FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970s

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In the 1970s, for the third decade, the United States FBI continued 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 1970's decade in context, and then an historical list of indivdual suspects whose names first appeared on the 10 Most Wanted list during the decade of the 1970's.

FBI Directors in decade of 1970's

• J. Edgar Hoover ( –1972)
• Acting director: Clyde Tolson (May 2 – 3, 1972)
• Acting director: L. Patrick Gray (1972 – 1973)
• Acting director: William D. Ruckelshaus (1973)
• Clarence M. Kelley (1973 – 1978)
• Acting director: James B. Adams (1978)
• William H. Webster (1978- )

FBI Headlines in decade of 1970's

As a decade, the 1970's are marked by the passing of the Hoover era. The famous Director had formed and defined the Bureau for nearly a half century. And markedly, he was succeeded by a long list of short-term Directors throughout the Nixon-Ford-Carter era who could not match Hoover's larger persona. But eventually, Director William Webster brought stabilty to Bureau, through the later President Reagan era.

On the 1970's top 10 list, perhaps the most notable is the 2nd appearance of James Earl Ray, in 1977.

FBI Most Wanted Fugitives in decade of 1970's

The FBI in the past has identified individuals by the sequence number in which each individual has appeared on the list. Some individuals have even appeared twice, and often a sequence number was permanently assigned to an individual suspect 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 suspect's sequence number and date of entry on the FBI list appear below, whenever possible.

As the decade began, the following Fugitives were the FBI's Ten Most Wanted:

• 1965 #203 (five years), John William Clouser
• 1968 #265 (two years), Charles Lee Herron
• 1968 #279 (two years), Taylor Morris Teaford
• 1968 #282 (two years), Byron James Rice
• 1969 #298 (one year), Warren David Reddock
• 1969 #300 (one year), Cameron David Bishop
• 1969 #301 (one year), Marie Dean Arrington
• 1969 #302 (six months), Benjamin Hoskin Paddock
• 1969 #304 (three months), Joseph Lloyd Thomas arrested March 8, 1970

The tenth space had just opened up at the end of the year 1969, but was promptly filled by a new Top Tenner on the list in the first week of 1970.

The most wanted fugitives listed in the decade of the 1970's include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

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Year 1970

James John Byrnes

January 6, 1970 #305
Three months on the list
James John Byrnes ------------- US PRISONER arrested April 17, 1970 in Huntington Beach, California

Edmund James Delvin

March 20, 1970 #306
Five months on the list
Edmund James Delvin --------------- US PRISONER arrested August 15, 1970 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Lawrence Robert Plamondon

May 5, 1970 #307
Two months on the list
Lawrence Robert Plamondon ------------- US PRISONER arrested July 23, 1970 in Mackinae County, Michigan after being stopped by State police when an occupant of his van threw a can out of the van window. A routine license plate check through NCIC identified Plamondon.

Hubert Geroid Brown

May 6, 1970 #308
One year on the list
Hubert Geroid Brown -------------- US PRISONER captured October 16, 1971 during an armed robbery in New York City after being seriously wounded in a gunfight with local police

Angela Yvonne Davis

August 18, 1970 #309
Two months on the list
Angela Yvonne Davis --------------- currently the Presidential Chair and Professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz and director of the Feminist Studies department; was exonerated on all charges in 1972; was a US PRISONER held in Women's Detention Center in New York City; captured October 13, 1970 at a motel room in New York City; fled California and evaded the police for over two months; was charged in California with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide, due to her alleged participation in an escape attempt of George Jackson, a Black Panther Party member, from Marin County Hall of Justice during his trial, in which the judge, Harold Haley, was shot to death after being taken outside into a van

Dwight Allen Armstrong

September 4, 1970 #310
Six years on the list
Dwight Allen Armstrong ---------------- REMOVED from list April 1, 1976 because he no longer met the criteria

Karleton Lewis Armstrong

September 4, 1970 #311
Two years on the list
Karleton Lewis Armstrong ----------------- CANADIAN PRISONER apprehended February 16, 1972 in Toronto, Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

David Sylvan Fine

September 4, 1970 #312
Six years on the list
David Sylvan Fine -------------- US PRISONER arrested January 8, 1976 in San Rafael, California.

