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(KSL News) Osama bin Laden, Ted Bundy, and Warren Jeffs. What do these men have in common? They've all claimed spots on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.
But what exactly does that mean? How do you make the list, and does placement help agents catch them?
Leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Warren Jeffs, has been one of America's most wanted fugitives for nearly a month.
Although FBI agents in Salt Lake City won't specify on the extent, officials say a substantial amount of agents and resources have been freed up since to deal with tips and leads on the high-profile fugitive.
Jeffs is wanted on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. So are nearly 27-hundred other people.
But putting Jeffs in the top 10 of that long list enables any FBI agent in the world to drop everything to assist in the manhunt. Otherwise, a fugitive sighting goes through a number of channels and eventually trickles down a to a case agent.
In addition to the fleeing charges, Jeffs is wanted in Utah and Arizona on charges he arranged polygamous marriages between teenage girls and older men. A 100-thousand dollar bounty is offered for information leading to his arrest.
Jeffs shares the notorious list with accused terrorists, mobsters, serial murderers, pedophiles and drug cartel leaders.
Most noteably on the list is Osama bin Laden, wanted in the 9-11 terrorist attacks and a 1998 bombing on two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed more than 200.
The oldest person on the list is 76-year-old James "Whitey" Bulger, wanted for more than a dozen murders in connection with his role as the leader of a Boston-based mafia ring.
Donald Webb, accused of killing a Pennsylvania police chief, has been on the list the longest-- since 1981.
The Ten Most Wanted list was created in 1950 when a reporter asked the FBI for the names of the "toughest guys" the agency wanted to capture.
So how do you make it onto the list? Indiviuals must have a lengthy criminal record and be considered a "menace to society." And, authorities must also believe added publicity will be helpful in capturing the fugitive.
In the 56 year history, 94 percent of the fugitives on the list have been captured.
