PHILADELPHIA -- The Briley brothers, convicted killers who staged a daring escape from death row in a Virginia prison and eluded police for nearly three weeks, were ordered held Wednesday on $10 million bail each.
A team of 20 FBI agents staked out a vacant auto garage in a dilapidated North Philadephia neighborhood Tuesday night to capture Linwood Briley, 30, and his brother James, 27. The capture culminated a massive manhunt in four states and Canada.
The FBI said it believed the two arrived in Philadelphia shortly after their May 31 escape.
Their uncle, Johnny Lee Council, 45, of Philadelphia, also was arrested Tuesday night and charged with harboring the fugitives. He was held on $1 million bail.
Daniel Latham, who was renovating the building where they were staying, said he was introduced to the Brileys only as 'Lucky' and 'Slim' by a friend about a week ago.
Latham said they needed a place to stay and offered to help out as he was working on the building. He said he had no idea of their real identities until the FBI arrested the brothers.
He said the Brileys called him Wednesday to apologize.
'They've called me since they were locked up and they apologized for any trouble they might have caused,' Latham said.
He described the Brileys as 'real nice people, soft-hearted, generous as far as lending a hand.'
'They were friendly people if you can imagine it as completely opposite from the ruthless people they are made out to be. At least while they were here everything they did was on the positive side. They helped me out a lot,' he said.
'They just seemed like people who lived by the bag. Rest their head for a while before moving on,' Latham said.
The Brileys were awaiting execution for 10 murders when they escaped from the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Boydton, Va., with four other inmates in the biggest death row escape in U.S. history.
The six took hostages and staged a bomb scare to trick guards into opening the prison gates. Two of the escapees were recaptured 24 hours after the breakout and two more were captured June 8 near the Canada-Vermont border.
Manhunts for the Brileys were concentrated along the Canada-Vermont border and the Virginia-North Carolina border. Agent John Hogan, head of the FBI's Philadelphia office, said the FBI posted stakeouts for the Brileys at the garage and at their uncle's nearby residence.
FBI agent Michael Carbonell, who led the raid on the garage, testified that federal investigators learned the Brileys telephoned Council several times in the two months preceding their escape.
'We believe both came here June 1 and contacted Mr. Council, and he harbored and hid them until their arrest last night,' Carbonell said.
'We had some false sightings ... in Canada and around the country. You have to respond to each and every one of them,' Hogan said. 'The most difficult thing was to keep our cover and make sure they were not alerted to our operation.'
Reports put the Brileys near the Vermont-Canada border in the past few days.
Hogan said, 'Our interest now is to get them moved to Virginia as soon as the rules of law permit.'
U.S. Magistrate Peter Scuderi set a hearing for 2:30 p.m. Thursday, where removal of the two fugitives to Virginia could be considered, prosecutors said.
Scuderi set the high bail for the prisoners, saying, 'I don't think there's any question that in the case of the Brileys, substantial bail is warranted.' Linwood Briley, wearing a blue football jersey and sweatpants and James Briley, wearing brown shorts and a brown T-shirt, whispered to each other during the hearing, but they gave no statements and showed no reaction to any of the developments.
Linwood Briley is scheduled to die Aug. 17 for the September 1979 murder of a Richmond disc jockey. Linwood, the gang leader, also got seven life sentences for his role in 11 murders and robberies.
James Briley was sentenced to death for the robbery and murders of Judy Barton, 23, and her 5-year-old son, Harvey. She was pregnant at the time of the attack.
