Have You Seen These Men?

This fact is probably not on most people’s radar, but today marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most-wanted list. As Wikipedia explains:

The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949, during a game of hearts between J. Edgar Hoover, director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) editor-in-chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI’s “toughest guys.” This discussion turned into a published article, which received so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, the FBI officially announced the list to increase law enforcement’s ability to capture dangerous fugitives.

Among the present occupants of that list are armed robber Victor Manuel Gerena, escaped murderer Glen Stewart Godwin, and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose capture George W. Bush once reportedly said was “not a top priority use of American resources.”