Leo Frederick Burt

September 4, 1970 #313
Six years on the list
Leo Frederick Burt ---------------- REMOVED from list April 7, 1976 because he no longer met the criteria

Bernardine Rae Dohrn

October 14, 1970 #314
Three years on the list
Bernardine Rae Dohrn -------------- PROCESS DISMISSED December 7, 1973

Katherine Ann Power

October 17, 1970 #315
Fourteen years on the list
Katherine Ann Power ---------------- REMOVED from list June 15, 1984 because she no longer met the criteria

Susan Edith Saxe

October 17, 1970 #316
Five years on the list
Susan Edith Saxe ------------- US PRISONER arrested March 27, 1975 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after a Philadelphia officer recognized her from a photo distributed by the FBI the same day

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Year 1971

As the year 1971 began, the Ten Most Wanted list was completely filled with the following long-time Fugitives, who persistently evaded capture, leading to the very first year in which the FBI found it impractical to add any new Fugitives to the top Ten list:

• 1965 #203 (six years), John William Clouser
• 1968 #265 (three years), Charles Lee Herron
• 1968 #279 (three years), Taylor Morris Teaford
• 1968 #282 (three years), Byron James Rice
• 1969 #298 (two years), Warren David Reddock arrested April 14, 1971
• 1969 #300 (two years), Cameron David Bishop
• 1969 #301 (two years), Marie Dean Arrington arrested December 22, 1971
• 1969 #302 (two years), Benjamin Hoskin Paddock
• 1970 #308 (one year), Hubert Geroid Brown captured October 16, 1971
• 1970 #310 (one year), Dwight Allen Armstrong
• 1970 #311 (one year), Karleton Lewis Armstrong
• 1970 #312 (one year), David Sylvan Fine
• 1970 #313 (one year), Leo Frederick Burt
• 1970 #314 (one year), Bernardine Rae Dohrn
• 1970 #315 (one year), Katherine Ann Power
• 1970 #316 (one year), Susan Edith Saxe

In fact, in 1970 the FBI had packed the list with an extraordinary number of "Special Additions" of whom most evaded capture. Consequently, the 1971 list opened with a total of sixteen Wanted Fugitives at large, nearly twice as many as would typically appear on the list at any other given time.

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Year 1972

By the end of the year 1971, three of the listed Wanted Fugitives had been captured, bringing the opening 1972 list down to a still extraordinarily large number of thirteen Fugitives. Due to further removals from the list in 1972, the FBI found justification to finally list a single new Fugitive late that year.

Mace Brown

October 20, 1972 #317
Six months on the list
Mace Brown (fugitive) -------------- KILLED by police officers in a bank robbery shootout April 18, 1973 in New York City during which the bank robbers took hostages; he was possibly a namesake of Mace Stanley Brown (1909 - 2002), a pitcher in Major League Baseball 1935 through 1946, for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1935 - 1941)

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Year 1973

Herman Bell

May 9, 1973 #318
Four months on the list
Herman Bell --------------- US PRISONER arrested September 2, 1973 in New Orleans, Louisiana by FBI and local officers

Twymon Ford Myers

September 28, 1973 #319
Two months on the list
Twymon Ford Myers ----------- KILLED in shootout November 14, 1973 in the Bronx, New York during a shootout with the FBI and the New York Police Department

Ronald Harvey

December 7, 1973 #320
Three months on the list
Ronald Harvey ------------- US PRISONER arrested March 27, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois

Samuel Richard Christian

December 7, 1973 #321
Five days on the list
Samuel Richard Christian -------------- US PRISONER arrested December 12, 1973 in Detroit, Michigan

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Year 1974

Rudolph Alonza Turner

January 10, 1974 #322
Nine months on the list
Rudolph Alonza Turner ------------- US PRISONER arrested October 1, 1974 in Jacksonville, Florida by FBI Agents. He told arresting agents, "I knew you'd get me sooner or later."

Larry Gene Cole

April 2, 1974 #323
One day on the list
Larry Gene Cole ---------------- US PRISONER April 3, 1974 accompanied by his wife and the kidnap victim when apprehended near Buffalo, New York. When Cole was first approached he claimed to be part of the Special Investigation, Department of Justice.

