# FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950s

In the 1950s, the United States FBI began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Following is a brief review of FBI people and events that place the 1950s decade in context, and then an historical list of individual fugitives whose names first appeared on the 10 Most Wanted list during the decade of the 1950s, under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

## FBI headlines in decade of 1950s

In late 1949 the FBI helped publish an article about the "toughest guys" the Bureau was after, who remained fugitives from justice. The positive publicity from the story resulted in the birth of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on March 14, 1950.
Cases of espionage against the United States and its allies were some of the prevalent investigations by the Bureau during the 1950s. Eight Nazi agents who had planned sabotage operations against American targets were arrested. Organized crime networks and families in the United States also became targets, including those headed by Sam Giancana and John Gotti.

## FBI "Most Wanted Fugitives" in the 1950s

As wanted fugitives were added, and then later removed, the FBI began to keep track of the sequence number in which each fugitive appeared on the list. Some individuals have even appeared twice, and often a sequence number was permanently assigned to an individual fugitive who was soon caught, captured, or simply removed, before his or her appearance could be published on the publicly released list. In those cases, the public would see only gaps in the number sequence reported by the FBI. For convenient reference, the wanted fugitive's sequence number and date of entry on the FBI list appear below, whenever possible.

## FBI Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 1950s

The most wanted fugitives listed in the decade of the 1950s include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

