Armed and Dangerous: FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
Jessica Cortez Quick Links
Let the Hunter Games never end until all human predators are captured. This month marks the 64th anniversary one of the world’s most iconic lists: the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On March 14, 1950, a reporter for the International News Service, precursor of UPI, publicizes the FBI’s “toughest guys” on the run. The rest is the historic FBI Ten Most WantedFugitives list and all offshoots. As of June 19, 2013, 500 fugitives make the TMW list. As of March 26, the FBI adds accused mother-and-child killer Juan Elias Garcia, No. 501, to the list. The list's proving to be a formidable alliance between law enforcement and the public. “It started as a hook—a media tool,” says Lee Marsan, specialist: FBI Office of Public Affairs. And the tool works. To date, the FBI’s arrested 470 of 500 fugitives, 156 “as a direct result of citizen cooperation,” according to the FBI website. “Wanted” posters remain the list’s main “hook.” TMW posters feature mug shots--some aged electronically to indicate the passage of months, years, and decades. Mug shots are not just smudgy, bad photos, though. Often they depict the ignominious physiognomy of human predators, the last faces victims see on earth. Here’s the current line-up, in the order they appear on the TMW list. Let’s never forget these faces:
10. ARMED ROBBER, HOSTAGE TORMENTOR: VICTOR MANUEL GERENA, No. 368
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Victor Manuel Gerena, on the run for robbery and theft.
The face of Victor Manuel Gerena shows the strain of three decades on the run. The FBI is offering a whopping $1,000,000 reward for information leading to TMW’s most recalcitrant fugitive, wanted for armed robbery and theft. Gerena’s timeline to crime gets into gear with the 1983 heist of a Connecticut security company. Gerena allegedly bindfolds, handcuffs, holds-at-gunpoint, and disables-by-injection two of the company’s employees. Gerena makes off with $7,000,000. His TMW mug-montage depicts him, progressively, without a beard; with a beard; with a beard, hang-dog jowls, and balding head. Gerena's been on the run so long the FBI is offering up to a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
9. WIFE AND CHILD SLAYER: ROBERT WILLIAM FISHER, No. 475
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Robert William Fisher, on the run for triple murder and arson.
Family man, outdoorsman, churchgoer, paragon-of-virtue Robert William Fisher knows both sides of sin. He seems to prefer the bad side. He’s on the run for triple murder and arson. Fisher’s timeline to crime starts when his parents’ divorce apparently hardens him. As a married man, he psychologically abuses his wife Mary. Torn, he wants to stay married but takes a prostitute girlfriend. Mary’s demands for divorce perplex and vex him. On April 10, 2001, after a terrible domestic dispute, Fisher allegedly shoots his wife and slits her throat in their Scottsdale, Arizona, home. He slits the throats of their two young children, Brittney and Bobby. But he isn’t done. He disconnects a gas line intending an inferno will immolate the evidence hours later. Authorities find it, though: three bloody, accelerant-soaked, burned bodies. Fisher flees with ties to New Mexico and Florida. With a hurt back, he walks “with an exaggerated erect posture,” according to his poster. Reward: Up to $100,000.
8. FRIEND SNUFFER: GLEN STEWART GODWIN, No. 477
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Glen Stewart Godwin, on the run for robbery and murder.
Glen Stewart Godwin may be the Handyman from Hell. The FBI’s on the hunt for Godwin, on the run for robbery and murder. Godwin’s timeline to crime starts a quarter-century ago. In 1980, tool salesman, mechanic, construction worker Godwin along with roommate Frank Soto lure Kim LeValley, friend and drug dealer, to their Palm Springs, California, condo. Here, Soto and Godwin beat and choke LeValley. Godwin then stabs him with a butcher knife a horrific 26 times. The two strap the body with makeshift dynamite. They stuff it in a truck that they light ablaze in the dessert. The truck with LeValley's remains is later found and both killers get life sentences. But Goodwin, a Hacksaw Houdini, saws his way out of Folsom Prison. Later, in a Mexican prison on drug charges, Godwin kills a cartel member. He makes another break and makes tracks. Authorities posit Godwin’s traffics drugs in Latin America under aliases Dennis Harold McWilliams, Nigel Lopez, and Miguel Carrera. Per his mug shot montage, Godwin’s swarthy, satanic looks seem to be fading. Reward: Up to $100,000.
