Bruce Piece: How did the White Supremacist Die?

In ‘The Order,’ a white supremacist group becomes the center of investigation for the FBI, who try to curb their criminal activity and their intent to commit worse crimes. The FBI agent who leads the investigation is Terry Husk, and the priority is to find and capture the group’s leader, Bob Mathews. For the most part, the story focuses on Mathews’ rise as a leader who wants to some very nefarious plans into motion. However, for his plans to work, he also needs the men he can trust, and Bruce Pierce is one of his most trusted lieutenants. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Bruce Pierce Was Dedicated to the Cause of the Silent Brotherhood

Bruce Carroll Pierce was born on May 14, 1954, to Eugene and Lucilla Pierce in Frankfort, Kentucky. Growing up, he didn’t think much about race or the idea of white supremacy. It was in his 20s that he came in touch with groups like the Aryan Nation that the ideology took hold in his mind. When Bob Mathews decided to lay the foundation of his own group, called the Silent Brotherhood, aka the Order, he was one of the first people to follow him and became one of the founding members of the group. He was one of the key persons involved in several robbers, particularly the armored truck robbery of $3.6 million near Ukiah, California.

Pierce’s most notable crime was the assassination of KOA radio host Alan Berg, who was among the top three targets of the white-nationalist group. He was the prime accused in the case, held responsible for shooting Berg 13 times with a MAC-10 machine gun outside his house in Denver on June 18, 1984. While Bob Mathews died a few months later, Pierce remained on the run until March 26, 1985, when he was captured by the FBI at a mail drop in Roseville, Georgia. At the time, he had a brown van that was full of guns, grenades, bombs, and other arms and explosives. Seeing that he was completely surrounded and there was no chance of an escape, he surrendered without any fuss. Apart from the murder of Alan Berg, he was charged with failure to appear for sentencing in Washington state, the armored truck robbery, and the violation of the federal Firearms Act.

The turbulence of Pierce’s life with the Order was also reflected in his personal life. Years before he joined the group, he married Elizabeth “Scotty” Scott, with whom he had a son, Jeremy. The marriage didn’t last long, and the couple separated, leading to a fierce custody battle for the son. While the divorce was still in process, Pierce met a single mother named Julie. Soon, they got married, hastened primarily by Pierce’s lawyer, who said that being in a committed relationship would make him look good in court. With Julie, Pierce had another child, Kristi. She’s also given birth to twin daughters, both of whom perished soon after they were born. After Pierce went to prison, Julie divorced him.

Bruce Pierce Spent the Rest of His Life in Prison

Bruce Pierce passed away due to natural causes at the age of 56 on August 16, 2010, at Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex in Pennsylvania. He was into the 23rd year of his 252-year sentence, combined for his various crimes, including Berg’s murder.
Described as an “average inmate,” Pierce spent his last years in the high-security section of the prison, where he had been for about five years at the time of his death. He shared a cell with another prisoner and had a full-time job, along with indulging in other recreational activities offered by the facility. Prior to Allenwood, he had been incarcerated at the federal prisons in Leavenworth, Kansas, and Marion, Illinois.

Reportedly, Pierce felt isolated after his prison sentence began, as the Order was already done with, as both he and Bob were out of the picture. According to Leonard Zeskind’s ‘Blood and Politics,’ published in 2009, Pierce believed that other prisoners (“mongrel drug dealers, pimps, and the ungodly”) were given more liberties, while he wasn’t even allowed to have mail. Even with no supporters left, Pierce did not self-reflect on his thoughts and actions. At the 1986 trial, he said he wasn’t going to “beg for mercy” and wanted “to bring honor to myself, glory to my brother kinsmen and glory to God.” He held on to his racist ideologies till the end of his days.

Read More: The Order: Is Zillah Based on Bob Mathews’ Real Mistress?