The first man to be wanted by the FBI was a Bishop

When did the FBI start its 10 Most Wanted list?

I ask because I have just watched Zero Dark Thirty again, the movie (pictured above) about the USA’S attempts to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, who was at the top of the list at the time.

And how many people have been on the list? – J.

The FBI issued its first wanted poster in 1919.

A 23-year-old soldier named William N. Bishop slipped out of the stockade at Camp A. A. Humphreys in northern Virginia.

Shortly after Bishop’s getaway, the Military Intelligence Division of the Army requested the FBI’S help in finding him.

An assistant director, Frank Burke, responded by sending a letter to “All Special Agents, Special Employees and Local Officers” asking them to “make every effort” to capture Bishop.

It was “Identification Order No.1.” but soon became known as an IO and it put the organisation squarely in the fugitive-catching business.

By the 1930s, IOS were sent to police stations around the nation, enlisting the eyes of the public in the search for fugitives.

In 1950, the FBI created its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Since then 517 fugitives have been on the list, and 483 have been apprehended or located.

Bin Laden, No. 456, was shot and killed during a US Military operation in Pakistan on May 1, 2011.

The latest addition to the list is Jesus Roberto Munguia, a gang member, with a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest.