Exposing The 10 Most Wanted
Known as the most notorious list in the world, the FBIÂ's 10 Most Wanted List has a long history of making unknown fugitives into well-known captives.
The list used to hang on post office walls. Now, itÂ's a cyberlist you can find on the Internet.
But the best exposure comes through the media, on the news and on the syndicated program, AmericaÂ's Most Wanted.
Author and FBI historian Ronald Kessler told CBS This Morning that the list is a brilliant publicity scheme concocted by the FBI.
"The media need a news hook to put a story on the air, put a story in a newspaper. And thatÂ's what this list gives the news media," Kessler said.
The list includes the most sought-after criminals: Osama bin laden, the international terrorist wanted for ordering the attacks on American embassies in East Africa, and Eric Robert Rudolph, the suspected bomber who is the prime suspect in two abortion clinic attacks.
And now Rafael Resendez-Ramirez has become part of that select, infamous group.
Kessler said deciding who gets on the list is like deciding who should be on the front page of a newspaper.
"It is a matter of judgment," Kessler said. "The FBI looks at the most menacing individuals and also makes a determination about whether putting this person on a list would actually help to apprehend the person."
Kessler added that there is a lobbying effort that goes into getting someone on the list. He said every case agent wants his suspect to be one of the 10 Most Wanted because of the resources that are devoted to catching those criminals.
"Case agents try to persuade the unit that makes this decision, that this person is most worthy of being on this list," Kessler said.
The 10 Most Wanted has been one of the FBIÂ's most effective crime-fighting tools, and it all started by chance, reports CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Thalia Assuras.
Back in 1950, a reporter asked J. Edgar Hoover to name some of AmericaÂ's most dangerous fugitives. The FBI director named 10. The article attracted so much attention that it launched the Most Wanted List.
Since the early days, itÂ's become a whoÂ's who of terror.
In 1968, James Earl Ray made the list when he assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was captured after he was on the list for just six days in 1978. Another serial killer, Andrew Cunanan, was more elusive, but the FBI eventually got their man after a summer-long manhunt that ended in suicide.