By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

March 14, 1950 saw the birth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation‘s (FBI) Most Wanted List.  The list has seen the names of 494 fugitives with a total of  463 captured.  About a third of the 463 were arrested through the public’s notification of their whereabouts or likely location.  Altogether the program has been an unqualified success.

According to a Washington Times story by Ben Conery, the idea for the program was hatched when former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and a wire service reporter came up with an idea for what finally became the Most Wanted program:

The list was born during a game of hearts between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and James Donovan, an enterprising wire-service reporter who, according to FBI lore, asked for the names of the 10 “toughest” fugitives so he could write about them.

There have been numerous changes since the implementation of the program.  FBI agents no longer carry the wanted posters, but instead have access to the posters through their smartphones, as well as, Twitter and Facebook.  The crimes and conspiracies for which the fugitives are sought have also changed:

The fugitives on the list also reflect changes in the bureau’s priorities. In Hoover’s day, the list was dominated by bank robbers and gangsters; now it features international terrorists and organized-crime figures. Among the terrorists was Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York.

The program will begin its 61st year on the 15th.  Why not read the full story and then access the list and help capture a fugitive.

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