FBI’s Most Wanted: Notorious Fugitives of the 1960s

The FBI's Most Wanted list was started in 1950 by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover after a reporter asked the agency to provide a list of the toughest names the Bureau was trying to apprehend. Because the news story generated such intense public interest, Hoover made the list public in the hopes that the chances of catching dangerous criminals would increase.

Since its inception, 532 criminals have been placed on the Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, and 494 have been captured or located. This highly publicized list enlists the public's help to find hardened fugitives, often escapees, and as a result of the cooperation of Americans, 163 of these felons were apprehended or located.

To determine the FBI's most wanted: notorious fugitives of the 1960s, 24/7 Tempo reviewed FBI data on over 500 current and former listees. We defined "most wanted" as those featured on the list the longest without being caught. Criminals are occasionally removed from the list without being arrested for various reasons, from charges being dropped to no longer being considered a threat or having died.

Some notorious criminals aren't included because they were only on the list briefly before capture, like James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, who was arrested in the UK after two months. Many early listees were captured before publication or evaded capture entirely. (These are the most wanted criminals of the 1950s.)

Here are the FBI's most wanted: notorious fugitives of the 1960s:

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Feb. 19, 1962
• Criminal offense: Robbery, bail-jumping
• Arrested/Removed from list: Jan. 26, 1963

• Added to the Most Wanted list: April 6, 1961
• Criminal offense: Armed robbery, jailbreak
• Arrested/Removed from list: April 30, 1962

• Added to the Most Wanted list: April 12, 1963
• Criminal offense: Robbery
• Arrested/Removed from list: April 6, 1964

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Nov. 27, 1963
• Criminal offense: Armed robbery, safecracking
• Arrested/Removed from list: Dec. 23, 1964

• Added to the Most Wanted list: March 8, 1965
• Criminal offense: N/A
• Arrested/Removed from list: Feb. 3, 1966

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Sept. 21, 1965
• Criminal offense: Bank robbery
• Arrested/Removed from list: Dec. 2, 1966

• Added to the Most Wanted list: April 11, 1966
• Criminal offense: Breaking and entering, jailbreak
• Arrested/Removed from list: May 2, 1967

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Feb. 17, 1967
• Criminal offense: Murder
• Arrested/Removed from list: Jan. 30, 1968

• Added to the Most Wanted list: June 9, 1967
• Criminal offense: Murder
• Arrested/Removed from list: Dec. 23, 1968

• Added to the Most Wanted list: March 28, 1968
• Criminal offense: Armed robbery, interstate flight
• Arrested/Removed from list: May 27, 1969

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Jan. 4, 1963
• Criminal offense: Murder, interstate flight
• Arrested/Removed from list: Jan. 14, 1965

• Added to the Most Wanted list: May 29, 1969
• Criminal offense: Murder, jailbreak
• Arrested/Removed from list: Dec. 22, 1971

• Added to the Most Wanted list: April 13, 1967
• Criminal offense: Robbery
• Removed from list: June 7, 1969 (arrested)

• Added to the Most Wanted list: March 11, 1969
• Criminal offense: Murder
• Arrested/Removed from list: April 14, 1971

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Nov. 22, 1960
• Criminal offense: Murder, jailbreak
• Arrested/Removed from list: Nov. 6, 1963

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Sept. 1, 1961
• Criminal offense: Drug trafficking, bail-jumping
• Arrested/Removed from list: March 2, 1964

• Added to the Most Wanted list: May 14, 1964
• Criminal offense: N/A
• Arrested/Removed from list: March 30, 1967

• Added to the Most Wanted list: July 9, 1964
• Criminal offense: Kidnapping, molestation, interstate flight
• Arrested/Removed from list: Oct. 28, 1967

• Added to the Most Wanted list: May 10, 1969
• Criminal offense: Rape, murder
• Arrested/Removed from list: May 24, 1972

• Added to the Most Wanted list: July 5, 1968
• Criminal offense: Murder, arson
• Arrested/Removed from list: Oct. 2, 1972

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Oct. 6, 1960
• Criminal offense: Rape, assault
• Arrested/Removed from list: Nov. 26, 1965

• Added to the Most Wanted list: June 15, 1962
• Criminal offense: Murder, arson
• Arrested/Removed from list: Dec. 1, 1967

• Added to the Most Wanted list: April 15, 1969
• Criminal offense: Sabotage
• Arrested/Removed from list: March 12, 1975

• Added to the Most Wanted list: Jan. 7, 1965
• Criminal offense: Kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault
• Arrested/Removed from list: Aug. 1, 1972

• Added to the Most Wanted list: June 10, 1969
• Criminal offense: Bank robbery, jailbreak
• Arrested/Removed from list: May 5, 1977