Robert Jay Mathews

Robert Jay Mathews (also known as Bob Mathews) was the co-founder and leader of a notorious U.S. white supremacist organization called The Order. In the early 1980's, Bob Mathews and other members of his organization were responsible for a number of bank robberies including one of the largest in U.S. history. Mathews and the other members of the Order were eventually betrayed by one of their members, a counterfeiter named Tom Martinez. After Martinez revealed critical information regarding Mathews's activities to the FBI, Mathews was eventually hunted down and ambushed in a small cabin on Whidbey Island in Washington by over 50 agents. He was killed during a ferocious gun battle on December 8, 1984. The Order helped to spawn many other small and large white supremacist organizations that are still in existence today. Mathews, Robert Jay