Presented in chronological order, offers profiles of each criminal on the FBI's most wanted list from 1950 to August 2003, including such facts as crimes committed, date placed on the list, and vital statistics.

In 1949, a crime reporter looking for a way to fill a column published the nation’s ten worst criminals as classified by the FBI: two accused murderers, four escaped convicts, a bank robber, and three “confidence men.” In addition to the stark black and white photos that accompanied the article, the public was most moved by the idea that law enforcement was asking them for help. Fired up by the gesture of confidence, Americans banded together to wholeheartedly support the motion, leading to tips that helped facilitate the capture of the advertised criminals. Some of those on the list even surrendered voluntarily due to the increased publicity. The rogues’ gallery showcases fugitives such as: • William Raymond Nesbit, first on the list to be captured • James Earl Ray, assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. • Ted Bundy, ruthless serial killer • Ruth Eisemann-Schier, kidnapper and first woman to make the Top Ten • Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, 1993 World Trade Center bomber This encyclopedia includes criminals’ photographs, crime details, and “interesting fugitive facts” as well as a brief history of the list and what it has accomplished in more than fifty years.

Fugitives occupy a unique place in the American criminal justice system. They can run and they can hide, but eventually each chase ends. And, in many cases, history is made along the way. John Dillinger’s capture obsessed J. Edgar Hoover and helped create the modern FBI. Violent student radicals who went on the lam in the 1960s reflected the turbulence of the era. The sixteen-year disappearance and sudden arrest of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in 2011 captivated the nation. Fugitives have become iconic characters in American culture even as they have threatened public safety and the smooth operation of the justice system. They are always on the run, always trying to stay out of reach of the long arm of the law. Also prominent are the men and women who chase fugitives: FBI agents, federal marshals and their deputies, police officers, and bounty hunters. A significant element of the justice system is dedicated to finding those on the run, and the most-wanted posters and true-crime television shows have made fugitives seemingly ubiquitous figures of fear and fascination for the public. In On the Lam, Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella trace the history of fugitives in the United States by looking at the characters – real and fictional – who have played the roles of the hunter and the hunted. They also examine the origins of the bail system and other legal tools, such as most-wanted programs, that are designed to guard against flight.

The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William Kinsey Hutchinson who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI's "toughest guys". For sixty years, the FBI has sought the public's assistance in a special way through one of our most effective and longest running publicity programs, which, since 1950, has led to the location of more than 460 of our nation's most dangerous criminals. Content: FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” Program: The Beginnings Today The Program Criteria for Placement on the List The List Removal from the List How the FBI Gets Its Men and Women: A 20-Year Study of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” Program 1989-2009 Today's "Top Ten” List More Likely to Include Terrorist, Organized Crime Figures and Child Predators "Top Tenners” Cannot Hide for Long Many Fugitives Found far from Home "Top Ten” Fugitives Increasingly Caught Through Publicity Conclusion Project Pin Point Project Welcome Home America's Most Wanted Famous Cases: Thomas James Holden William Raymond Nesbit Isaie Beausoleil Clyde Edward Laws James Earl Ray Richard Lee Tingler, Jr. Ruth Eisemann-Schier Theodore Robert Bundy Eric Robert Rudolph Warren Jeffs Service Martyrs

The history, the hunts, the captures -- and the criminals still at large In 1950, the FBI officially instituted its now-legendary list of the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" as a means of alerting the public and enlisting their aid in the apprehension of notorious felons. Over the years, it has included such infamous names as bank robber Willie Sutton, serial killer Ted Bundy, and assassin James Earl Ray -- and 447 of the 475 criminals have been apprehended, many of them thanks to tips from ordinary citizens. In this gripping and endlessly fascinating account, New York Times bestselling author Dary Matera offers readers a stunning, in-depth look at some of the most remarkable manhunts in the history of law enforcement -- and shocking profiles of the crimes and the criminals currently enshrined . . . including an elusive mass-murderer with a $27 million bounty on his head: Osama Bin Laden.

A look at the people on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list discusses the crimes of Leslie Douglas Ashley, playboy killer Christopher Wilder, Theodore Bundy, and Willie Sutton. Reprint.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, America's most famous law enforcement agency, was established in 1908 and ever since has been the subject of countless books, articles, essays, congressional investigations, television programs and motion pictures--but even so it remains an enigma to many, deliberately shrouded in mystery on the basis of privacy or national security concerns. This encyclopedia has entries on a broad range of topics related to the FBI, including biographical sketches of directors, agents, attorneys general, notorious fugitives, and people (well known and unknown) targeted by the FBI; events, cases and investigations such as ILLWIND, ABSCAM and Amerasia; FBI terminology and programs such as COINTELPRO and VICAP; organizations marked for disruption including the KGB and the Ku Klux Klan; and various general topics such as psychological profiling, fingerprinting and electronic surveillance. It begins with a brief overview of the FBI's origins and history.