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Whose idea was the Most Wanted list? -

J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, issued the first FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in order to enlist the help of the nation's public in the search for his bureau's most elusive fugitives.

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A fateful game of cards -

Over a friendly game of cards one evening in 1949, a journalist from the International News Service asked Hoover for details on some of the "toughest guys" he and the FBI were looking for. Once the story hit the stands, the public ate it up, and Hoover decided to start keeping an official, publicly available top 10 list of his highest-priority criminals to see if the extra publicity would help bring these fugitives into custody.

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When was the first Most Wanted List released? -

It didn't take long for Hoover to put his plan into action, and on March 14, 1950 the first FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list was published. The list has been consistently maintained and updated ever since.

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What qualifies someone for the Most Wanted list? -

While there is no set criteria that condemns someone to the Most Wanted list, the individuals who make the list are usually those deemed most dangerous to the nation based on what actions the FBI is focused on during any given era. For example, when the list began in 1950, it was almost exclusively populated by bank robbers and other thieves. In the 1970s, focus shifted towards sex criminals and kidnapping, while at the beginning of the 21st century the list is reserved almost entirely for terrorists, criminals involved in the drug trade, and white collar criminals.

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How is the Most Wanted list curated? -

The 56 FBI field offices that are scattered across the United States regularly submit names for consideration for the Most Wanted list. Once those names arrive in Washington, D.C., the names are sorted through by the higher-ups and the final list is approved by the deputy director.

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How many people have made the list so far? -

The list never dips beneath a population of 10. With every fugitive removed from the list, another is added. From 1950 to September 2022, 529 individuals had earned the title of Most Wanted.

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How does one get removed from the list? -

There are only a handful of ways that names can be struck from the list. The FBI's preferred method, of course, is location and arrest. In rarer cases, charges might be dropped for numerous reasons, or fugitives are missing for so long they are eventually presumed dead or too old to pose a real threat to society.

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Is the list effective? -

Considering the percentage of fugitives on the Most Wanted list that are eventually brought into custody, the program is a resounding success: 93% of names put on the list are taken off after a successful arrest. The public's contributions to these arrests are a little less effective, with only 31% of arrests coming from public tip-offs.

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Criminals or civil rights champions? -

J. Edgar Hoover, and the FBI in general, have not always acted purely in the name of justice and have come under serious scrutiny as a result. During the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s, for example, numerous civil rights leaders and celebrities critical of the government were secretly under investigation by the FBI, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali. Angela Davis, a stalwart leader of the civil rights movement and a champion of feminism and Black pride, was put on the Most Wanted list for alleged involvement in the murder of a police officer. After a lengthy court case, Davis was found not guilty on all charges.

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The man at the top of the list -

The first man on the first issued Most Wanted list was Thomas James Holden, a career criminal who first rose to infamy in the 1920s for robbing trains and participating in all kinds of gangsterism. After murdering his wife and two brothers after a card game in 1949 and going on the run, he seemed like a reasonable first candidate for the Most Wanted list. Holden was finally captured once and for all in 1951.

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The first Most Wanted woman -

As of 2022, only 10 women had made it onto the Most Wanted list. The first was Ruth Eismann-Schier, who made the list in 1968 after being charged with the kidnapping and ransoming of heiress Barbara Mackle.

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Who has been on the list the longest? -

US$7 million was stolen from a Connecticut bank in an effort by Puerto Rican nationalists in 1983. Victor Manuel Gerena, who worked for the bank and pulled off the heist, has never been found. Although suspected to live in Cuba, Gerena was eventually taken off the list in 2016 after 32 years.

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Other infamous fugitives -

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, responsible for the 1993 bombing of New York's World Trade Center and a co-conspirator in numerous other terrorist plots, was finally brought to justice in 1995. He is now serving a life sentence in a Colorado supermax prison.

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Ted Bundy -

Arguably the most infamous serial killer of the 20th century, Ted Bundy was wanted by the FBI for his years-long string of sexual atrocities and murders during the 1970s and '80s. Once Bundy was caught, not as a result of the massive hunt for him but because of a simple traffic stop, Bundy was quickly sentenced to death and eventually executed in 1989.

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James Earl Ray -

One of the most infamous faces from the Most Wanted list was that of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, James Earl Ray. After murdering the civil rights leader, Ray fled to Canada and was eventually apprehended in London, England, after two months on the run.

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Ruja Ignatova -

Ruja Ignatova, the Bulgarian scammer known as the "Cryptoqueen," is the mastermind behind one of the biggest scams in history, the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. After stealing an estimated US$4 billion dollars, Ignatova disappeared in 2017. There have been no confirmed sightings of Ignatova since, and she became the 10th woman added to the Most Wanted list, this in 2022.

