FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s


The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2000s is a list, maintained for a sixth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2000s, 36 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 494 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 463 have been captured or located.

FBI headlines in the 2000s

The 2000s started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the "Trilogy" project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File planned for completion in 2003, was officially abandoned in 2005, after more than $100 million spent. A new, more ambitious investigation software project, Sentinel, was introduced in 2005 as a replacement for the failed VCF system.
In 2001, Robert Hanssen, high within the Bureau, was caught selling information to the Russians, and Bureau security practices came into question.
In 2002 the FBI's official top priority became counter-terrorism, followed second by counterintelligence. The USA PATRIOT Act granted the FBI increased monitoring powers.
The 9/11 Commission in 2004 blamed the FBI in part for not pursuing intelligence reports which could have prevented the September 11, 2001 attacks. In consequence, the Bureau came under oversight by the new Director of National Intelligence.

FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 2000s

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.
The following fugitives made up the top Ten list to begin the 2000s:
NameSequence NumberDate of EntryNotes
Donald Eugene Webb#3751981Removed from the list on March 31, 2007. On July 14, 2017, remains found at the Dartmouth home of Webb's wife were identified as belonging to Webb. Investigators stated that Webb had died in 1999.
---
Victor Manuel Gerena#3861984Still at large.
Is wanted in connection with the 1983 armed robbery of approximately $7 million from a security company in Connecticut. He was removed from the list on December 15, 2016.
---
Arthur Lee Washington Jr.#4271989Removed from the list in December 2000 for no longer meeting the list criteria.
---
Agustín Vásquez Mendoza#4451996Captured
Vásquez was wanted in the murder of an undercover DEA special agent in Glendale, Arizona on June 30, 1994, during an undercover drug transaction, kidnapping, attempted armed robbery and assault in a drug conspiracy.
He was arrested in Mexico July 9, 2000.
---
Glen Stewart Godwin#4471996Still at large.
Godwin is being sought for his 1987 escape from Folsom State Prison in California, where he was serving a lengthy sentence for murder. Later he escaped from Mexican prison September 1991 after murdering a prison inmate in April 1991. As of May 19, 2016, he was no longer on the list.
---
Ramon Eduardo Arellano-Felix#4511997Killed
He was wanted in ordering a hit which resulted in the mass murder of 19 people in Ensenada September 17, 1998; charged in a sealed indictment in United States District Court for the Southern District of California, with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Marijuana in drug trafficking; one of the leaders of the Arellano-Felix Organization, which is also known as the Tijuana Cartel.
He was killed in a gun battle with police at Mazatlán February 10, 2002.
---
Eric Robert Rudolph#4541998Captured
Rudolph was wanted in a series of southeastern U.S. bombings, including a bombing murder at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on July 27, 1996.
Rudolph was arrested in Murphy, North Carolina on May 31, 2003.
---
James Charles Kopp#4551999Captured
He was wanted for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian at his home in Amherst, New York, October 23, 1998 and for non-fatal shootings of three doctors in Canada in 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Kopp was arrested in Dinan, Brittany, France, March 30, 2001 and is in U.S custody.
---
Usama bin Laden#4561999Killed
Osama bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda and was wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States embassies, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda is alleged to be responsible for the October 12, 2000, attack on the off the coast of Yemen.
Osama bin Laden was killed during Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.
---
James J. Bulger#4581999Captured
Bulger was wanted for his role in 18 murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
He was arrested June 22, 2011, in Santa Monica, California.

s since at least 2002, on both the FBI internet web site and in public presentations of the wanted posters.

FBI Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 2000s

The list of the most wanted fugitives listed during the 2000s fluctuated throughout the decade. As before, spots on the list were occupied by fugitives who had been listed in prior years, and still remained at large. The list includes :

2000–2003

2004–2009

End of the decade

As the decade closed, the following were still at large as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives:
NameSequence numberDate of entry
Victor Manuel Gerena#386May 14, 1984
Glen Stewart Godwin#447Dec 7, 1996
Usama bin Laden#456Jun 7, 1999
James J. Bulger#458Aug 19, 1999
Robert William Fisher#475Jun 29, 2002
Alexis Flores#487Jun 2, 2007
Jason Derek Brown#489Dec 8, 2007
Joe Luis Saenz#492Oct 19, 2009
Eduardo Ravelo#493Oct 20, 2009
Semion Mogilevich#494Oct 22, 2009

FBI directors in the 2000s