James Ellsworth Jones

April 16, 1974 #324
Two months on the list
James Ellsworth Jones ------------- US PRISONER arrested June 15, 1974 in Coral Gables, Florida after an off-duty police officer recognized Jones from an FBI Wanted Notice in the police department.

Lendell Hunter

June 7, 1974 #325
Three weeks on the list
Lendell Hunter ---------------- US PRISONER arrested July 31, 1974 in Des Moines, Iowa

John Edward Copeland

August 15, 1974 #326
One year on the list
John Edward Copeland ---------------- US PRISONER apprehended July 23, 1975 due to citizen cooperation, in Dorchester, Massachusetts after riding his bicycle home

Melvin Dale Walker

October 16, 1974 #327
Three weeks on the list
Melvin Dale Walker ----------------- US PRISONER apprehended November 9, 1974 in Virginia Beach, Virginia after entering a house staked out by Agents on the inside and outside of the house. He attempted to escape by car but was arrested.

Thomas Otis Knight

December 12, 1974 #328
Two weeks on the list
Thomas Otis Knight ---------------- US PRISONER arrested December 31, 1974 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Though heavily armed and barricaded behind a door in a rooming house, he was overwhelmed by the FBI Swat Team.

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Year 1975

Billy Dean Anderson

January 21, 1975 #329
Four years on the list
Billy Dean Anderson -------------- US PRISONER arrested July 7, 1979 in Pall Mall, Tennessee during a shootout. The lead was based on information from an informant known as "Mountain Man."

Robert Gerald Davis

April 4, 1975 #330
Two years on the list
Robert Gerald Davis -------------- US PRISONER arrested August 5, 1977 in Venice, California

Richard Dean Holtan

April 18, 1975 #331
Three months on the list
Richard Dean Holtan ----------- US PRISONER surrendered July 12, 1975 to local authorities in Kauai, Hawaii

Richard Bernard Lindhorst, Jr.

August 4, 1975 #332
Three days on the list
Richard Bernard Lindhorst, Jr. ------------- US PRISONER arrested August 7, 1975 in Pensacola, Florida by FBI Agents and local police

William Lewis Herron, Jr.

August 15, 1975 #333
Two months on the list
William Lewis Herron, Jr. ------------- US PRISONER arrested October 30, 1975 in Peoria, Illinois

James Winston Smallwood

August 29, 1975 #334
Four months on the list
James Winston Smallwood ---------------- US PRISONER arrested December 5, 1975 in Landover, Maryland after being located in the trunk of a vehicle used in a bank robbery in Maryland

Leonard Peltier

December 22, 1975 #335
Two months on the list
Leonard Peltier ---------------- has become an infamous cause celébre of the American Indian Movement (AIM), for alleged irregularities in his trial; was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the execution-type murders of two US FBI Agents; CANADIAN PRISONER arrested February 6, 1976 in Hinton, Alberta, Canada by Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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Year 1976

Patrick James Huston

March 3, 1976 #336
One year on the list
Patrick James Huston ------------- US PRISONER arrested December 7, 1977 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Thomas Edward Bethea

March 5, 1976 #337
Two months on the list
Thomas Edward Bethea -------------- US PRISONER arrested by FBI upon his arrival in Miami; arrested May 5, 1976 in the Bahamas by Bahamas authorities

Anthony Michael Juliano

March 15, 1976 #338
One week on the list
Anthony Michael Juliano -------------- US PRISONER arrested March 22, 1976 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia after a metermaid recognized him in a parked car

Joseph Maurice McDonald

April 1, 1976 #339
Six years on the list
Joseph Maurice McDonald ------------ US PRISONER arrested September 15, 1982 in Penn Station in New York City by local police

James Ray Renton

April 7, 1976 #340
One year on the list
James Ray Renton --------------- US PRISONER arrested May 9, 1977 in Aurora, Colorado

Nathaniel Doyle, Jr.