7. PRECIOUS ANGEL STRANGLER: ALEXIS FLORES, No. 487
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Alex Flores, on the run for sexual assault and murder.
Lizasuain DeJesus still cries through press interviews. “I want my justice,” she tells the media. The FBI is on the hunt for Alex Flores, wanted in the sexual assault and murder of Iriana DeJesus, 5. Flores’s timeline to crime commences in late July of 2000, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Allegedly, Flores, an itinerant, baby-faced handyman, gains enough trust so his new employer gives him a key to an apartment. Sadly, little Iriana trusts him, too, enough to hold his hand and walk away with him, to that apartment. The young victim is subsequently sexually assaulted and killed by strangulation. In early August, authorities find Iriana’s body stuffed in a trash bag, reportedly shoved under wallpaper scraps. An incomprehensibly callous Flores flees. But then, Flores’s 2004 arrest for forgery links his DNA to the murder. Flores flees again, now possibly aided and abetted in his home country, Honduras. Aliases include Mario Flores, Mario Roberto Flores, Mario F. Roberto, Alex Contreras, and Alesis Contreras. Flores has a facial mole, or bump, and a neck scar. Reward: Up to $100,000.
6. AMBUSH-MURDERER, SEAN PENN LOOK-ALIKE: JASON DEREK BROWN, No. 489
REWARD: Up to $200,000 for information leading to the arrest of Jason Derek Brown, on the run for robbery and murder.
Authorities once mistake Sean Penn’s double to be wanted murderer Jason Derek Brown, but realize their honest error. The resemblance is uncanny. Brown, with surfboard in tow, seems the good-vibrations surfer-dude. He speaks French and throws money around until it is gone. His aliases, Brown and Johnson, are pretty generic. A facile charade? The FBI is indeed on the hunt for the real Brown, wanted for armed robbery and first-degree murder. Brown’s timeline to crime begins when he shoots up a bystander--a truck--at a gun school; trainers dub the incompetent “obnoxious.” But apparently Brown’s finger still itches for the trigger. On November 29, 2004, in Phoenix, Arizona, Brown pumps five of six rounds into the cranium of Robert Keith Palomares, an armored truck guard. Brown steals a bag with $56,000 and flees. The conundrum to Brown’s capture: he’s so easy to spot that he’s hard to spot. Leads pour in on Brown because he blends in so well. He has ties to California, Arizona, Utah, France, and Mexico; this fugitive’s possibly armed to the gills. Reward: Up to $200,000.
5. RACKETEER, PROFITEER: EDUARDO "TABLAS" RAVELO, No. 493
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Eduardo Ravelo, on the run for racketeering and trafficking.
The FBI’s well aware of “work done” to disguise the alleged perpetrator with the plastic prints, Eduardo “Tablas” Ravelo. According to federal authorities, Ravelo may have altered his look via plastic surgery, including fingertips to disguise his fingerprints. He’s on the run for racketeering and trafficking. Ravelo’s timeline to crime is a blur. Through bullying and betrayal, reportedly, Ravelo crawls on all fours to the top of the Barrio Azteca gang. This infamous syndicate commits crimes like arson, assault, auto theft, contract killing, extortion, illegal immigration, kidnapping, money laundering, murder, prostitution, racketeering, human and drug trafficking. His aliases include Tablas, 2x4, Lumberman, Boards. Obviously, they refer to wooden weapons, not tables and chairs. He's also known as "Pelon," which rhymes with "melon." Reward: Up to $100,000.
4. DIRTY LAUNDERER: "SEVA" SEMION MOGILEVICH, No. 494
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Semion Mogilevich, on the run for fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and more.
This Alfred Hitchcock dead-ringer keeps three chins—count ’em—and countless cloak-and-dagger crimes of a consummate corporate chimera under wraps ’neath a respectable coat and cravat. He’s on the run for a long laundry list of ring-around-the-white collar charges: Fraud by Wire; RICO Conspiracy; Mail Fraud; Money Laundering Conspiracy; Money Laundering; Aiding and Abetting; Securities Fraud; Filing False Registration With the SEC; False Filings With the SEC; Falsification of Books and Records. His alias list is equally esoteric: Seva Moguilevich, Semon Yudkovich Palagnyuk, Semen Yukovich Telesh, Simeon Mogilevitch, Semjon Mogilevcs, Shimon Makelwitsh, Shimon Makhelwitsch, Sergei Yurevich Schnaider, Seva. With whitish facial hair, Seva Claus looks like Evil Santa, a taker not a giver. He's known as "The Billion Dollar Don" for all the dirty money he's duped. He travels with Russian, Greek, Israeli, Ukranian passports; his primary residence is in Russia. Reward: Up to $100,000.
