This week (March 9-15) in crime history – Rapper
Notorious BIG was shot and killed (March 9, 1997); James Earl Ray pleaded
guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. (March 10, 1969); Dr. David Gunn
was shot and killed at his abortion clinic (March 10, 1993); Terrorists bombed
train in Madrid, Spain (March 11, 2004); Teenager Elizabeth Smart was found
alive (March 12, 2003); Czar Alexander II was assassinated (March 13, 1881);
Impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began (march 13, 1868); Mass school
shooting in Dunblane, Scotland (March 13, 1996); Jack Ruby was sentenced to
death for killing Lee Harvey Oswald (March 14, 1964); FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List
debuted (March 14, 1950); Birmingham Six were released from prison (March 14,
1991); Julius Caesar was assassinated (March 15, 44 B.C.)
Highlighted Story
of the Week -
On March 14, 1950, the F.B.I debuts the “Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives” list in an effort to publicize particularly dangerous criminals. The
creation of the program arose out of a wire service news story in 1949 about
the “toughest guys” the FBI wanted to capture. The story drew so much public
attention that the “Ten Most Wanted” list was given the go ahead by J. Edgar
Hoover the following year. As of 2015, 494 criminals have appeared on the list
and 463 have been apprehended or located, 153 as a result of tips from the
public. The Criminal Investigative Division (CID) of the FBI asks all fifty-six
field offices to submit candidates for inclusion on the list. The CID in
association with the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs then proposes
finalists for approval of by the FBI’s Deputy Director. The criteria for
selection is simple, the criminal must have a lengthy record and current pending
charges that make him or her particularly dangerous and the FBI must believe
that the publicity attendant to placement on the list will assist in the
apprehension of the fugitive. Unless a “Top Tenner” is captured, found dead, or
surrenders, they are only removed from the list when they meet one of two
conditions. First, the federal process pending against the individual is
dismissed. Second, they no longer fit “Top Ten” criteria. When a fugitive is
removed from the list, another candidate is added. Only eight women have
appeared on the Ten Most Wanted list and Ruth Eisemann Schier was the first in
1968.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author
of six nonfiction books that includes Murder
and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. Visit
Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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