FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List: What Criteria Determine a Criminal's Infamy?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is a roster of the most notorious criminals in the United States. However, contrary to popular belief, the FBI doesn't determine who makes the list alone. The agency works closely with local law enforcement agencies across the country to identify the individuals who pose the greatest threat to national security or the safety of the people of the nation.
Former FBI special agent and Navy SEAL Jonathan Gillam, in an interview with Fox News Digital, stated that fugitives who make the list pose an "imminent threat" to the nation, meaning they can cause great damage to a specific person or the country, therefore threatening national security. The list is created to help law enforcement agencies track down the most dangerous individuals and bring them to justice.
The list was created in March 1950, after a journalist asked for the names of the FBI’s "toughest guys," and his subsequent story generated widespread publicity. Since then, over 530 fugitives have been added to the list, with 494 of them captured, representing a 93% success rate. The shortest amount of time a Most Wanted fugitive has ever been featured is two hours, while the longest was 32 years.
Crimes committed by fugitives on the list have varied over the decades. When it began in the 1950s, fugitives were mostly wanted for bank robberies, burglaries, and car thefts. In the 1970s, the FBI began concentrating more on organized crime and terrorism, and over the next two decades, in the 1980s and 1990s, the list included sexual predators, international terrorists, and drug traffickers. The contemporary Most Wanted list features fugitives accused of those same crimes along with crimes against children, white-collar crime, and gang violence.
The Criminal Investigative Division (CID) at FBI headquarters gets assistance from 56 FBI field offices around the country in determining who makes its Most Wanted list. Local law enforcement agencies also submit recommended Most Wanted fugitives to the FBI.
The current Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list features:
- Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel, wanted for the April 2015 murder of his wife at a donut shop in Maryland.
- Alejandro Castillo, wanted for the 2016 murder of his former girlfriend and a co-worker in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Arnoldo Jimenez, accused of fatally stabbing his wife a day after their wedding in 2012.
- Omar Alexander Cardenas, wanted for the August 2019 murder of a man outside a large shopping center in Sylmar, California.
- Alexis Flores, wanted for the August 2000 kidnapping and murder of a 5-year-old Philadelphia girl.
- Eugene Palmer, wanted for the September 2012 murder of his daughter-in-law in New York.
- Rafael Caro-Quintero, wanted for his role in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena.
- Robert William Fisher, wanted for the April 2001 murder of his wife and two children in Arizona.
- Jason Derek Brown, wanted for the November 2004 murder of an armored car guard in Phoenix, Arizona.
- Yaser Abdel Said, wanted for the January 2008 murder of his two teenage daughters in Texas.
Despite its fame among law enforcement, the list typically only gets press coverage when the FBI announces a fugitive capture. Gillam believes the FBI needs to do a better job at promoting the list and keeping it relevant