### 1950

| Name | Sequence Number | Date of Entry | Time Listed |
| Thomas James Holden | #1 | March 14, 1950 | One year |
| Thomas James Holden, a longtime criminal, was the first fugitive to be placed on the FBI’s newly created “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, on March 14, 1950. Holden was arrested on June 23, 1951, in Beaverton, Oregon, following a tip from a citizen who read a wire service story in the Portland, Oregon newspaper The Oregonian and contacted the FBI. He was wanted for fleeing on November 4, 1949 after he had shot to death his wife and her two brothers while drinking on June 5, 1949, in Chicago. He was previously convicted of robbing a mail train in the late 1920s as part of the Holden-Keating gang and escaped from Leavenworth in 1930. He was alleged to be one of the "outside" crew in a sensational armed break of other prisoners from Leavenworth in December, 1931; after escape, he was caught by Special Agents and local police officers on a Kansas City, Missouri golf course on July 7, 1932. He was released from Leavenworth Prison on November 28, 1947. ||||
| Morley Vernon King | #2 | March 15, 1950 | Two years |
| Morley Vernon King was wanted for strangling his wife, Helen, with a scarf and leaving her body in a closet for six days. He then put her body in a steamer trunk, placing it under the back porch of a motel where he worked at in San Luis Obispo, California, on July 9, 1947. He had fled from police July 8, 1947. He was apprehended on October 31, 1951 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, restaurant, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| William Raymond Nesbit | #3 | March 16, 1950 | Three days |
| William Nesbit was wanted for multiple murders and jewel thefts. In 1936, Nesbit and a crew of jewel thieves, consisting of three other man and one of their girlfriends, fled to South Dakota where they all got into a fight. The girlfriend attempted to break up the fight, but was struck with a hammer by Nesbit and shot by another crew member. She was dragged to a powder house where another crew member by the name of Harold Baker, laid unconscious. Nesbit then lit a fuse, setting off 3,500 pounds of dynamite and 7,000 pounds of black powder, killing Baker while the girlfriend managed to crawl away. On February 26, 1937, he was arrested in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He received a sentence of life in prison, but after 20 years, he was allowed to leave the prison for work activities. However, on September 4, 1946, he never returned and was wanted for fleeing. He was arrested on March 18, 1950 in St. Paul, Minnesota, by local police following a wire service story in the St. Paul Dispatch, with the help of a 14-year old boy and his friends who said he had become friends with a man named "Ray" who lived in a cave in the nearby Mississippi River bank. ||||
| Henry Randolph Mitchell | #4 | March 17, 1950 | Eight years |
| Henry Randolph Mitchell, a longtime criminal, was wanted for robbing a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bank in Williston, Florida on January 21, 1948 shortly after being released from Florida State Penitentiary. His criminal career dated back to 1924 and he had been previously convicted in the states of Kentucky, Georgia, New York and Florida for crimes including grand larceny, violation of narcotics laws, breaking and entering, and forgery. Mitchell was placed on the list three days after its inception and was the only one of the original members still at large when the process against him was dismissed in Tallahassee, Florida on July 18, 1958. ||||
| Omar August Pinson | #5 | March 18, 1950 | Five months |
| Omar August Pinson was wanted for murder and burglary. On April 25, 1947, Pinson, after just finishing a burglary, was approached by a state officer when the officer saw he was holding a large amount of guns. After failing to come up with an excuse, he pulled out a pistol, shooting and killing the officer. He had apparently been on a 6 month burglary spree in throughout Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. He was convicted for the murder and burglaries, and attempted to escape prison multiple times, thereafter. On May 30, 1949, he managed to saw through his prison bars and escape with another inmate, then immediately went back to burglarizing homes. He was arrested on August 28, 1950 in Pierre, South Dakota, by local police while applying for his driver’s license, due to an FBI investigation,. ||||
| Lee Emory Downs | #6 | March 20, 1950 | One month |
| Lee Emory Downs, an expert safecracker and longtime criminal, was wanted for robbing a telephone company in San Jose, California with an accomplice. He was a part of a loose gang of holdup men and robbers from several states. He was arrested by the FBI in Daytona Beach, Florida, on April 7, 1950, outside his trailer home, due to an FBI investigation. At the time of the arrest, Downs was working on his 1949 Lincoln automobile. A search of the trailer revealed two pistols, six rifles, nine sticks of dynamite, twelve electric detonating fuses, and two leather briefcases filled with ammunition. He was convicted, but in 1968, while on parole, he attempted to burglarize the Colombian consulate in San Francisco and was returned to prison. ||||
| Orba Elmer Jackson | #7 | March 21, 1950 | Two days |
| Orba Elmer Jackson, a longtime criminal, was wanted for escaping prison when he walked away from a work duty. He was serving time for robbing a store that happen to have a post office in the back making it a federal crime, therefore making him a federal prisoner, sending him to Leavenworth Prison. He was apprehended without incident on March 23, 1950 in Aloha, Oregon. A citizen saw Jackson’s Identification Order in an Oregon post office and recognized him as a farm hand. ||||
| Glen Roy Wright | #8 | March 22, 1950 | Nine months |
| Glen Roy Wright, a longtime criminal, dubbed, "The Old Man of the Mountains", was wanted for escaping prison, where he was serving a life sentence for hijacking an auction with an accomplice. He was captured by accident when the FBI were looking for two kidnappers of a St. Paul banker. He was also wanted for questioning in the murder of a Tulsa attorney. After an escape attempt in 1940 where he was wounded, on September 14, 1948, he was able to successfully escape when he faked having an ill mother and disappeared when visiting her. While on the run, he committed numerous crimes including robbery. He was arrested on December 13, 1950 in Salina, Kansas, by the FBI, due to an FBI investigation. He then became a model prisoner before dying of a heart attack in prison on July 5, 1954. ||||
