Finicum pledged he would die before the Feds would win. The day before he died he was interviewed on video. In that, he makes note that the attitude and demeanor of the militant/FBI verbal exchanges had recently changed. The Feds were treating the militants with more opposition than previously noted, as if the Feds thought they were going to take back the Refuge. In the end of the video Finicim says, "we are not going to let them do that." The remaining criminals are now behind bars.