The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William Kinsey Hutchinson,[1] International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) editor-in-chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI's "toughest guys". This discussion turned into a published article, which received so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, the FBI officially announced the list to increase law enforcement's ability to capture dangerous fugitives.[2] The first person added to the list was Thomas J. Holden, a robber and member of the Holden–Keating Gang on the day of the list's inception.[3]
Individuals are generally only removed from the list if they are captured, die, or if the charges against them are dropped; they are then replaced by a new entry selected by the FBI. In eleven cases, the FBI removed individuals from the list after deciding that they were no longer a "particularly dangerous menace to society". Machetero member Víctor Manuel Gerena, added to the list in 1984, was on the list for 32 years, which was longer than anyone else.[1] Billie Austin Bryant spent the shortest amount of time on the list, being listed for two hours in 1969.[4] The oldest person to be added to the list was Eugene Palmer on May 29, 2019, at 80 years old. On rare occasions, the FBI will add a "Number Eleven" if that individual is extremely dangerous but the Bureau does not feel any of the current ten should be removed.[5] Despite occasional references in the media, the FBI does not rank their list; no suspect is considered "#1 on the FBI's Most Wanted List" or "The Most Wanted".[1]
The list is commonly posted in public places such as post offices. Some people on the list have turned themselves in. On May 18, 1996, after surrendering at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala City, Leslie Isben Rogge became the first person on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list to be apprehended due to the FBI's then-new home page on the internet.[6] The FBI maintains other lists of individuals, including the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists,[7] along with crime alerts, missing persons, and other fugitive lists.
On June 17, 2013, the list reached a cumulative total of 500 fugitives having been listed.[8] As of November 15, 2023, 532 fugitives had been listed, eleven of them women, and 494 of them were captured or located (93%), 163 (31%) of them due to public assistance.[9]
The Criminal Investigative Division (CID) at FBI Headquarters calls upon all 56 Field Offices to submit candidates for the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list.[10] The nominees received are reviewed by special agents in the CID and the Office of Public Affairs.[10] The selection of the proposed candidates is forwarded to the Assistant Director of the CID for their approval and then to the FBI's Director for final approval.[10] This process takes some time, which is why James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr., who was arrested in Santa Monica, California on June 22, 2011,[11] remained on the list until May 9, 2012,[12] despite no longer being at large. Osama bin Laden similarly remained on the list for almost a year after his death at the hands of U.S. forces on May 2, 2011.[13]
On occasion, fugitives have been added to the list at the request of local law enforcement. For example, Bureau director Clarence M. Kelley added Twymon Myers to the list in 1973 at the request of New York City Police Commissioner Donald Cawley.[14]
See main article: Former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
Rewards are offered for information leading to capture of fugitives on the list; the reward is a minimum of $250,000 (until May 2023: $100,000) for all fugitives.
| Photo | Name | Date added | Sequence number | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flores is wanted for the kidnapping, rape and murder of five-year-old Iriana DeJesus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in July 2000. He was deported to his native country of Honduras in 2005 after serving a prison term for forgery in Arizona. He was added to the list after his deportation when his DNA was matched to the DeJesus crime.[15] [16] | |||||
| Patel, an Indian national, allegedly stabbed and killed his wife in a doughnut shop in Hanover, Maryland, on April 12, 2015. He was last seen taking a shuttle to Newark Penn Station. According to authorities, he has connections to Canada, Georgia, Illinois, India, Kentucky, and New Jersey.[17] [18] [19] | |||||
| Castillo is wanted in connection with the August 2016 murder of a 23-year-old woman, Truc Quan "Sandy" Ly Le, whom he had previously dated. The two became acquainted while working together in a restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina.[20] | |||||
| Jimenez is wanted for the murder of his wife on May 12, 2012. Jimenez allegedly stabbed his wife to death just hours after their wedding. Her body was found in a bathtub at her apartment in Burbank, Illinois.[21] | |||||
| Archaga Carias is charged federally in the Southern District of New York with racketeering conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession and conspiracy to possess machine guns. As the alleged leader of MS-13 for all of Honduras, Archaga Carias allegedly controlled MS-13 criminal activity in Honduras and provided support and resources to the MS-13 enterprise in Central America and the United States with firearms, narcotics, and cash. Archaga Carias is also allegedly responsible for supporting multi-ton loads of cocaine through Honduras to the United States and for ordering and participating in murders of rival gang members and others associated with MS-13.[22] The reward for information leading to his capture was increased to $5 million on February 8, 2023.[23] | |||||
| Ignatova is wanted for her alleged leadership of a massive fraud scheme called OneCoin. She was last seen in October 2017 in Athens, Greece, and has ties to her birthplace of Bulgaria and Germany.[24] The reward for information leading to her capture was increased to $5 million on June 26, 2024.[25] | |||||
| Cardenas is wanted for his alleged involvement in the murder of a man outside a barbershop in Los Angeles, California, in the summer of 2019.[26] | |||||
| Wilver Villegas-Palomino is a member of the National Liberation Army or Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a transnational criminal organization and foreign terrorist organization. He is charged with narcoterrorism, international cocaine distribution conspiracy, and international cocaine distribution. United States Department of State Narcotics Rewards Program is offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and/or his conviction.[27] | |||||
| On December 8, 2022, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Donald Eugene Fields II, who is wanted for the alleged sex trafficking of at least one child in Missouri between approximately 2013 and 2017. He was suspected of having done the same thing to two more children.[28] [29] | |||||
| Vitel'Homme, a Haitian national and leader of the Kraze Barye gang, is wanted for his role in the kidnappings of U.S. Christian missionaries and the murder of a U.S. citizen who was killed in another botched kidnapping for ransom. The crimes occurred in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.[30] |
