Harry Brunette

Who is Harry Brunette?

Harry Walter Brunette was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. He was declared a national "public enemy" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he and partner Merle Vandenbush robbed a series of banks in the New York City area and kidnapped New Jersey state trooper William A. Turnbull during 1936. The New York City Police Department managed to find Brunette and Vandenbush hiding out in an apartment on West 102nd Street on December 14, 1936. Upon locating Brunette, the NYPD contacted the FBI letting them know his whereabouts. Although this was done as a matter of professional courtesy, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover personally led a group of federal agents to take charge of the area. At the time, the FBI was under heavy criticism from the press due to its overly-aggressive and strong handed tactics resulting in the shooting deaths of unarmed suspects and innocent bystanders. It was hoped by Hoover that he could use the situation to set up a "personal arrest" by his second-in-command Clyde Tolson for propaganda purposes, such as Hoover's own staged arrest of Alvin Karpis in 1934.

Almost from the start, there were problems between the NYPD and the FBI.