If you’re a criminal, the last place you want to be (besides prison) is on the FBI’s notorious Most Wanted Fugitives List.
The FBI introduced this iconic roster of murderers, rapists, robbers, and other evil-doers in 1950, at the behest of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The well-publicized list brilliantly enlists the help of the general public in tracking down the most hardened “tough guys” in America, many of whom have broken out of prison. (Though the vast majority of the criminals on this list are men, a few women have been added over the . Here’s a look at the most brutal female criminals in history.)
To identify the most wanted criminals of the 1960s, 24/7 Tempo reviewed information from “Ten Most Wanted History Pictures,” a report published by the FBI identifying over 500 current and former criminals who have appeared on the list, along with the circumstances of their arrests, where applicable. We defined “most wanted” as those who spent the longest time on the list.
Some notorious criminals are not on this list for that reason – perhaps most notably James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. Ray was on the list for only two months before being arrested in the U.K., where he had fled. In 1977, while he was serving a 99-year sentence in the U.S., he escaped from prison, but was captured two days later.
Since its inception, 492 of the 529 fugitives who have appeared on the Most Wanted list have been apprehended, with 163 of them identified by citizens. Many of the criminals on this list were in the first “class” of 1950; some of them were captured before the list was even published, and others managed to evade capture entirely. (These are the most wanted criminals of the 1950s.)
Click here to see the most wanted criminals of the 1960s
In some cases, the FBI removes criminals from the list even though they haven’t been arrested. That might be because the charges against them have been dropped, because the agency decides that they are no longer a danger to society (in which case they’ll still be wanted, just not “most” wanted), or because they die. Convicted drug dealer John Gibson Dillon, for instance, was struck from the list after three following the discovery of his decomposed body at the bottom of a well, wired to 400 pounds of oil drilling gear.
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Harry Robert Grove, Jr.
> Added to the list: Feb. 19, 1962
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Robbery, bail-jumping
> Arrested or removed from list: Jan. 26, 1963 (arrested)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
William Terry Nichols
> Added to the list: April 6, 1961
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Armed robbery, jailbreak
> Arrested or removed from list: April 30, 1962 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Howard Jay Barnard
> Added to the list: April 12, 1963
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Robbery
> Arrested or removed from list: April 6, 1964 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Alfred Oponiwicz
> Added to the list: Nov. 27, 1963
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Armed robbery, safecracking
> Arrested or removed from list: Dec. 23, 1964 (arrested)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
Donald Stewart Heien
> Added to the list: March 8, 1965
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: N/A
> Arrested or removed from list: Feb. 3, 1966 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Edward Owen Watkins
> Added to the list: Sept. 21, 1965
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Bank robbery
> Arrested or removed from list: Dec. 2, 1966 (arrested)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
Lynwood Irwin Mears
> Added to the list: April 11, 1966
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Breaking and entering, jailbreak
> Arrested or removed from list: May 2, 1967 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Monroe Hickson
> Added to the list: Feb. 17, 1967
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Murder
> Arrested or removed from list: Jan. 30, 1968 (removed)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Carmen Raymond Gagliardi
> Added to the list: June 9, 1967
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Murder
> Arrested or removed from list: Dec. 23, 1968 (arrested)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
George Edward Wells
> Added to the list: March 28, 1968
> Years on the list: 1
> Charged with: Armed robbery, interstate flight
> Arrested or removed from list: May 27, 1969 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Harold Thomas O’Brien
> Added to the list: Jan. 4, 1963
> Years on the list: 2
> Charged with: Murder, interstate flight
> Arrested or removed from list: Jan. 14, 1965 (removed)
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Marie Dean Arrington
> Added to the list: May 29, 1969
> Years on the list: 2
> Charged with: Murder, jailbreak
> Arrested or removed from list: Dec. 22, 1971 (arrested)
24/7 Wall St.
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Gordon Dale Ervin
> Added to the list: April 13, 1967
> Years on the list: 2
> Charged with: Robbery
> Arrested or removed from list: June 7, 1969 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Warren David Reddock
> Added to the list: March 11, 1969
> Years on the list: 2
> Charged with: Murder
> Arrested or removed from list: April 14, 1971 arrested)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
John B. Everhart
> Added to the list: Nov. 22, 1960
> Years on the list: 3
> Charged with: Murder, jailbreak
> Arrested or removed from list: Nov. 6, 1963 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
John Gibson Dillon
> Added to the list: Sept. 1, 1961
> Years on the list: 3
> Charged with: Drug trafficking, bail-jumping
> Arrested or removed from list: March 2, 1964 (removed)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
Chester Collins
> Added to the list: May 14, 1964
> Years on the list: 3
> Charged with: N/A
> Arrested or removed from list: March 30, 1967 (removed)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Alson Thomas Wahrlich
> Added to the list: July 9, 1964
> Years on the list: 3
> Charged with: Kidnapping, molestation, interstate flight
> Arrested or removed from list: Oct. 28, 1967 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Taylor Morris Teaford
> Added to the list: May 10, 1969
> Years on the list: 4
> Charged with: Rape, murder
> Arrested or removed from list:
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
Byron James Rice
> Added to the list: July 5, 1968
> Years on the list: 4
> Charged with: Murder, arson
> Arrested or removed from list: Oct. 2, 1972 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
Donald Leroy Payne
> Added to the list: Oct. 6, 1960
> Years on the list: 5
> Charged with: Rape, assault
> Arrested or removed from list: Nov. 26, 1965 (removed)
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Source: Courtesy of FBI
Edward Howard Maps
> Added to the list: June 15, 1962
> Years on the list: 5
> Charged with: Murder, arson
> Arrested or removed from list: Dec. 1, 1967 (removed)
24/7 Wall St.Source: Courtesy of FBI
Cameron David Bishop
> Added to the list: April 15, 1969
> Years on the list: 6
> Charged with: Sabotage
> Arrested or removed from list: March 12, 1975 (arrested)
Source: Courtesy of FBI
John William Clouser
> Added to the list: Jan. 7, 1965
> Years on the list: 7
> Charged with: Kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault
> Arrested or removed from list: Aug. 1, 1972 (removed)
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Benjamin Hoskins Paddock
> Added to the list: June 10, 1969
> Years on the list: 8
> Charged with: Bank robbery, jailbreak
> Arrested or removed from list: May 5, 1977 (removed)
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