| Henry Harland Shelton | #9 | March 23, 1950 | Three months |
| Henry Harland Shelton was wanted for escaping prison. On September 17, 1949, Shelton and accomplice kidnapped an electrical worker and forced him to drive them across several states at knife point. They then abandoned the car the repeated the process three more times. Shelton's accomplice was captured during a holdup while Shelton managed to escape the police. Three months later, the FBI were able to ascertain his location as he frequented a local bar. He was arrested on June 23, 1950 in Indianapolis, Indiana, by FBI agents while armed with a .45 caliber automatic weapon which he drew it during the arrest in an attempt to shoot the arresting FBI agent. Agents shot and wounded him. He pled guilty to charges of federal kidnapping and the interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles. He received a sentence of 45 years on the kidnapping charge and five years on the car theft charge, sentences to run concurrently. ||||
| Morris Guralnick | #10 | March 24, 1950 | Nine months |
| Morris Guralnick was wanted escaping custody while awaiting trial for stabbing his ex-girlfriend in April, 1948. In order to escape, Guralnick and four other inmates broke the plumbing fixtures and violently assaulted two guard with broken pipes where one guard was hospitalized with sever head injuries. He was considered extremely dangerous as during his first arrest for the assault, he bit off the finger of an arresting officer. In December of 1950, Guralnick was arrested by an FBI agent and a local police officer at a clothing store where he was working as a night clerk in Madison, Wisconsin. He was located as a result of a citizen seeing his picture in the Coronet magazine and then contacting authorities. ||||
| Willie Sutton | #11 | March 20, 1950 | Two years |
| William Francis Sutton, a.k.a. “The Actor” or “Slick Willie,” was wanted for escaping prison where he was serving time for multiple bank robberies. He was considered a gentlemen when robbing banks with one victim stating it was like being in a movie where the usher had a gun. He would usually put on elaborate disguises in order to rob them in broad daylight. He would go on to make several escapes from prisons. While serving a sentence of life imprisonment as a fourth time offender, Sutton was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, in Homesburg, Pennsylvania. On February 10, 1947, Sutton and other prisoners dressed as prison guards and carried two ladders across the prison yard to the wall after dark. When the prison’s searchlights hit him, Sutton yelled, “It’s okay,” and no one stopped him. Because of his love for expensive clothes, his photograph was given to tailors as well as the police. Arnold Schuster recognized Sutton on a New York subway on February 18, 1952, leading to his arrest. He was sentenced to 30 years on top of the one life sentence and 105 years he was already serving before his escape. However, in 1969, he was released from prison since he had emphysema and was preparing for major surgery. On November 2, 1980, Willie Sutton died in Spring Hill, Florida, at the age of 79. ||||
| Stephen William Davenport | #12 | April 4, 1950 | One month |
| Stephen William Davenport, a longtime criminal, was wanted for fleeing after he was arrested for stealing a car while out on parole. He was originally in Leavenworth Prison for killing a detective sergeant while committing an armed burglary. To escape, he broke a bar in the shower room of the correctional facility he was at and using blankets slid out a window to the ground floor. He was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, by local police, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| Henry Clay Tollett | #13 | April 11, 1950 | One year |
| Henry Clay Tollett, a longtime criminal, was wanted for escaping prison where he was serving a 25 year long sentence for bank robbery. He hid in a truck that was picking up prison made office furniture before jumping out of the truck and disappearing in Tacoma, Washington. he was known to have a gun in a secret pocket in his left sleeve and was a notorious alcoholic. He was fatally wounded by a California Highway Patrol officer during the attempt to apprehend him on June 4, 1951. He was in a stolen car in Redding, California. ||||
| Frederick J. Tenuto | #14 | May 24, 1950 | Fourteen years |
| Frederick J. Tenuto, a.k.a. "The Angel", a longtime criminal, was wanted for escaping prison with Willie Sutton (#11) in 1947, where he was serving time for murder. Placed on the Top Ten list on May 24, 1950, federal process against Tenuto was dismissed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by a U.S. District Judge. It was alleged by Joe Valachi that Tenuto was killed by Albert Anastasia to get rid of loose ends in a hit he ordered on Arnold Schuster. ||||
| Thomas Kling | #15 | July 17, 1950 | Two years |
| Thomas Kling, a longtime criminal, was wanted for armed robbery when he entered a bar and fired a gun in the air. He then smashed a barkeeper over the head with a stool and robbed the place. All this took place while out on parole. Starting his criminal career at the age of ten he was in and out of prison for a multitude of crimes including, multiple robberies, assaults, bank robberies, breaking and entering, carjacking, and more. He was arrested on February 20, 1952 in New York, New York, by local police after following an address book they found in Willie Sutton's (#11) apartment. ||||
| Meyer Dembin | #16 | September 5, 1950 | One year |
| Meyer Dembin was wanted robbing a bank with three others in under five minutes, armed with revolvers and a shotgun. They then jumped into a stolen sedan. Over the course of the next decade, his accomplices would be arrested and given lengthy prison sentences. He surrendered to the U.S. Attorney on November 26, 1951 in New York, New York. ||||

