent welker sought another way to apply information from the bandit's leader [Music] i assigned two agents to guard him one agent is a former harrier pilot in a marine corps and the other is our principal firearms instructor and of course over a two-day period there's a lot of discussion going on i was well aware that guthrie had a had an interest in flying and he had a keen interest in weapons during the trip the agents engaged guthrie in long conversations about common interests the congenial strategy worked the assailant warmed up to his accompanying agents and began volunteering information on the robberies guthrie admitted that he had lied to investigators his rendezvous was really supposed to take place in columbus ohio not indianapolis where the investigators had taken him 2709 he gave them the address of a safe house he told them langan was heavily armed he would not come out without a fight an fbi arrest team assembled the next morning in columbus langan's van was parked next to the duplex guthrie described the plan was to wait until the suspect exited his home and got into his van [Music] then as he pulled out fbi cars would box him in this would contain him and prevent a vehicular pursuit all escape avenues were blocked off at 9 30 a.m langan left the duplex carrying a canvas bag agents suspected this held an assault weapon [Music] he got into his van but failed to start the engine the arrest team waited for the word [Music] once he was observed getting into the van the the adrenaline for everyone there was flowing everyone knew something was going to happen the suspect sat motionless agents didn't know if he was planning something he seemed as if he anticipated the arrest finally the signal went out to move in let's take them let's take them in what agents thought was a suicide move langan had decided to put up a fight on january 18 1996 a suspected leader of 22 bank robberies decided to shoot it out with an fbi swat team supervisory special agent david welker of the cincinnati office led the arrest team someone who's going to pull a gun on 20 or more fbi agents is one nasty dude he's one nasty criminal peter langan was one gun against many swat team bullets pummeled the van it was over within moments but not before 50 rounds had been fired langan survived and surrendered despite the hail of bullets he suffered only minor injuries to the face and back after two years of pursuit the leaders of the midwestern bank bandits were now in custody two other accomplices remained at large the van was filled with semi-automatic guns ammunition and grenades inside the canvas bag agents found a nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol it was the same make of weapon that the bank bandits used evidence inside the duplex confirmed the bandits were more than a gang of thieves the house contained an armory big enough to equip a small cadre of terrorists [Music] agents found ski masks fbi hats police uniforms and false ids from nearly every state of the union books in literature detailed the gang's creed of militant hate commander pedro investigators discovered a tape among the propaganda it targeted young white males for recruitment into the aryan republican army today we are preparing to take over the usa tomorrow [Music] a columbus bank teller had briefly glimpsed the face of one of the bandits 17 months earlier detectives gave her a photo lineup hoping she could remember enough to make an id despite the intervening months she picked out langan from the array of similar looking men hank and while langan refused to cooperate guthrie agreed to tell all he knew i don't know agents debriefed him 10 hours a day for 10 straight days how many accomplices he could recall all the places times and dates it took 99 pages to detail the 22 robberies [Music] but when it came to his at-large accomplices guthrie only knew their first names the bank bandits had been assembled like an underground terrorist cell personal information on others was kept to a minimum to prevent capture guthrie could only offer that the man he knew only as scott was involved in music the man he knew as kevin who's the nephew of a policeman supervisor of special agent both lived in the philadelphia area yeah the scanned information was forwarded to pennsylvania special agent joe hendrickson of the philadelphia fbi field office was initially overwhelmed by the request there was no hope of finding these people with that information i set back and had a cup of coffee and then i said well i'll go contact the philadelphia police department and there's a possibility that maybe their personnel records indicate nephews but i was in much doubt that that type of record existed because i know that in my outfit i did not list nieces and nephews in my personnel file philadelphia had 7 000 police officers any one of which could be kevin's uncle the search began at the intelligence division of the police department an officer knew immediately who the fbi was looking for the division had been keeping tabs on white supremacists in the area intelligence officers had kept them under surveillance for over a year officers often spotted them meeting on a farm belonging to mark thomas over the years the philadelphia police department had been taking down tags at various rallies and so forth and at some point in time they took down a tag ran the tag and it came out to kevin mccarthy and then they said you know we've got a lieutenant here that has that name they contacted him and lo and behold they found out that kevin mccarthy was attending aryan nation rallies hendrickson put a surveillance squad on kevin mccarthy [Music] they observed him repeatedly visiting a recording studio in philadelphia [Music] agents noted the license numbers of the cars outside the business they ran the plates for all the people going in and out one of the vehicles belonged to a man named scott stetteford he managed the studio and also played drums in mccarthy's band from his amateur photo guthrie confirmed that this was the scott he had worked with using that same photo the witness also recognized stetteford as the getaway driver in the des moines robbery an arrest warrant was sent to philadelphia the studio presented too many risks for officers to invade and force agents could not be sure who was inside and what weapons might be hidden they didn't want another shootout for my mom actually and um two undercover agents posed as father and