Anthony Palmisano

Anthony Palmisano, a 26-year-old Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was a dedicated public servant from Newark, New Jersey. Born on November 3, 1942, he began his career with the FBI as a clerk in the Newark Field Office on June 17, 1960, while concurrently earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Seton Hall College. He was appointed as a Special Agent on July 10, 1967, and after an initial assignment in Charlotte, he transferred to the Washington, D.C. field office in 1968. He was married and had been a Special Agent for just over a year at the time of his death.

The morning of January 8, 1969, set in motion a tragic chain of events. Billie Austin Bryant, a federal prisoner serving a lengthy sentence for armed robbery and assault, had escaped from the Lorton Reformatory in Virginia months earlier, in August 1968. On that Wednesday morning, Bryant robbed the Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Maryland in Fort Washington, fleeing in a maroon Cadillac. Bank tellers recognized Bryant from his time as a customer before his imprisonment and identified him to law enforcement. The FBI was notified, and the investigation quickly led them to an apartment in Southeast Washington, D.C., where Bryant’s wife was known to reside.

Special Agent Palmisano, his partner Special Agent Edwin R. Woodriffe, and a third agent proceeded to an apartment building on Yuma Street SE to investigate. After finding no sign of the getaway car, they went to the wife's apartment to see if Bryant had tried to make contact. As they ascended the stairs, they unknowingly passed Bryant's wife on her way down. When an agent knocked on the apartment door, a man, later confirmed to be Bryant, opened it slightly. He claimed the woman wasn't home and denied the agents permission to enter and wait.

Without warning, Bryant began firing a gun through the partially open door at point-blank range. A quick succession of shots struck both Palmisano and Woodriffe. As Bryant slammed the door shut, the third agent fired two shots into it before rushing back to their vehicle to radio for assistance. The two wounded agents were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but their injuries were fatal, and both were pronounced dead on arrival.

The response was immediate and massive. The apartment building was surrounded within minutes by D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and FBI agents. After tear gas was deployed and officers entered the unit, they discovered that Bryant had escaped through a bedroom window, climbing down a nearby tree. The surviving agent identified a photograph of Billie Austin Bryant as the shooter, triggering an intensive manhunt involving hundreds of officers from multiple agencies, complete with helicopters, K-9 units, and roadblocks. Bryant was officially added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

The manhunt, however, was remarkably short. At approximately 6:50 p.m., only about two hours after the shooting, police received a call from a citizen on Mississippi Avenue SE, just four blocks away. The man reported suspicious noises coming from the attic above his apartment. A detective from the Metropolitan Police Department responded, and after announcing his presence, a voice from the attic identified himself as Billy Bryant. He stated that he had become trapped after the attic door jammed. Bryant was arrested without further incident, ending his time on the Most Wanted list after a record-setting two hours. He later provided a signed confession, though he claimed he had fired in self-defense.

On October 27, 1969, Billie Austin Bryant was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. During the trial, an FBI Laboratory expert testified that bullets recovered from the agents' bodies were fired from Bryant's revolver. When the jury could not agree on a sentence, the decision fell to U.S. District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell. Bryant showed no remorse, stating in court, "I can't say I'm sorry for what happened to these men... I am really not interested in what the sentence is one way or another." On November 3, 1969, Judge Gesell sentenced Bryant to two consecutive life sentences, telling him, "you will die in jail, but at such time as God appoints." Bryant died in prison on March 10, 2009.

The case is closed, but the sacrifice of the two agents is not forgotten. Special Agent Anthony Palmisano and Special Agent Edwin R. Woodriffe, the first African-American FBI agent killed in the line of duty, are both honored on the FBI's Wall of Honor. According to his nephew, agents from the Newark Field Office, where Palmisano began his career, gather at his cemetery each year to honor his memory.