### 1951

| Name | Sequence Number | Date of Entry | Time Listed |
| Courtney Townshend Taylor | #17 | January 8, 1951 | One month |
| Courtney Townshend Taylor was wanted for passing bad checks. He was apprehended in Mobile, Alabama, in 1951 after a jeweler recognized him from a Wanted Flyer. Sending his clerk to follow Taylor, the jeweler called the FBI and police. Within 25 minutes, Taylor was in custody. Upon his arrest, he was frisked and pulled out a black fountain pen and stated "This is the only gun I need,". ||||
| Joseph Franklin Bent | #18 | January 9, 1951 | Two years |
| Joseph Franklin Bent, a longtime criminal and former army soldier, was wanted for multiple robberies and attempted murder. On July 23, 1949, he wrapped his face in tape and robbed a grocery store in San Diego, California. After fleeing in a getaway car driven by an accomplice, they were chased by a motorcycle officer. A gun battle ensued where Bent shot at the officer with a shotgun out of the moving car where they managed to get away. While on the run, in May of 1950, he robbed another grocery store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was arrested after hiding under a house. He managed to escape from the infirmary with a broken jaw and stole two vehicles in succession to escape. He then fled to Riverdale, North Dakota and committed another robbery. He was arrested in Texas City, Texas, after a citizen recognized his photo in Pageant magazine. He was shot and wounded during the arrest when he attempted to draw his weapon. ||||
| Harry H. Burton | #19 | March 9, 1951 | One year |
| Harry H. Burton, a longtime criminal, was wanted for murder. On October 1, 1947, a wealthy liquor store owner who was reported to have large sums of cash on him and in his, home was robbed while his wife and three visitors were inside. A mailman arrived with a package at the front door and drew a pistol forcing the wife inside, having all four people lie face down on the kitchen floor. Others then entered and ransacked the home. Robert Crane adjusted himself while lying down and was subsequently shot in the head by the intruder after which he shooter and the robbers fled the home. The package initially used to gain entry to the home was left behind which had the latent fingerprints of Burton and stuffed inside was a sticker with Burton's father's name and address. Further investigating turned up evidence that implicated Burton. He was arrested in Cody, Wyoming, in 1952, by the local sheriff and FBI. His arrest is attributed to the True Detective Mysteries radio broadcast. however, he was later acquitted when a witness testified that he was at him dying mothers bedside at the time of the murder. ||||
| Joseph Paul Cato | #20 | June 27, 1951 | Surrendered before publication |
| Joseph Paul Cato, a one time gangster, was wanted for the murder of his girlfriend who he was having an affair with unbeknownst to her husband. The motive was believed to be jealously as she was meeting another man. He broke down her door, chased her upstairs, and shot her in the head. He surrendered to the FBI in Cleveland, Ohio, in June of 1951, after seeing his own Identification Order. Although approved to be placed on the “Top Ten” list, he surrendered prior to the press release date. ||||
| Anthony Brancato | #21 | June 27, 1951 | Two days |
| Anthony Brancato was wanted for robbing the Flamingo Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, which had ties to the Mafia, alongside Tony Trombino as part of duo robbers commonly known as "The Two Tonys". He surrendered to the FBI on June 29, 1951 in San Francisco, California, after seeing an International News Service story in the San Francisco Call-Bulletin. ||||
