The concept of the list began in late 1949, when the FBI helped publish an article about the "toughest guys" the Bureau was after, who remained fugitives from justice. The Washington Daily News article was titled, "FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives Named," and appeared on February 7, 1949. The positive publicity from the story resulted in the birth of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on March 14, 1950.
Starting in 1950, the top ten fugitives were entered into a handwritten log book. The Fugitive Publicity employees of the FBI used the log book to record and track the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" by this method until 1991.
1950 Fugitives
The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listed by the FBI in 1950 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):[1]
Thomas James Holden - U.S. prisoner, was arrested June 23, 1951 in Beaverton, Oregon, following a tip from a citizen who read the INS story in the Portland, Oregon, newspaper The Oregonian and contacted the FBI.[2] Crime: Escaped police after he was spotted fleeing Illinois November 4, 1949; had shot to death his wife and her two brothers while drinking June 5, 1949 in Chicago.
Past record: was convicted of robbing a mail train in the late 1920s; escaped from Leavenworth in 1930. Was alleged to be one of the "outside" crew in a sensational armed break of other prisoners from Leavenworth in December, 1931; after escape, was caught by Special Agents and local police officers on a golf course at Kansas City, Missouri, July 7, 1932; was released from Leavenworth Prison November 28, 1947.
Morley Vernon King - U.S. prisoner, was apprehended October 31, 1951 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania restaurant, while shucking oysters; was charged with unlawful flight July 18, 1947; was charged July 12, 1947 with the murder of his wife Helen, found strangled in a steamer trunk July 9, 1947 under the back porch of a room at a San Luis Obispo, California motel; he had fled from police July 8, 1947.
William Nesbit - U.S. prisoner at South Dakota State Penitentiary, was arrested March 18, 1950 in St. Paul, Minnesota by local police following the INS story in the St. Paul Dispatch after being recognized by some boys as "Ray," a man who lived in a cave near the river. Was charged with unlawful flight December 26, 1946 after disappearing from prison as a trusty driver for the warrant.September 4, 1946 while serving a life sentence, which was commuted to 20 years on February 18, 1946. Had been apprehended at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on February 26, 1937 for murder, having blown up an accomplice in a massive black powder explosion, and trying to kill another accomplice, after beating her in the head with a hammer during a fight in Minnehaha County while stealing dynamite to make nitroglycerin on December 31, 1936, following the December 22, 1936 burglary of jewelry company at Sioux City, Iowa.
Henry Randolph Mitchell
#4
March 17, 1950
Eight years
Henry Randolph Mitchell- PROCESS DISMISSED July 18, 1958 after the Federal District Court at Jacksonville dropped the bank robbery charge because too much time passed; had robbed a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bank in Williston, Florida January 21, 1948 shortly after being released from Florida State Penitentiary. His criminal career dated back to 1924 and he had been previously convicted in the states of Kentucky, Georgia, New York and Florida for crimes including grand larceny, violation of narcotics laws, breaking and entering, and forgery. With the dropping of the bank robbery charge, Mitchell became the first FBI Most Wanted Fugitive to escape both arrest and the Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive list.[3]
Omar August Pinson - U.S. prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary September 5, 1950; was arrested August 28, 1950 at Pierre, South Dakota by South Dakota Highway Patrol and an FBI National Academy graduate; had evaded capture after a shootout with police January 30, 1950, at Polson, Montana while burglarizing a hardware store under the alias of Sam Cignitti; became wanted in 1949 in eastern Washington and Idaho for burglary under the alias Joseph Anthony Dorian; charged with unlawful flight September 7, 1949; crossed state lines after he escaped May 30, 1949 from the Oregon State Prison with a cellmate; had been sentenced May 24, 1947 to life imprisonment at Oregon State Penitentiary for first degree murder; had been captured within 24 hours by the Oregon State Police and local officers at Ordnance, Oregon; had shot and fatally wounded Oregon State Police Officer Delmond Rondeauin April 15, 1947, in Hood River, Oregon after a burglary;
Lee Emory Downs - U.S. prisoner was returned to prison for burglary attempt of Colombian consulate in San Francisco, after his parole in 1968; was arrested April 7, 1950 with weapons, dynamite and fuses at a Daytona Beach, Florida trailer park; was charged August 3, 1948 with unlawful flight; had robbed a telephone company office in San Jose, California, June 3, 1948; an expert safecracker and skilled holdup man in three Pacific Coast states.