April 29, 1976 #341
Three months on the list
Nathaniel Doyle, Jr. --------------------- KILLED in shootout July 15, 1976 with local police in Seattle, Washington

Morris Lynn Johnson

May 25, 1976 #342
One month on the list
Morris Lynn Johnson ---------------- US PRISONER taken into custody June 26, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana after trying to run away along a canal bank

Richard Joseph Picariello

July 29, 1976 #343
Three months on the list
Richard Joseph Picariello -------------- US PRISONER arrested October 21, 1976 in Fall River, Massachusetts

Edward Patrick Gullion

August 13, 1976 #344
Two months on the list
Edward Patrick Gullion ---------------- US PRISONER arrested October 22, 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island where he was employed at a jewelry store

Gerhardt Julius Schwartz

November 18, 1976 #345
Four days on the list
Gerhardt Julius Schwartz -------------- US PRISONER arrested November 22, 1976 in the Bronx section of New York City after the police received a tip from a telephone call from New Rochelle, New York

Francis John Martin

December 17, 1976 #346
Two months on the list
Francis John Martin ----------- US PRISONER arrested February 17, 1977 in Newport Beach, California after a tip from a telephone call

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Year 1977

Benjamin George Pavan

January 12, 1977 #347
One month on the list
Benjamin George Pavan ------------ US PRISONER arrested February 17, 1977 in Seattle, Washington after a tip from a telephone call

Larry Gene Campbell

March 18, 1977 #348
Six months on the list
Larry Gene Campbell -------------- US PRISONER arrested September 6, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia after a neighbor recognized him from a Wanted Flyer in the local post office

Roy Ellsworth Smith

March 18, 1977 #349
Three months on the list
Roy Ellsworth Smith ---------------- SUICIDE by hanging found June 2, 1977 in Perry Township, Ohio by the Lake County Sheriff's Department of Painesville, Ohio

Raymond Luc Levasseur

May 5, 1977 #350 #350
Seven years on the list
Raymond Luc Levasseur ---------- US PRISONER arrested November 4, 1984 in Deerfield, Ohio by FBI Agents while driving in his car with his common-law wife and their three children

James Earl Ray

June 11, 1977 #351
Two days on the list
James Earl Ray ---------- 2ND APPEARANCE ON THE LIST, was also #277 from 1968 for assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; after June 10 escape with 6 other convicts from state prison, he was apprehended not far from the prison in Brushy Mountain, Tennessee on June 13, 1977. Using bloodhounds, the prison authorities found Ray hiding beneath some leaves in a wooded area

Willie Foster Sellers

June 14, 1977 #352
Two years on the list
Willie Foster Sellers ------------- US PRISONER arrested June 20, 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia upon his arrival at the Delta Airlines Freight Dock

Larry Smith

July 15, 1977 #353
One month on the list
Larry Smith (fugitive) --------------- US PRISONER arrested August 20, 1977 in Toronto, Canada by the Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario Canada Police Force. He was pulled over for illegally driving past a street car's open door. Smith was identified by his fingerprints and delivered to American authorities.

Ralph Robert Cozzolino

October 19, 1977 #354
Three months on the list
Ralph Robert Cozzolino ------------- US PRISONER arrested January 6, 1978 in Jonesboro, Georgia

Millard Oscar Hubbard

October 19, 1977 #355
Two days on the list
Millard Oscar Hubbard ---------------- US PRISONER arrested October 21, 1977 in Lexington, Kentucky after a tip from area residents

Carlos Alberto Torres

October 19, 1977 #356
Three years on the list
Carlos Alberto Torres (fugitive) ----------------- US PRISONER arrested April 4, 1980 after a car rental agency reported a stolen van to the police. Torres was arrested in Evanston, Illinois after area residents noticed a suspicious van parked in the neighborhood and contacted the police

Enrique Estrada

December 5, 1977 #357
Three days on the list
Enrique Estrada (fugitive) --------------- US PRISONER arrested December 8, 1977 in Bakersfield, California by the Narcotics Task Force of the Kern County Sheriff's Office. Narcotics officers had been following a suspect known as "Hank" and after seeing Wanted Flyers realized he was Estrada.

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Year 1978

William David Smith

February 10, 1978 #358
Eight months on the list
William David Smith -------------- US PRISONER arrested October 27, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois due to a telephone tip.

