Top 20 Notorious FBI Most Wanted Fugitives

Top 20 Notorious FBI Most Wanted Fugitives

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Notorious FBI Most Wanted Fugitives.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most infamous individuals to have appeared on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since its inception in 1950.

Which of these fugitives had you never heard of before? Let us know in the comments.

#20: Ramzi Yousef

Years on List: 1993-95
Almost a decade before 9/11, the World Trade Center was hit with a terrorist attack that claimed six lives and left more than a thousand injured. Ramzi Yousef, one of the brains behind the 1993 incident, fled the U.S. just hours later and was subsequently added to the FBI’s list. During his period at large, Yousef masterminded what is now known as the Bojinka (boh-JING-kah) plot, which included a plan to assassinate Pope John Paul II and attack 11 planes en route to the United States. Although detailed, the plan failed and Yousef was later arrested after one of his former associates ratted him out. He was extradited to the U.S. where he is currently behind bars for life.

#19: Ruth Eisemann-Schier

Years on List: 1968-69
The first woman to ever appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list; Eisemann-Schier and her boyfriend Gary Stephen Krist (chrissed) orchestrated the kidnapping of heiress Barbara Jane Mackle in 1968. The two criminals abducted Mackle from her hotel room and took her to a remote area, where they buried her in a ventilated box for more than three days. Luckily, Mackle was rescued in relatively good condition. Krist was apprehended just two days later. It would take the better part of three months for Eisemann-Schier to be caught, but after it finally happened, she spent four years in prison and was deported to her home country of Honduras.

#18: Jason Derek Brown

Years on List: 2007-
Before he was included on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, Jason Derek Brown was a seemingly successful businessman with a taste for the expensive. In reality, he was deeply in debt, and involved in various sketchy schemes. His apparent life of luxury came to an end in November of 2004 when he carried out a heist of an armored car outside a movie theater, killing the guard. Brown fled the scene and bounced around the U.S. before disappearing completely. His “surfer dude” looks have led to supposed sightings of him all around the country, the majority of which have turned out to be false. Brown is currently at large, and is thought to be residing either in Salt Lake City, or far away in another country.

#17: James Charles Kopp

Years on List: 1999-2001
Nicknamed “Atomic Dog”, James Charles Kopp was closely affiliated with anti-abortion militants, including the Christian “Lambs of Christ”. In 1998, he fatally shot physician Barnett Slepian (bar-NETT sleppy-in) in his own home. Slepian provided abortion services for several New York communities. After committing the murder, Kopp fled the U.S., moving to Mexico and Ireland, before landing in France in March of 2001. Two weeks later, he was arrested by French police and extradited to the U.S. He’s serving a lifetime sentence without the possibility of parole. Police suspect that he was also responsible for the murders of several other doctors in the US and Canada.

#16: Leslie Isben Rogge

Years on List: 1990-96
Bank robber Leslie Isben Rogge was the first ever criminal on the FBI list apprehended thanks to the internet. Rogge built his criminal career on bank robberies across the US, from Florida to Missouri. He was caught and convicted in 1984, but escaped the following year to commit even more robberies. In all, Rogge robbed over two dozen banks and made away with over $2 million. He remained on the run for several years before his picture on the FBI’s website was recognized by someone in Guatemala, who alerted the local authorities. Rogge will remain locked up till 2034, when he will be 94 years old.

#15: Eric Rudolph

Years on List: 1998-2003
Another anti-abortion militant, Eric Rudolph was behind the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also bombed two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar. For five years, he hid in the Appalachian wilderness, but in 2003, he was arrested at a grocery store in North Carolina. He pleaded guilty to all charges, including murder, and revealed that he had hidden 250 pounds of dynamite in the forest. Unrepentant, he has written essays from prison promoting violence, published online by Christian terrorist organization Army of God.