3. ‘LADY-KILLER': FIDEL URBINA, No. 497
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Fidel Urbina, on the run for sexual assault and murder.
Urbana calls himself "Tonorio.” The misnomer may offer insight. The word “Tenorio” means “lady-killer,” as it turns out. Does Fidel Urbina harbor delusions of Don Juan-deur? Do women pay the price if they reject him? This much is true: Urbina’s wanted for kidnapping, sexual assault and murder. Urbina’s timeline to crime begins in March 1998, when Urbina, a car mechanic, allegedly sexually assaults a Chicago woman in his garage, her car, and her apartment; she escapes by running nude into the street, screaming, and flagging down a cop. Right before Urbina's trial for the assault, a judge lets him walk on bail, the laxity possibly dooming the next victim. In October of that year, Urbina allegedly sexually assaults and murders Gabriella Torres, also of Chicago. Urbana reportedly douses her body with gasoline and sets her car ablaze in an alley. Possibly hiding out in Mexico, Urbina still poses a threat to women, authorities believe. “Wherever he is . . . women are in danger there,” warns FBI Special Agent Pablo Araya. Urbina’s scarred glare indeed terrifies. Reward: Up to $100,000.
2. MURDERER, CHILD TERRORIZER: JOSE MANUEL GARCIA GUEVARA, No. 499
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Jose Manuel Garcia Guevara, wanted for sexual assault and murder.
G-Men are on the hunt for self-appointed J-Man Jose Manuel Garcia Guevara. He’s to answer for crimes so evil they defy human comprehension. Guevara’s timeline to crime erupts on Feb. 19, 2008. A man—authorities believe is Guevara--bursts into the Barton home. He sexually assaults and stabs Wanda Barton 16 times in front of her stepson. “He came into my house and stole my wife,” Kevin Barton, Wanda’s husband, tells the media. As reported on the American Press website, so asks Sheriff Tony Mancuso of Calcasieu Parish, Lake Charles, Louisiana: “What worse criminal can you get than somebody who murders somebody, sexually assaults them and kills them in front of their four-year-old son? It just doesn’t get a whole lot worse than that.” No, it doesn’t. Mancuso laments Guevara’s second-degree murder charge, meted because Mexico does not extradite defendants facing death. Now, Guevara’s mug peers from the TMW line-up, for the world to see and study. “Guevara has a tattoo of the letter ‘J’ on his shoulder,” notes the TMW poster. He’s known as “Pelon” for his bald, melon head. Reward: Up to $100,000.
1. MS-13 MOTHER-AND-SON EXECUTIONER: JUAN ELIAS GARCIA, No. 501
REWARD: Up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Juan Elias Garcia, wanted for murder, gang-related crimes.
Little Juan Elias Garcia’s big crimes push the TMW list past the 500 mark. At 5’4” and 125 pounds, Garcia goes by the nickname “Cruzito,” a derivative of “cruz,” or cross. “Little Cross” brings ghastly and blasphemous new meaning to the word, as he is the alleged crucifier. Reportedly, girlfriend Vanessa Argueta, with ties to a rival gang, makes the mistake of crossing Garcia, a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang, “MS-13,” in an argument. Garcia retaliates. On February 5, 2010, in Central Islip, New York, Garcia kidnaps mother-and-son, takes them to a wooded area, and shoots them, execution-style, in the head and chest. But now Cruzito’s crossed paths with hunters of the hunter. He’s on the run for Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Discharge of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence; Causing the Death of Another Through the Use of a Firearm. On March 26, 2014, the FBI names him No. 501 on the TMW list. Says George Venizelos, FBI New York Field Office assistant director: “Garcia’s callous disregard for human life resulted in the senseless murder of a young mother and her helpless two-year-old son. His appointment to the FBI’s Top Ten list illustrates not only the seriousness of his crimes but our commitment to seeking justice for his victims.” Garcia reportedly hides out in El Salvador, with ties to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Panama. Reward: Up to $100,000.