| Frederick Emerson Peters | #22 | July 2, 1951 | Seven months |
| Frederick Emerson Peters, a serial imposter, was wanted for writing bad check. He would travel around the U.S. pretending to be government officials and relatives of famous people getting others to cash bad checks for him. He amassed around 130 aliases by 1948. He was arrested on January 15, 1952 in a Washington, D.C., hotel lobby after two FBI agents recognized him from an Identification Order. ||||
| Ernest Tait | #23 | July 11, 1951 | One day |
| Ernest Tait, a career robber, was wanted for robbing a safe in New Castle, Indiana with an accomplice. They were caught in the act and had a shootout with police in which his partner was shot and killed. He was arrested on July 12, 1951 in Miami, Florida, by the FBI as a direct result of an Associated Press story published in the Miami Herald and the Miami Daily News. After being apprehended, Tait said he had intended to shoot it out with the police, but he had read the AP story about himself stating he had been added to the “Top Ten” list and decided not to try to shoot it out with the FBI. Tait is also #133 on the list. ||||
| Ollie Gene Embry | #24 | July 25, 1951 | One month |
| Ollie Gene Embry was wanted for robbing Monroe National Bank in Columbia, Illinois with three others on February 7, 1951. The four planned to meet up later to divide the stolen cash but Embry spotted a detective during the sting operation set up to capture them and Embry fled while his accomplices were arrested. A citizen saw Embry’s Identification Order in the post office and recognized him as a local filling station attendant. He was arrested by FBI agents in August 1951 while he was in the process of fixing the radiator of the arresting agents’ car in Kansas City, Missouri. ||||
| Giachino Anthony Baccolla | #25 | August 20, 1951 | Four months |
| Giachino Anthony Baccolla was wanted for the murder of a Detroit jeweler that was shot in his car at his home on May 17, 1951. The jeweler and Baccolla were acquaintances as former criminals. It is possible that he killed him after the jeweler became a government witness in a robbery case in 1950. He was arrested in New York, New York in December 1951, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| Raymond Edward Young | #26 | November 12, 1951 | Four days |
| Raymond Edward Young, a longtime robber, was wanted for escaping a California prison when he ran away from fighting a fire as part of a convict gang of firefighters. While on the run, he got married and got a job escorting funeral processions on a motorcycle, making friends with local motorcycle cops. He was arrested in Denver, Colorado, in November of 1951, due to an FBI investigation. Young worked nights at a bakery and was apprehended while loading bread trucks. ||||
| John Thomas Hill | #27 | December 10, 1951 | One year |
| John Thomas Hill was wanted for murder. He was arrested in August of 1952, in Hamtramck, Michigan, after a citizen recognized him from a Wanted Flyer. Due to an FBI investigation, agents raided his home finding Hill in bed, fast asleep. He offered no resistance. ||||
| George Arthur Heroux | #28 | December 19, 1951 | Seven months |
| George Arthur Heroux was wanted for robbing the Johnson County National Bank and Trust Company in Prairie Village, Kansas with machine guns alongside Gerhard Arthur Puff (#30) on November 23, 1951. He was arrested on July 25, 1952 in El Portal, Florida, by local police following a police department investigation. ||||