daughter the female agent asked stetteford about the cost of studio time she claimed she wanted to record a song for her mother can you grab your guitar as stetteford considered a quote the undercover agents confirmed that he was alone and unarmed turn around the agents drew on him [Music] they placed him under arrest the fbi did not have an arrest warrant for kevin mccarthy they feared that he would run once he heard about stetteford's capture what we ended up doing was we brought his uncle the philadelphia police officer with us we felt that with his blood relative the law enforcement presence and the total set of circumstances that we hoped that he would somehow be convinced that the thing to do would be to cooperate the uncle entered the basement bedroom he disarmed his sleeping nephew the agent woke the young man kevin special agent fbi he began explaining that it was in mccarthy's best interest to cooperate with the fbi yes okay we kind of know what went on today only suspicion tied the young man to the crimes the agent needed a confession he showed mccarthy the 99-page admission made by guthrie and when he saw this report describing every bank robbery what they did where they went he realized that we had all the information he just didn't realize that we had no evidence the young man was overwhelmed he voluntarily turned over the weapon and clothing he used in the robberies [Music] when he began to confess his uncle stopped him and advised him to get a lawyer [Music] with all the suspects now in custody agents considered their investigation wrapped up on july 3 1996 richard guthrie pleaded guilty to 19 bank robberies he agreed to testify against his accomplices with his cooperation prosecutors considered their case airtight [Music] nine days later the cooperating witness hanged himself in a jail cell the suicide devastated the government's case now that created a major problem for the prosecution because since guthrie could no longer be cross-examined his information couldn't be used directly against langen if the other bank bandits were going to be convicted the fbi had to find someone else who could corroborate guthrie's confession in 1996 the legal case against the midwestern bank bandits was on the verge of collapse the chief cooperating witness had killed himself without his testimony the evidence against his captured co-defendants was slim special agent joe hendrickson spearheaded the investigation in philadelphia these bank robbers were very very good and the evidence that they left behind at every robbery was a zero they were fully masked fully gloved their weapons were untraceable hendrickson helped convince kevin mccarthy to plead guilty and turn state's witness but prosecutors needed more than one cooperating felon to convict the others investigators focused on the man who had steered suspects into the aryan republican army [Music] mark thomas had turned scott stedford and kevin mccarthy into outlaws thomas edited a newsletter and web page for white supremacists his literature and videos had swayed many young men into racist and anti-government organizations and we felt that even though he was not personally involved in these crimes that he had caused these crimes to come about and therefore he was responsible and and based on conspiracy laws we felt it was quite possible to go after him for conspiring to commit bank robbery the fbi made weekly contact with thomas at his pennsylvania farm [Music] they made it clear that they suspected him and weren't going away [Music] cool kevin mccarthy told investigators that he and scott stedford stayed at thomas's home he acted like a father figure to them and warned them of the coming race [Music] he brought the young men to live in elohim city a white separatist compound in oklahoma during the summer of 1994 thomas invited them to join the aryan republican army [Music] in mid-october scott stetterman agreed he participated in his first bank robbery two weeks later [Music] on november 13th thomas drove kevin mccarthy to arkansas for an introduction to langdon and guthrie the teenager heard them boast of successfully robbing banks throughout the midwest [Music] the 17 year old joined up [Music] agents also learned from mccarthy that thomas took a hundred dollars in stolen money for the start of an aryan war chest over the months of contact agents caught thomas in several lies about his activities this is my farm [Music] they took what they had to us prosecutors i'm doing what he says the united states attorney's office decided that uh based on the cooperating witnesses testimony we were going to arrest him even though it was a very slim case it was a close call as the united states attorney's office would say but we're going to put out an arrest warrant for him thomas heard that the fbi was going to pick him up on a charge of conspiracy he agreed to surrender after calling the media to witness he told the press their presence prevented his assassination thomas pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing on february 4th 1997. he asked to meet with the fbi the next day [Music] that's where mark thomas caved he signed a seven-page plea agreement that corroborated kevin mccarthy's confession the government's case was now solid this was the biggest surprise of anyone's involved in the case the idea that the head of the movement after one day in prison would decide to completely cooperate was just unfathomable but apparently our pressure over the six months that it of continually talking to him and then the one night in prison was enough for him to decide that he had been completely wrong in his ideals and that he wanted to uh as he said get right with god hey mark thomas was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison peter langen was convicted on bank robbery and gun charges he received life without proof kevin mccarthy got five years old his testimony may help convict scott stetteford on two counts [Music] in america extremist groups enjoy the freedom to maintain their beliefs they are constitutionally protected until they cross the legal line if they engage in outlaw activities they will find the fbi on a mission to stop [Music] you

Channel: The FBI Files

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Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail, bank robbery

Id: 5EVlPikC2QE

Length: 50min 5sec (3005 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 26 2020