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Show This Week v K , fv WASHINGTON, D.C. By J. EDGAR HOOVER Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation is not loosely used in the The wordTo "hoodlum us, it calls up the characteristics of of law. He is bold, boastful and belligerent an arrogant show-ofsupremely confident that with a pistol in his pocket he is above all law. These are the psychologically dedicated criminals, and I doubt that any psychiatrist can tell us why. If I were to tie this definition to a man, I can think of no one it fits more exactly than Joseph Franklin Bent, Jr., whose specialty was lone robberies of supermarkets, with the necessary sideline of stealing automobiles to make his dramatic escapes. Bent teas the very personification of crime on wheels, racing from one robbery to turn up 1,500 miles away for the next foray in his tear against supermarkets. As you read Bents story, notice the distances which separate his holdups. Bent is in the Federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., as I write, next door to Missouri where he was born in 1927. He became an active FBI case on March 20, 1950, when a Federal complaint was filed at San Diego, Calif., charging him with flight across a state line to avoid prosecution for armed robbery and attempted murder. The flight itself is a violation of the Federal Fugitive Felon Act. But a great many complications were to ensue before the August afternoon in 1952 when he was finally made a prisoner in Texas City, Texas. a young man contemptuous f, "YOU CAN'T BURY THI TRUTH!" CASK 4: Often the FBr s most formidable obstacle is the sheer size of our country. Sttift motor cars and express highways can put a bandit hundreds of miles from the scene of his crime in a matter of hours. This problem of modern life prompted the FBI, on March 14, 1950, to establish its list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives " For the current ten " Most Wanted Men," see Page 7. Despite our investigative efforts and the scientific assistance our laboratory provides, we often need the help of the public to discover where a criminal has gone into hiding. Photographs and descriptions of the Ten Most W anted Fugitives, published widely, remind people of faces they have seen. Since our program was launched 11 years ago, 134 men who made this dishonor roll have been captured 55 from information furnished by the public. The man whose crimes I am describing here, Joseph Franklin Bent, Jr., was one of these headlong fugitives. He was No, 18, added January 9, 1951. His story shows the difficulties we encounter uhen a criminal uses the entire he covered 20,000 miles of country as his hunting ground demonstrates also the futility of aimless think it territory. I rebellion against society. h . aj THIS WEEK Mogotin February 12, 1961 |