Friday marked the 75th anniversary of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list — the famed rogue’s gallery that has fascinated Hollywood and true-crime buffs for decades.
Since its inception in 1950, the list has been an “invaluable publicity tool” that has helped “ensure the most odious criminals are brought to justice,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
The mugshots of more than 500 fugitives have earned their place in the agency’s criminal hall of fame — with the most notorious including Ted Bundy and Osama Bin Laden.
FBI founding Director J. Edgar Hoover sent the first version of the list to the United Press International wire agency. It was meant to drum up public interest in law enforcement and help nab the FBI’s “toughest guys.”
The list soon captured the imagination of the American public, inspiring villains in countless novels, comic books, movies and TV shows, including the hit series “FBI: Most Wanted.”
“While the list began by featuring bank robbers and murder suspects fleeing state jurisdiction, it has evolved into a tool to search for major organized crime figures, cybercriminals, child predators, and white-collar criminals,” the agency said in a statement released Friday — alongside a commemorative logo specially made for the occasion.
The current top 10 list includes Bulgarian fraudstress Ruja Ignatava — the only woman in the infamous ranks — who earned a $5 million bounty for allegedly scamming investors around the world out of billions of dollars.
It also includes accused killer Omar Alexander Cardenas (bounty: $250,000), accused drug trafficker Fausto Isidro Meza-Flores (bounty: $5 million), and Haitian crime boss Vitel’Homme Innocent, wanted for the kidnap of 17 American missionaries in 2021 (bounty: $2 million).