Orba Elmer Jackson - U.S. prisoner sentenced to two years to run concurrently with his sentence being served, and returned to Leavenworth on September 19, 1950; was arrested March 23, 1950 at a poultry farm outside Portland, Oregon; was indicted by the Federal Grand Jury at Kansas City, Missouri on March 18, 1949 charged with unlawful escape; had been transferred to an honor farm September 3, 1947, but disappeared three weeks later;
Past Record: sentenced to six years at Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri in 1924 on a charge of grand larceny of an automobile in Joplin, Missouri; released from prison 1928; Sentenced again in 1928 for car theft for three years at United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth Kansas; beat a man and robbed a store also serving as a United States Post Office near Poplar Bluff, Missouri; had been convicted April 8, 1936 and returned to United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth; Kansas
Glen Roy Wright
#8
March 22, 1950
Nine months
Glen Roy Wright - deceased in prison May 7, 1954. He was a U.S. prisoner arrested December 13, 1950 at Salina, Kansas; charged with unlawful flight February 8, 1949; escaped from prison September 14, 1948; was serving a life sentence in 1934 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma for armed robbery; was wounded in a gun battle with police officers in Arkansas; was shot during gunbattle with police during his apprehension in Kansas; was a former associate of the Karpis-Barker Gang of the 1930s.
Henry Harland Shelton
#9
March 23, 1950
Three months
Henry Harland Shelton - U.S. prisoner serving a sentence of forty-five years for kidnapping and five years concurrently for car theft; pleaded guilty August 21, 1950; was wounded during gunfight with Special Agents while being arrested June 23, 1950; indicted October 14, 1949; was wanted for kidnapping and car theft on September 17, 1949 in Amasa, Michigan, extending over a couple days from Michigan, to Illinois and into Wisconsin, then back to Illinois and Indiana; had escaped September 5, 1949 from the Michigan House of Correction and Branch Prison.
Morris Guralnick
#10
March 24, 1950
Nine months
Morris Guralnick - U.S. prisoner was arrested December 15, 1950 at a Madison, Wisconsin clothing store; was charged July 22, 1948 with unlawful flight from New York; assaulted guards and escaped July 11, 1948 from Ulster County Jail at Kingston, New York; had stabbed his former girlfriend in April 1948, and bit off the finger of an arresting officer.
William Francis (Willie) Sutton - DECEASED November 2, 1980, in Spring Hill, Florida; early released by the New York State penal authorities December 24, 1969, from Attica State Prison; was sentenced to an additional 30 years to life in New York State Prison after Queens County Court trial; U.S. PRISONER for the final time, after he was arrested February 18, 1952 at a gas station by New York City Police while buying a car battery after he was spotted on the New York City Subway and followed; owed one life sentence plus 105 years before his arrest, for his escape from prison with others, dressed as guards, February 10, 1947; was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, Homesburg, Pennsylvania after he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender; he had escaped through a tunnel and was recaptured the same day by Philadelphia police April 3, 1945; was there serving a sentence of 25 to 50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank; had been caught February 5, 1934, after he had held hostages and robbed the Corn Exchange Bank on January 15, 1934; was earlier foiled in attempt to rob the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia on February 15, 1933; was loose after having escaped over a prison wall on December 11, 1932; was sentenced to 30 years in June, 1931 for assault and robbery.
Stephen William Davenport
#12
April 4, 1950
One month
Stephen William Davenport - U.S. prisoner arrested May 5, 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada by local police.
Frederick J. Tenuto - PROCESS DISMISSED March 9, 1964 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by a U.S. District judge, after it was alleged by Joe Valachi that Tenuto was killed.
Thomas Kling
#15
July 17, 1950
Two years
Thomas Kling - U.S. prisoner arrested February 20, 1952 in New York by local police.
Meyer Dembin
#16
September 5, 1950
One year
Meyer Dembin - U.S. prisoner surrendered November 26, 1951 to the U. S. Attorney in New York City.
By the end of the year, only three of the original Ten Fugitives still remained on the FBI list.
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, International News Service 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. 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.
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2000s is a list, maintained for a sixth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2000s, 36 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 494 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 463 have been captured or located.
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1990s is a list, maintained for a fifth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1980s is a list, maintained for a fourth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s is a list, maintained for a third decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In the 1950s, the United States FBI began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Following is a brief review of FBI people and events that place the 1950s decade in context, and then an historical list of individual fugitives whose names first appeared on the 10 Most Wanted list during the decade of the 1950s, under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
In 1951, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a second year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1953, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a fourth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1958, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a ninth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1959, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a tenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1960, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for an eleventh year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1961, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a twelfth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1962, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a thirteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1963, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a fourteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1964, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a fifteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1965, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a sixteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1966, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a seventeenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1967, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for an eighteenth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 1969, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, continued for a twentieth year to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2010s is a list, maintained for a seventh decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2010s, 29 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 523 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 488 have been captured or located.
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