Kidnapping Victim. He gained recognition as the kidnap victim of the Barker-Karpis Gang, which was headed by notorious Ma Barker. His kidnapping brought the Barker-Karpis Gang to the status of being #1 on the FBI's Public Enemy list and was the last of their spree of bank, post office, and train robberies; burglaries; bootlegging of alcohol; murders; and two kidnappings. On June 19, 1933, William A. Hamm, Jr., the President of the Theodore Hamm Brewing Company, was kidnapped for three days with $100,000 in ransom being paid, yet the state-of-the-art technology of fingerprints found on the ransom note gave evidence that a member of the Barker-Karpis Gang was accountable for the kidnapping. The kidnapping was speculated as being related to the ending of the profitable business of bootlegging of alcohol during prohibition rivaled to commercial beer brewing becoming legal in 1933 with the repealing of prohibition. Born the son of Adolf Bremer and Marie Schmidt, he was the heir to the Schmidt brewery and president of the Commercial State Bank. At 8:25 on the morning of January 17, 1934, after leaving his nine-year-old daughter Betty at Summit School in St. Paul, he was ambushed, while in his car on a public street, by two members of the Barker-Karpis Gang. He was pistol-whipped about his head and forced into the back of his car. While bleeding about his head, blindfolding goggles were placed over his eyes before leaving. Later, he was forced to switch cars. Following being taken to a remote house and placed in a room, he was told that his family would be killed if he did not do as told. He did write a note to his father to prove that he was alive. After 21 days, Bremer was returned to his family for a $200,000 ransom. On February 7th, he was left alone on a road with enough money to make his way home. His father was a personal friend of President Roosevelt, who mentioned the kidnappings in one of his radio fireside chats. Within two years, the FBI had the kidnappers. Giving fine details, Bremer helped federal investigators find his captors. All the organized crime members, including the Barker-Karpis Gang, were arrested and sentenced to prison or were killed. During the investigation of the kidnapping, corruption was also found in the local police force. According to his obituary, he died from a sudden heart attack while residing at his winter home in Florida and none of the ransom money was recovered.