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CNN Live At Daybreak
FBI's 10 Most Wanted List Goes High Tech
Aired August 14, 2001 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you used to look for the FBI's most wanted list in the post office, but check this out, it is actually going high tech. As you can see here, it's on the Internet now, and it's reaching millions of people in an instant. Well, does that help?
We turn to FBI agent Ken Neu as part of our special look today at unsolved cases.
Good morning, Ken.
KEN NEU, FBI AGENT: Good morning, Carol.
LIN: Has it made a difference being on the Internet?
NEU: Yes, it has. We've had great success with the Internet as a new media for publicizing fugitives and a number of other types of criminal activity and information about the bureau.
LIN: Well, in one case here, Charles -- James Charles Kopp, marked on the Internet now as located, he is accused in the shooting of a doctor who performed abortions. Who's going to be number 10 now?
NEU: Well, we're in the process of evaluating various candidates at this point based on submissions by our field officers from around the country of individuals currently wanted for various crimes of violence and then the assessment process is currently underway.
LIN: Well, get us into that assessment process. I mean how do you make the 10 most wanted list? What sort of crime, what level of crime makes the list?
NEU: Well, as you can tell by the people on there now, there's a variety of different types of criminal activity. However, the one mainstream that runs through all of them is some type of violence associated with a criminal activity. That's probably one of the number one criteria. The second criteria is will publicity assist in the apprehension of the fugitive? The purpose of the top 10, its origin dealt with publicizing the individuals who are most sought after by the FBI and law enforcement and will publicity, at this point in time, assist in the apprehension of the individuals?
LIN: Well, taking a look at one of the people on the list, Osama bin-Laden. I mean here is one of the most notorious and most reclusive people on the list here. How do you catch someone like Osama bin-Laden? I mean I can't imagine that you're going to -- you're going to get a call from some renegade member of the Taliban telling you where he is.
NEU: That's -- that may be true generally; however, we have had situations where, especially in today's world where the origins of the top 10 were primarily domestic. In today's media-driven world, the international publicity and letting people know around the world that he is wanted and keeping him at the forefront, should he move around, we may hear from somebody that wants to turn him in, is interested in some of the other aspects, both the reward or whatever, and we may get an opportunity to apprehend him should he move or leave his base.
LIN: Well, how often are people on the top 10 list actually caught?
NEU: Well, we've had 464 candidates on the list, 435 have either been arrested or located as a result of various types of enforcement activity and information generated from the American public as a result of the publicity from the list.
LIN: Give us an idea of what a tip sounds like -- a credible tip -- one of the best that you've heard.
NEU: Well, normally the best we heard is this person is at this location right now or he will be at this location shortly. That's happened on a number of occasions. In other situations, we have individuals who come in who are associated with the criminal, are fearful for their own safety, maybe interested in the money and they assist us in luring the person to a location so that we might apprehend the individual without bringing harm to any of the officers or the general public.
LIN: Right. Right. How fast do they get the money -- the reward money?
NEU: Well, that'll -- no, it can be very quickly or it -- normally there's a sum evaluation and we have -- we offer a reward. In many crimes -- in many situations there are other sources of reward money, which can delay that process a little bit.
LIN: So it could take some time even after the tip is made?
NEU: Yes.
LIN: All right.
NEU: Correct.
LIN: Thank you very much, Ken Neu, with the FBI.
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