### 1952

| Name | Sequence Number | Date of Entry | Time Listed |
| Sydney Gordon Martin | #29 | January 7, 1952 | Two years |
| Sydney Gordon Martin was wanted for robbing, shooting, and beating a farmer with a rock near Belchertown, Massachusetts when he faked needing help with his stalled car. He then fled in the farmers truck before being arrested in Northampton, Massachusetts. Four months later he scaled a barbed wire fence and escaped jail. He was arrested without incident on November 27, 1953 in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the FBI following publicity in the Saturday Evening Post. ||||
| Gerhard Arthur Puff | #30 | January 28, 1952 | Six months |
| Gerhard Arthur Puff, a longtime criminal, was wanted for robbing the Johnson County National Bank and Trust Company of Prairie Village, Kansas, alongside George Arthur Heroux (#28) at gun point. He and Heroux had met in jail while Puff awaited trial for armed robbery. On July 26, 1952, Puff was arrested in a hotel lobby in New York, New York, after he shot and killed FBI Special Agent Joseph J. Brock. Puff himself was shot and wounded before he was arrested. He was later executed by electric chair. ||||
| Thomas Edward Young | #31 | February 21, 1952 | Seven months |
| Thomas Edward Young, a longtime criminal and jail escape artist, had fled while out on bond for burglary. He then met up with his wife who was recovering from a car accident. They then both went on the run through several states. Later, a friend of Thomas was getting out of jail, so they picked him up with another couple. They were stopped by federal agents in which Thomas tried to run, armed with a pistol. They were all subsequently arrested. On August 18, 1951, Thomas overpowered a guard, stole his keys, released his wife and another prisoner, and fled. During their time on the run, they committed multiple burglaries and robberies. They were later arrested and entered guilty pleas in October of 1951. Then on December 28, 1951, Thomas and his wife escaped custody again and fled, committing multiple burglaries and five bank robberies. He was arrested on September 23, 1952 in the Boise National Forest, without incident following an investigation of citizen reports recognizing his photograph on Identification Orders and in newspaper articles. ||||
| Kenneth Lee Maurer | #32 | February 27, 1952 | Eleven months |
| Kenneth Lee Maurer was wanted for the murders of his mother and 11-year-old sister. The mother was stabbed 36 times and bludgeoned while the sister was stabbed four times. A bloody axe and hunters knife was found at the scene. He was arrested while working at a local cabinet shop on January 8, 1953 in Miami, Florida, after several customers saw his published photograph and contacted the FBI. Because of Maurer’s fear of flying, he was allowed to return to Detroit by train to face murder charges. ||||
| Isaie Aldy Beausoleil | #33 | March 3, 1952 | One year |
| Isaie Aldy Beausoleil was wanted in connection for the bludgeoning death of his female companion in Des Moise, Idaho who was found in a ditch. At the time of his arrest on June 25, 1953, Beausoleil was dressed as a woman. The arrest occurred in Chicago, Illinois, when Beausoleil was spotted acting suspiciously in a women’s restroom. A park policewoman responded and made the arrest. ||||
| Leonard Joseph Zalutsky | #34 | August 5, 1952 | One month |
| Leonard Joseph Zalutsky, a.k.a. "Bad Eye" because he was half blind, was wanted for the escaping a Florida prison where he was serving a life sentence for murdering a Miami police officer. He was arrested by local police on September 8, 1952 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, after being recognized by two citizens who saw his FBI Wanted Poster in a post office. ||||
| William Merle Martin | #35 | August 11, 1952 | Three weeks |
| William Merle Martin and an accomplice robbed a house in Overland Park, Kansas on June 22, 1952, then attempted to steal a car in a nearby neighborhood just after midnight the next day. At the time deputies had already been in the area searching for the two men. Deputies Willard Carver and Floyd Gaunt upon going to a call about an attempt to steal a car drove down a street and saw a vehicle in a ditch which contained a Luger pistol and random items. Martin and his accomplice then approached in a truck. When told to put their hands up, they immediately opened fire, killing deputy Carver. He was arrested in on August 30, 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri, by local police due to a police investigation. He was executed in July of 1954. ||||
| James Eddie Diggs | #36 | August 27, 1952 | Nine years |
| James Eddie Diggs was wanted for the shooting murders of his wife and two sons. Five days later, he was in a car that was pulled over with three other men. Instead of identifying himself, he drew a revolver and shot a police officer in the mouth. The four men then drove away, where three of them later surrendered and told police that Diggs had kidnapped them at gunpoint to drive to Hamlet. However, he got out of the car before reaching his destination and stated he was going to "take to the woods" and was never seen again. Federal process against Diggs was dismissed in Norfolk, Virginia in 1961. ||||
| Nick George Montos | #37 | September 8, 1952 | Two years |
| Nick George Montos, a criminal since 14-years-old and later mafia member, was wanted for escaping prison multiple times where he was serving time for robbery. He had beat a 74-year-old man and the man's sister with a gun with three others. He was arrested in his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, after being recognized by a citizen. He was also #94 on the list being the first person to be added twice. ||||
| Theodore Richard Byrd Jr. | #38 | September 10, 1952 | Six months |
| Theodore Richard Byrd Jr., a Navy deserter and longtime criminal, was wanted for interstate transportation of stolen property. Under a fake name, he set up an account with a fake company called McGee Petroleum Co., hired a local stenographer, and had her write bogus checks as employee payrolls. He then continued the operation in multiple states, under multiple identities. He was arrested on February 21, 1953 in El Reno, Oklahoma, after an off-duty FBI clerk recognized him from a Wanted Flyer and notified the local police. ||||
| Harden Collins Kemper | #39 | September 17, 1952 | Four months |
| Harden Collins Kemper, a longtime criminal, was wanted for failing to appear for court for vehicle theft. He was as the leader for a ring of car thieves that stole 58 vehicles at the time. He was arrested in Glendale, Arizona, after an Arizona Highway Patrolman recognized him from an Identification Order. ||||
| John Joseph Brennan | #40 | October 6, 1952 | Four months |
| John Joseph Brennan, a longtime criminal since the age of 15, was wanted for bank robbery where he and multiple accomplices, including Charles Patrick Shue (#41) got into a shoot out with Chicago police. He was arrested on January 23, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, as a result of a tip from an FBI informant. ||||