#14: Warren Jeffs

Year on List: 2006
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a radical denomination of the Mormon Church that still preaches polygamy. When he took over as President of the church, Warren Jeffs married nearly all of his father’s widows and took strict control over who his followers married. His regime was fraught with allegations of assault, and he was responsible for arranging marriages between adult men and minors. After appearing on the FBI Most Wanted List for just four months, Jeffs was arrested at a traffic stop and tried for his crimes in Utah, Arizona and Texas. He is currently serving a life sentence in Texas.

#13: Alexis Flores

Years on List: 2007-
In 2000, a drifter going by the name Carlos was working as a handyman in a neighborhood in Philadelphia. That summer, the body of a missing girl was found in the apartment building where “Carlos” lived, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Four years later, Alexis Flores was arrested for forgery in Arizona and jailed for 60 days, before he was deported back to his home country of Honduras. After his deportation, DNA samples taken from Flores in Arizona matched those from the murder case in Philadelphia, proving that “Carlos” was, in fact, Flores. He was added to the FBI’s list soon after, and is currently believed to be hiding either in Honduras or somewhere in the U.S.

#12: Juan García Abrego

Years on List: 1995-96
The first drug trafficker to appear on the FBI’s list, Juan García Abrego gained notoriety as the ruthless leader of the Gulf Cartel. After taking over the reins of the cartel from his uncle, García Abrego transformed it into one of the most expansive crime syndicates along the U.S.-Mexico border. He shipped not only drugs into the US, but also millions of dollars to be laundered. With such an infamous reputation, he was added to the FBI’s list in 1995 and apprehended almost a year later on a ranch in Mexico. He was tried on 22 counts of money laundering and drug trafficking, and bagged himself 11 consecutive life sentences in the slammer.

#11: Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez

Years on List: 2020-
Speaking of the Gulf Cartel, they feuded heavily with another Mexican syndicate called the Beltrán-Leyva (bell-TRAN LAY-bah) Cartel. As part of their ongoing rivalry, the Gulf Cartel arranged to have the father of Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez murdered. Villarreal-Hernandez, who was a Beltrán-Leyva boss, sought to enact his revenge, but not on any of his rival drug lords. Instead, he targeted Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa (gay-RAY-roh CHAHP-pah), the Gulf Cartel’s lawyer who represented their leader. In May 2013, Guerrero was tracked down to Southlake, Texas, and assassinated by Villarreal-Hernandez’s men. Investigation by the authorities traced the murder plot back to Villarreal-Hernandez, who has since fallen off the grid.

#10: Thomas James Holden

Years on List: 1950-51
Over the last 70 years, more than 500 names have graced the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives List. Thomas James Holden was the very first. A career criminal, Holden first appeared on the FBI’s radar as one half of the notorious Holden-Keating Gang. Together with Francis Keating, he went on a robbery spree in the Midwest throughout the 1920s and ‘30s, targeting payroll deliveries, trains, and banks. Shortly after his second stint in prison, Holden shot his wife and her two brothers after a drunken night and fled the scene. The following year, he appeared as the first fugitive on the FBI’s inaugural list. He was eventually captured and thrown right back in prison.

#9: Víctor Manuel Gerena

Years on List: 1984-2016
With a record 32 years, Víctor Manuel Gerena remains the fugitive with the longest amount of time spent on the Most Wanted List. While working as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo in 1983, Gerena and his accomplices pulled off a heist of $7 million from the company’s depot. This became the biggest cash theft carried out on US soil at the time. Gerena escaped to Mexico soon after the robbery and hasn’t been seen since then. He was added to the FBI’s list the following year and remained there until he was taken off in 2016. While many of his co-conspirators have since been apprehended, the whereabouts of Víctor Manuel Gerena remain unsolved.

#8: William Bradford Bishop Jr.

Years on List: 2014-18
Before the horrific events of March 1st, 1976, William Bradford Bishop Jr. lived the American dream. The Yale alum and former diplomat was married to his high school sweetheart and was the father to three boys. After finding out he was passed over for a promotion on that fateful day, Bishop returned home and allegedly murdered his family, as well as his mother. For decades, the feds have combed through lead after lead but have turned up nothing in their search for Bishop. From 2014 to 2018, Bishop was named as one of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, but he was kicked off the list in favor of more dangerous people.

