The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives

Guile · May 20, 2010

The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives
Nathan Vardi, Forbes.com
Posted: 20 May 2010 1758 hrs

Osama bin Laden (file pic)

They are armed, dangerous and very tough to catch. The world's worst thieves and thugs, they've eluded local police, armies and international organizations for years.

Since Forbes' Most Wanted Fugitives list first appeared in April 2008, not a single one of the world's most notorious criminals has been brought to justice. Just one of the bad guys on the original list has been safely removed from fugitive status: Pedro Antonio Marin, leader of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria Colombia, or FARC--he died of a heart attack.

Osama bin Laden tops the list of the world's most wanted fugitives for a second time, continuing, after eight years, to avoid the largest manhunt in world history. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said recently the U.S. does not have good intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts.

While the most wanted fugitives have evaded capture, one international criminal is making his first appearance on the Forbes Most Wanted. Two years ago Semion Mogilevich, the face of Russian organized crime, was in a Russian prison. Now he's been released and is believed to be living in or around Moscow. The Russian government has denied U.S. requests to bring Mogilevich to the U.S., where he faces criminal securities fraud charges.

Other fugitives on the list have not only remained free, some have arguably become more powerful. Joaquin Guzman, Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker, has extended his control over corridors used to smuggle cocaine into the U.S., as some of his rivals have fallen in the bloody war between the Mexican army and the cartels. India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, who heads the organized crime group D-Company, and Matteo Messina Denaro, an Italian mafia playboy, also appear to have consolidated control of their organizations.

"The world has gotten smaller, and there has been globalization of everything, including crime," says Bradley Bryant, the FBI's violent crimes unit chief, pointing to the bureau's offices in 75 cities around the world. "But the entire process of an international investigation takes longer. It can be a frustrating process and, sometimes, it is a lot slower than we would like it to be." Hector Gonzalez, an FBI supervisory special agent, is more blunt: "Many of these criminals are hiding behind governments for protection."

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have their own most wanted lists, which are domestic in nature. The FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, created in 1950, is certainly the most famous. The Forbes list is global in scope, taking into account the international nature of crime today.

Forbes consulted with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and around the world to identify its top 10. Everyone on the list has been criminally indicted or charged, some in national jurisdictions and some by international tribunals. They all are accused of a long history of committing serious crimes and are still considered dangerous. And each represents a type of criminal problem with which legal institutions in diverse jurisdictions are grappling.

Guile · May 20, 2010

James "Whitey" Bulger

Leader of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish-American crime family based in Boston that controlled the illicit drug trade and extortion rackets in South Boston. Bulger has shown how hard it can be to capture a criminal. The FBI has pursued Bulger for more than a decade for his alleged roles in numerous murders. His wealth is estimated between $30 million and $50 million and he has associated with major criminal enterprises throughout North America and Europe, including the Irish Republican Army. There have been rumors of Bulger being in Sicily and, recently, Canada. He is believed to be on the run with his longtime girlfriend, using the wealth and contacts he developed through his criminal operations to stay out of the reach of law enforcement.

Osama bin Laden

The most wanted man in the world has managed for eight years to avoid the largest manhunt in history. He is assumed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said in recent months that the U.S. does not have good intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts and it might be years before he is caught. Bin Laden is widely believed to be the man behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but he was first indicted in the U.S. in connection with a 1995 truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed Americans and for his role in the 1998 U.S embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. State Department is still offering $25 million for information leading to his capture.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Joaquin Guzman

The world's most notorious drug trafficker continues to become more powerful. Over the last two years he has extended his control over corridors in Mexico used to smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. Many of Guzman's rivals have fallen or been weakened amid the bloody war between the Mexican army and the cartels, which has resulted in thousands of deaths. Known as el Chapo, or shorty, Guzman heads Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The U.S. government has indicted Guzman and placed a $5 million bounty on his head. He escaped from prison in 2001 after Mexican courts ruled he could be extradited to the U.S.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Dawood Ibrahim