### 1953

| Name | Sequence Number | Date of Entry | Time Listed |
| Charles Patrick Shue | #41 | January 15, 1953 | One month |
| Charles Patrick Shue was wanted for bank robbery and eluding police alongside John Joseph Brennan (#40). He was arrested on February 13, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, as a result of the FBI being notified after an individual recognized his picture in a newspaper. ||||
| Lawson David Shirk Butler | #42 | January 22, 1953 | Three months |
| Lawson David Shirk Butler, a long time criminal since the age of 14, was wanted for escaping an Oregon prison while serving a 10-year prison term for assault and armed robbery. He was arrested on April 21, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. ||||
| Joseph James Brletic | #43 | February 8, 1953 | Two days |
| Joseph James Brletic, a violent criminal, was wanted for escaping jail. On June 12, 1948, he and an accomplice stole a car from Pennsylvania, drove to Missouri and held up a gas station at gunpoint. After a police chase, they were arrested two days later. While awaiting sentencing, Brletic and his companion dug out of the prison using broken barber shears and hopped rides on freight trains. He was arrested on February 10, 1953, in Lancaster, California, by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office after being recognized from a photograph in the Los Angeles Herald-Express newspaper. ||||
| David Dallas Taylor | #44 | March 3, 1953 | Three months |
| David Dallas Taylor was wanted for escaping custody. He was serving over 30 years for second degree murder and larceny. On September 1, 1952, while being transported back to an Alabama prison, he escaped for a fourth time by jumping off a moving train while handcuffed. He was arrested on May 26, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| Perlie Miller | #45 | March 4, 1953 | One day |
| Perlie Miller was wanted for escaping prison while serving a term for armed robbery. He was arrested on March 5, 1953 in Somersworth, New Hampshire. Working at a local diner, a customer recognized him from a published “Top Ten” photograph. ||||
| Fred William Bowerman | #46 | March 5, 1953 | Two months |
| Fred William Bowerman was wanted for committing a violent bank robbery where he shot an employee for raising their hands too slowly. On April 24, 1953, while attempting to rob a St. Louis, Missouri bank, he and four accomplices got into a shootout with over 100 police officers. He was mortally wounded and died a week later from his wounds. ||||
| Robert Benton Mathus | #47 | March 16, 1953 | Three days |
| Robert Benton Mathus was arrested on March 19, 1953 in Duson, Louisiana, by FBI agents and local police after being recognized by a citizen who saw his Wanted Flyer. ||||
| Floyd Allen Hill | #48 | March 30, 1953 | Three weeks |
| Floyd Allen Hill, a con artist and bank robber, was wanted for escaping prison. He took part in multiple robberies and later buried his share of one heist near Fort Worth, Texas. He was arrested on April 18, 1953 in Dallas, Texas, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| Joseph Levy | #49 | May 1, 1953 | Caught before publication |
| Joseph Levy, a longtime con man, was wanted for cashing worthless checks. He was arrested on April 30, 1953 at the Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, one day prior to the public announcement of being placed on the “Top Ten” list. FBI agents recognized him from the “Top Ten” material sent to the field office for the announcement. He is still considered to have been officially on the list. He was unable to cash in his prize of $115 from the track. ||||
| Arnold Hinson | #50 | May 4, 1953 | Six months |
| Arnold Hinson, a longtime criminal, was wanted for shooting his co-worker in the head four times at a farm he worked at. He and his wife then fled the city in a stolen pick-up truck. He was arrested on November 7, 1953, by FBI agents in the downtown area of Memphis, Tennessee. ||||
| Gordon Lee Cooper | #51 | May 11, 1953 | One month |
| Gordon Lee Cooper was wanted for escaping custody after being charged with robbery and assault. He beat up a deputy after being arraigned and robbed him of $160 before fleeing. He was arrested on June 11, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri, following an investigation based on a citizen’s tip. Cooper was recognized from newspaper publicity. ||||
| Fleet Robert Current | #52 | May 18, 1953 | Two months |
| Fleet Robert Current was wanted for robbery. He was arrested on an Omaha, Nebraska, street corner on July 12, 1953, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| Donald Charles Fitterer | #53 | June 8, 1953 | Two weeks |
| Donald Charles Fitterer was wanted for robbery and murder. He and an accomplice had committed a string of robberies and while out drinking one night, a drunk man by the name of Charles Harrison, approached them asking if he could buy them drinks and if either of the men could drive to pick up a woman. The three got in the Harrison's car, but instead of driving to the Muscatine, Iowa as instructed, Fitterer drove towards Fort Madison. In a back road, Harrison and Fitterer got into an argument about a bottle of whiskey prompting Fitterer to get out of the car and shoot Harrison in the head, before entering the car and shooting him again. He then robbed the man of his watch and cash before he and his accomplice dumped a still alive Harrison, into a gutter. He was arrested on June 21, 1953 in Oakland, California, by the FBI and California State Patrol. A citizen had reported him to FBI Headquarters after identifying him from a True Detective Mysteries radio broadcast. ||||
| John Raleigh Cooke | #54 | June 22, 1953 | Four months |
