The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William Kinsey Hutchinson who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI's "toughest guys". For sixty years, the FBI has sought the public's assistance in a special way through one of our most effective and longest running publicity programs, which, since 1950, has led to the location of more than 460 of our nation's most dangerous criminals.

Content:

FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" Program:

The Beginnings

Today

The Program

Criteria for Placement on the List

The List

Removal from the List

How the FBI Gets Its Men and Women:

A 20-Year Study of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" Program 1989-2009

Today's "Top Ten" List More Likely to Include Terrorist, Organized Crime Figures and Child Predators

"Top Tenners" Cannot Hide for Long

Many Fugitives Found far from Home

"Top Ten" Fugitives Increasingly Caught Through Publicity

Conclusion

Project Pin Point

Project Welcome Home

America's Most Wanted

Famous Cases:

Thomas James Holden

William Raymond Nesbit

Isaie Beausoleil

Clyde Edward Laws

James Earl Ray

Richard Lee Tingler, Jr.

Ruth Eisemann-Schier

Theodore Robert Bundy

Eric Robert Rudolph

Warren Jeffs

Service Martyrs