#7: Leonard Peltier

Years on List: 1975-76
The criminal case of Leonard Peltier is one that has been heavily debated for decades. An activist and member of the American Indian Movement, Peltier appeared on the Most Wanted List for his involvement in the killing of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was arrested just two months later in Canada and extradited back to the U.S., where he was tried and convicted. Peltier’s trial raised several questions concerning the evidence presented and the witness testimonies, some of which have since been recanted. Despite clemency appeals from several human rights groups and key political figures, Peltier’s convictions - two life sentences and additional time for a 1979 prison escape - still stand.

#6: Rafael Caro Quintero

Years on List: 2018-
The whopping $20 million dollar reward for information leading to the capture of Rafael Caro Quintero’s is the largest currently offered for an FBI Most Wanted Fugitive. One of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, Caro Quintero went to prison in 1985 for his role in the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar (salla-SAR). He was released in 2013, after a state tribunal in Mexico ruled that he should have been tried for murder in a state, not federal court. After outrage from the Obama administration, the Mexican government issued a new arrest warrant a few days later, but Caro Quintero was long gone and authorities are still searching for him.

#5: Semion Mogilevich

Years on List: 2009-15
Arms trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, contract murders … These are just a few of the criminal charges leveled against Russian mafia boss Semion Mogilevich. Described by the FBI as “the most dangerous mobster in the world,” Mogilevich was placed on the Most Wanted List in 2009 after scamming millions of dollars from investors of a Canadian company he oversaw. It was a long shot, as the Feds knew he had high-profile connections in Russia and was living freely in Moscow. Due to the lack of an extradition treaty between Russia and the U.S., Mogilevich was taken off the list in 2015, but he is still being actively pursued by the FBI.

#4: James “Whitey” Bulger

Years on List: 1999-2011
One of the most notorious mob bosses to ever spring out of Boston, James “Whitey” Bulger was the leader of the Winter Hill Gang. Bulger had his hands in multiple criminal enterprises, such as racketeering, money laundering, extortion and even murder, yet he worked as an FBI informant against other mobs. Facing impending prosecution, he fled Boston and remained in hiding for sixteen years. During this period he was added to the list and was, at one time, the second most-wanted man in the US, behind only Osama bin Laden. After he was apprehended in 2011, Bulger was convicted of his many crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2018, he met his demise at the hands of other inmates.

#3: Theodore “Ted” Bundy

Year on List: 1978
One of the most infamous serial killers of all time, Ted Bundy was responsible for the deaths of at least 30 women in the 1970s. He was arrested in 1975 but managed to escape from prison twice, killing even more women while he was on the run. Bundy used his charm and good looks to lure his victims in, before assaulting them and taking their lives. After his second escape from prison, his name was added to the FBI’s list. He only spent five days on the list before he was arrested at a traffic stop. Following two highly publicized trials, Bundy was found guilty of three murders and was executed by electric chair in 1989.

#2: James Earl Ray

Years on List: 1968, 1977
Already a convicted armed robber and fraudster, James Earl Ray gained notoriety for his 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray, who had escaped from prison the previous year, ran up north to Canada and laid low for a while. After a few months on the run, Ray was arrested in London and sent back to the U.S. to stand trial for his crime. There, he pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Having appeared on FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives in 1968, Ray’s name resurfaced on the list in 1977 when he escaped from prison with six other inmates. He was recaptured three days later, and died in prison at the age of 70.

#1: Osama bin Laden

Years on List: 1999-2011
As the founder of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden was responsible for masterminding several terrorist attacks. Although most infamous for the events of September 11th 2001, bin Laden originally appeared on the FBI’s list two years earlier. His inclusion was as a result of his involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. After the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden became the most wanted man in the world, with the FBI placing a $25 million bounty on his head. Bin Laden managed to evade capture for more than a decade, but met his end in May 2011 when he was shot and killed by U.S. military forces in Abbottabad (bawd), Pakistan.