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Charles Ng and Leonard Lake -

The horrific crimes of torture and abuse committed by Charles Ng and Leonard Lake are hard to stomach for even the biggest true crime podcast fans. They were put on the Most Wanted list after the atrocities that took place in their woodland cabin came to light and both went on the run in 1985 after getting noticed shoplifting from a hardware store. Lake took his own life while in custody, but Ng remained at large until December of that year.

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Osama bin Laden -

The face of terror in the late 20th and early 21st century, Osama bin Laden was responsible for the countless deaths of innocent civilians during the 1990s and 2000s. After 9/11, bin Laden was forced into hiding, but was eventually taken down by US special forces in 2011.

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Benjamin and Stephen Paddock -

Benjamin Paddock (left) was placed on the Most Wanted list in 1969 for a string of armed robberies, and was captured eight years later. His son, Stephen Paddock (right), would go on to commit one of the greatest mass shootings in US history in 2017 in Las Vegas, where he took the lives of 60 innocent people.

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Michael Thevis -

Commonly referred to as the "Scarface of Sex," Michael Thevis didn't have anything at all to do with sex work, but rather had a monopoly on the nation's "peep machines," a commonly-seen appliance in the adult shops of the 1970s. The Scarface comparison came from Thevis' eagerness to literally take down anyone who posed a threat to his empire. Thevis burnt down warehouses, murdered competitors, and escaped from prison before being put on the FBI's list. Thevis was eventually captured in 1978 and given a life sentence.

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Katherine Ann Power -

Katherine Ann Power was a young and starry-eyed college student and anti-war activist who got in over her head in 1970 and robbed a bank with other, more criminal, radicals. One of her co-robbers killed a police officer, and Power went on the run. From Boston, Power fled to Oregon, where she changed her identity and tried to live a new life. Some 23 years later and still wanted by the FBI for manslaughter, Power left behind a 13-year-old son and turned herself in, unable to live with her guilt for a single day longer.

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James "Whitey" Bulger -

Whitey Bulger, a long-time FBI informant, skipped town in 1994 after his crowded history of murder came to light. Bulger was suspected of taking the lives of 19 different individuals, quickly swinging him from FBI informant to FBI's most wanted. Bulger remained at large until his arrest in 2011.

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Samuel Christian -

Samuel Christian is largely seen as the godfather of Philadelphia's organized crime scene. He was the founder of the Black Mafia (some members pictured above), a gang mostly concerned with the drug trade. Eight days after being put on the Most Wanted list, Christian was confronted by a policeman in a record store in 1974. After firing shots at the officer, Christian was taken into custody and taken off the list.

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Rafael Caro Quintero -

Founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico, Rafael Caro Quintero has committed just about every gang-related crime imaginable, from racketeering to kidnapping and drug smuggling. All of this, along with the killing of an undercover DEA agent, landed Quintero on the FBI's Most Wanted list in 1985. It took until July 15, 2022 to finally throw the book at him.

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Glen Stewart Godwin -

One of the most evasive individuals to ever make the Most Wanted list, Glen Stewart Godwin wasn't actually added to the list until he proved himself to be something of an escape artist. After being imprisoned for murder in 1980, Godwin quickly escaped to Mexico, where he was eventually arrested for drug smuggling, but once again managed to escape. Finally, 16 years after Godwin's first incarceration, he was put on the Most Wanted list. Godwin was never seen again, and was taken off the list after 20 years of searching.

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Shauntay Henderson -

Shauntay Henderson, a prominent leader of Kansas City's 12th Street Gang, was wanted in connection to over 50 shootings and at least six murders. She was eventually captured after evidence of her connection to these crimes was found on her MySpace page.

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Bradford Bishop -

A former foreign service officer, Bradford Bishop murdered his wife, four children, and mother in cold blood in 1976 for no obvious reason. It wasn't until Bishop had evaded arrested for nearly 40 years that he was put on the Most Wanted list in 2014. The FBI hoped making his face public would help locate Bishop, but by 2018, by which time Bishop would have been in his eighties, the FBI decided he was no longer a viable threat and took him off the list.

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James Derek Brown -

James Derek Brown was suspected of killing an armored money transport truck guard in front of a movie theater in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2004. Brown was placed on the list in 2007, but taken off without capture in 2022 to be replaced by someone deemed more important. Interestingly, due to Brown's striking resemblance to actor Sean Penn, Penn's body double has been mistakenly arrested twice for Brown's crime. Brown himself is still at large.

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Bernardine Dohrn -

Bernardine Dohrn was a leader of the radical Weather Underground group during the 1960s, a position that would land her on the FBI's Most Wanted list as a leader of a militant group and an inciter of violence. Dohrn went into hiding for nearly a decade, before turning herself in, this in 1980. Felony charges against Dohrn were dropped, and she only served seven months in prison before moving on to pursue a career in law.

Sources: (Grunge) (Ranker) (Mental Floss)

See more: The most daring prison breaks of all time

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