Gary Ronald Warren

February 10, 1978 #359
Three months on the list
Gary Ronald Warren -------------- US PRISONER arrested May 12, 1978 in Cumberland, Maryland by the FBI and local police

Ted Bundy

February 10, 1978 #360
Four days on the list
Theodore Robert Bundy ------------- DECEASED US PRISONER arrested by local police February 14, 1978 in Pensacola, Florida after he was stopped for speeding while driving a stolen vehicle, and NCIC came back with a hit; was wanted for twice escaping from jail, June 9, 1977 and December 1977, while being held on murder charge; sociopath serial rapist and killer throughout the 1970's

Andrew Evan Gipson

March 27, 1978 #361
Two months on the list
Andrew Evan Gipson --------------- US PRISONER May 24, 1978 in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Anthony Dominic Liberatore

May 24, 1978 #362
One year on the list
Anthony Dominic Liberatore ------------- US PRISONER arrested April 1, 1979 in Eastlake, Ohio by FBI Agents and local police, while he was in bed alone in a house considered "safe" by organized crime in the area

Michael George Thevis

July 10, 1978 #363
Four months on the list
Michael George Thevis ----------- US PRISONER arrested November 9, 1978 arrested in Bloomfield, Connecticut by FBI Agents and local police; was called "The King of Pornography"

Charles Everett Hughes

November 19, 1978 #364
Three years on the list
Charles Everett Hughes -------------- US PRISONER arrested April 29, 1981 in Myrtle, Mississippi by FBI Agents and local police while working in a car repair shop

Ronald Lee Lyons

December 17, 1978 #365
Nine months on the list
Ronald Lee Lyons ------------ US PRISONER arrested September 10, 1979 in Hungry Valley, Nevada by FBI Agents and the Washoe County Sheriff's department

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Year 1979

Leo Joseph Koury

April 20, 1979 #366
Twelve years on the list
Leo Joseph Koury ----------------- FOUND DEAD June 16, 1991 in San Diego, California from massive cerebral vascular hypertension

John William Sherman

August 3, 1979 #367
Two years on the list
John William Sherman ------------ US PRISONER arrested December 17, 1981 in Golden, Colorado while he was getting into his car outside his residence

Melvin Bay Guyon

August 9, 1979 #368
One week on the list
Melvin Bay Guyon ------------- US PRISONER surrendered August 16, 1979 after a short gun battle with FBI Agents in Youngstown, Ohio, at Southside General Hospital where he was seeking medical attention

George Alvin Bruton

September 28, 1979 #369
Three months on the list
George Alvin Bruton ------------- US PRISONER arrested December 14, 1979 at Ft. Smith, Arkansas

Earl Edwin Austin

October 12, 1979 #370
Five months on the list
Earl Edwin Austin ------------ US PRISONER arrested March 1, 1980 in his apartment in Tucson, Arizona; while robbing a bank while armed, Austin bragged of being a Top Tenner

Vincent James Russo

December 24, 1979 #371
Six years on the list
Vincent James Russo --------------- US PRISONER arrested January 4, 1985 at his home in Beaver Falls, Idaho

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By the end of the decade, the following Fugitives were remaining at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list:

• 1968 #265 (twelve years), Charles Lee Herron
• 1970 #315 (ten years), Katherine Ann Power
• 1976 #339 (four years), Joseph Maurice McDonald
• 1977 #350 (three years), Raymond Luc Levasseur
• 1977 #356 (three years), Carlos Alberto Torres arrested April 4, 1980
• 1978 #364 (two years), Charles Everett Hughes
• 1979 #366 (one year), Leo Joseph Koury
• 1979 #367 (one year), John William Sherman
• 1979 #370 (five months), Earl Edwin Austin arrested March 1, 1980
• 1979 #371 (one month), Vincent James Russo

See also

Later entries

• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by decade, 2000's
• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by decade, 1990's
• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by decade, 1980's

Prior entries

• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by decade, 1960's
• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by decade, 1950's

References

External links

• [Current FBI top ten most wanted fugitives at FBI site]
• [FBI pdf source document listing all Ten Most Wanted year by year (removed by FBI)]

 

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