The most wanted man in India has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate known as D-Company. The organized crime group has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim shares smuggling routes with al Qaeda, the U.S. government says, and has collaborated with both al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help. Ibrahim is suspected of having organized the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed 257 people and wounded 713. Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Semion Mogilevich

The face of Russian organized crime was briefly arrested in 2008 in Russia amid accusations of tax evasion at a cosmetics retailer. As a result he was excluded from Forbes' first Most Wanted list. His lawyers said Mogilevich was innocent of the tax charges, and he was released in 2009. The U.S. has asked that he be handed over in connection with a $150 million stock fraud, but with no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Russia, there seems little chance of it. "We didn't look at this as purely a financial fraud but one of many activities of an organized crime group," says FBI Special Agent Michael Dixon, who adds Mogilevich has been linked to allegations ranging from murder-for-hire to weapons trafficking to possibly trafficking in nuclear materials.
Mogilevich has denied such accusations.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Matteo Messina Denaro

The Italian mafia remains the most famous organized criminal group, and Matteo Messina Denaro has taken control of it. Denaro, nicknamed "Diabolic," was only emerging as a leader of the Italian mafia following the capture of Bernardo Provenzano when Denaro appeared on the first Forbes Most Wanted list two years ago. Since then arrests of other top mafia men leave no doubt that he is the new boss. The Italian mafia's playboy, Denaro is known for living a fast lifestyle, driving Porches and fancying Rolex watches. Mafia Inc. is believed to have done very well amid Italy's economic downturn and has been described as Italy's biggest corporation. On the flip side, Italian authorities have recently been making some high-profile arrests, including that of Denaro's brother.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov

Originally from Uzbekistan, Tokhtakhounov is a big-time Russian mobster known as "Taiwanchik" for his Asian features. The U.S. government calls him a "major figure in international Eurasian Organized Crime" who has been involved in "drug distribution, illegal arms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles." He is suspected of fixing everything from beauty pageants to Olympic events in Utah. In 2002 the U.S. government indicted him for bribing Olympic figure skating judges. The U.S. tried to get him after he was arrested in Italy, but the Italians eventually freed Tokhtakhounov.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Felicien Kabuga

The most wanted man in Africa is accused of being the key financier behind one of the worst genocides in human history. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is seeking Kabuga for "serious offenses under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, crimes against humanity and genocide," in connection with the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandan men, woman and children in 100 days of terror in 1994. A U.S. official recently said the rich businessman was hiding in Kenya, but the Kenyan government strongly denied it. Last month Rwanda commemorated 16 years since the genocide, but 11 important perpetrators of the killings are still at large. Kabuga's radio station incited violence against Rwanda's Tutsi population. He also provided transportation, and machetes and hoes that were used as weapons.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Joseph Kony

The head of the Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla group trying to establish a theocratic government, Kony has driven the killing of civilians in Uganda and, more recently, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Under Kony the LRA has displaced 2 million people and Kony has directed the abduction of 60,000, including 30,000 children, forcing them to fight in his campaign of murder, rape, mutilation and sexual slavery. He reputedly forces children to murder their own parents as part of their initiation into his group. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, indicting Kony on 33 charges, including crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Guile · May 20, 2010

Omid Tahvili

Tahvili is the kingpin of a Persian organized crime family in Canada connected to various Triads and other global criminal groups. Known as Nino, Tahvili walked out the door of a maximum security prison in British Columbia in November 2007 after bribing a guard with the promise of $50,000. He was awaiting sentencing after being convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault. Tahvili, 39, had tortured a relative of someone he suspected stole $500,000 of his drug money. The U.S. government wants him for his alleged operation of a fraudulent telemarketing business that scammed $3 million from elderly American victims. The scamsters told victims they could win a lottery if they paid a bogus advance fee.

Guile · May 20, 2010