| John Raleigh Cooke, a longtime criminal, was wanted for kidnapping and armed robbery. On September 4, 1953 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, four gunman entered the home of an elderly man, held him, his housekeeper, and her 4-year old daughter hostage at gunpoint, while ransacking the home looking for a safe. Three of the gunman then took the man to a cafe he owned to rob his store safe. The next day, three of the gunman left to Lowell, Massachusetts and robbed a hotel bar. During the robbery one of the patrons escaped while a gunman's shotgun misfired. They fled back to the Chelmsford home, bound the housekeeper, and fled. Cooke was arrested the same morning for having a concealed weapon and was released on a $1,000 bond. The police then figured out Cooke was one of the four gunman involved in the kidnapping. He was arrested on October 20, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan, as he descended for lunch from a roof on a construction project where he was working as a welder. Upon arrest, Cooke stated it was a relief to be caught as he knew from newspaper articles he was on the FBI’s list of “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” and distance would not aid him in his flight. ||||
| Jack Gordon White | #55 | July 6, 1953 | Two months |
| Jack Gordon White was wanted for armed robbery and other crimes. On August 27, 1953, White was recognized by a police officer who remembered him from an Identification Order. FBI and police were called to the area of downtown Seattle, Washington. After determining the make of the vehicle he was driving, FBI agents were able to locate him. A traffic stop was made, and White was apprehended without incident. ||||
| Alex Richard Bryant | #56 | July 14, 1953 | Seven months |
| Alex Richard Bryant, a longtime criminal and convicted rapist, was wanted for escaping prison where he was serving a life term for armed robbery. He threatened to slit the throat of a guard he held hostage in a prison station wagon. He then stripped both the driver and the guard of their belongings and drove away with the car. He was arrested on January 26, 1954 in Los Angeles, California, due to an FBI investigation. ||||
| George William Krendich | #57 | July 22, 1953 | Three months |
| George William Krendich was wanted for murder. He strangled to death a pregnant woman and weighed her body down before throwing the body into a creek. In October 1953, he was found dead in an abandoned Jeep in a wooded area of Dunn County, North Dakota. The cause of death was suicide from asphyxiation of carbon monoxide fumes, which were piped in from the exhaust into his closed car. ||||
| Lloyd Reed Russell | #58 | September 8, 1953 | One year |
| Lloyd Reed Russell, a long time criminal, was wanted for escaping prison. During his first escape, he was serving 3 to 37 years for grand larceny and burglary. He and another inmate scaled a high tension wire, stole a vehicle, ran multiple police barricades and had shootouts with police. During one of the shootouts, he injured a police officer and was sentenced to 10 years. While serving time for the shooting three years later, he and seven other inmates, got a hold of a acetylene torch and other tools, overpowered two guards, and cut through a cell block window. He was killed during a gun battle with local police officers in Spokane, Washington on August 3, 1954. ||||
| Edwin Sanford Garrison | #59 | October 26, 1953 | One week |
| Edwin Sanford Garrison, a.k.a. the "Human Adding Machine" because of his genius in math, was a longtime criminal, wanted for escaping prison in Alabama where he was serving time for robbery, burglary, larceny, and murder. In November 1953, He was arrested in Detroit, Michigan, without incident after a citizen recognized his photograph in a newspaper article. He was also #112 on the list. ||||
| Franklin James Wilson | #60 | November 2, 1953 | Three months |
| Franklin James Wilson was wanted for armed robbery. During an interview following his arrest in Chicago, Illinois in January 1954, Wilson blamed the extensive publicity surrounding his addition to the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list for his quick capture. ||||
| Charles E. Johnson | #61 | November 12, 1953 | One month |
| Charles E. Johnson was wanted for robbing a bank while out on parole, where he and two accomplices then robbed another bank robber. He was arrested on December 28, 1953 in Central Islip, Long Island, New York, after a citizen recognized him from a magazine article in the November 14, 1953, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. ||||
| Thomas Jackson Massingale | #62 | November 18, 1953 | Eight days |
| Thomas Jackson Massingale was wanted for escaping prison where he assaulted two guards and escaped in a stolen vehicle. He was arrested on November 26, 1953 in Las Vegas, New Mexico, after a citizen recognized him from a photograph in the November 24, 1953 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. ||||
| Peter Edward Kenzik | #63 | December 7, 1953 | One year |
| Peter Edward Kenzik, a longtime criminal since the age of 15, was wanted for stabbing to death his ex-wife and brutally wounding her 75-year old grandmother. Ironically, 12 years prior, he was convicted of stabbing his first wife and sentenced to 20 years. He had a history of frenzied knife attacks and was also a convicted sex offender. He was arrested on January 26, 1955 in San Diego, California, for drunkenness. A gun was found in his possession, and a routine fingerprint check identified Kenzik. ||||
| Thomas Everett Dickerson | #64 | December 10, 1953 | Two weeks |
| Thomas Everett Dickerson, a.k.a. the "Tattooed Bandit", was wanted for escaping jail with three other inmates, which included his uncle. He was arrested on December 21, 1953, in Verdunville, West Virginia by the FBI and the West Virginia State Patrol, due to an FBI investigation. ||||

### Year 1959
## End of the decade

By the end of the decade, the following fugitives were remaining at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list:
| Name | Sequence number | Date of entry |
| Frederick J. Tenuto | #14 | 1950 |
| James Eddie Diggs | #36 | 1952 |
| David Daniel Keegan | #78 | 1954 |
| Eugene Francis Newman | #97 | 1956 |
| Angelo Luigi Pero | #107 | 1958 |
| Charles Everett Hughes | #364 | 1978 |
| Edwin Sanford Garrison | #112 | 1959 |

## FBI directors in the 1950s

* J. Edgar Hoover (1935–1972)