The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s is a list, maintained for a third decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.

FBI headlines in the 1970s As a decade, the 1970s are marked by the passing of the Hoover era. J. Edgar Hoover had formed and defined the Bureau for nearly a half century. He was succeeded by a long list of short-term directors throughout the Nixon – Ford – Carter era who could not match Hoover's larger persona. Eventually, Director William H. Webster brought stability to Bureau, during the President Reagan era.

On the 1970s top 10 list, perhaps the most notable is the 2nd appearance of James Earl Ray, in 1977. Additionally, in 1971 the list was completely filled with long-time fugitives, who persistently evaded capture, leading to the very first year in which the FBI found it impractical to add any new fugitives to the top ten list. In 1970, the FBI had packed the list with an extraordinary number of "Special Additions" of whom most evaded capture. Consequently, the 1971 list opened with a total of sixteen wanted fugitives at large, nearly twice as many as would typically appear on the list at any other given time. By the end of the year 1971, three of the listed wanted fugitives had been captured, bringing the opening 1972 list down to a still extraordinarily large number of thirteen fugitives. Due to further removals from the list in 1972, the FBI found justification to finally list a single new Fugitive late that year.

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 1970s 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.

As the decade began, the following fugitives were the FBI's Ten Most Wanted:

NameSequence NumberDate of EntryNotesJohn William Clouser#2031965Dropped from the list August 1, 1972, later surrendered to authorities on August 21, 1974Charles Lee Herron#2651968Arrested in June 1986Taylor Morris Teaford#2791968Dropped from the list May 24, 1972Byron James Rice#2821968Apprehended October 2, 1972Warren David Reddock#2981969Arrested April 14, 1971Cameron David Bishop#3001969Arrested in Rhode Island March 12, 1975Marie Dean Arrington#3011969Arrested in New Orleans, December 22, 1971. Died in prison in 2014.Arrington was the second woman to appear on the list since the list began.Benjamin Hoskins Paddock#3021969Bank robber, appeared on the list after escaping prison. Dropped from the list on May 5, 1977, captured in 1978. He was the father of the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock.Joseph Lloyd Thomas#3041969Arrested March 8, 1970

The tenth space had just opened up at the end of the year 1969, but was promptly filled by a new individual on the list in the first week of 1970.

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 1970s The most wanted fugitives listed in the decade of the 1970s include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

1970 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed James John Byrnes#305January 6, 1970Three monthsJames John Byrnes escaped custody in Kansas and was wanted for kidnapping two people and stealing a plane. He was arrested in Huntington Beach, California on April 17, 1970. Edmund James Devlin#306March 6, 1970Five monthsEdmund James Devlin was the leader of a gang of bank robbers and was wanted for his involvement in a Norwalk, Connecticut bank robbery where he made off with $106,333. He was arrested in Manchester, New Hampshire on August 15, 1970.Lawrence Robert Plamondon#307May 5, 1970Two monthsLawrence Robert Plamondon was wanted after fleeing his indictment for his involvement in the bombing of a CIA office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on September 29, 1968. He is a co-founder of the White Panther Party and its Minister of Defense. He was arrested in Mackinac County, Michigan on July 23, 1970, after being stopped by state police when an occupant of his van threw a can out of the window. A license plate check through the NCIC identified Plamondon. Hubert Geroid Brown#308May 6, 1970One yearHubert Geroid Brown In 1967, gave a speech in Cambridge, Maryland, where he told the crowd to "burn America down," which resulted in riots and a shooting. After fleeing, he was a target of the FBI's COINTELPRO program. He was captured on October 16, 1971, during an armed robbery in New York City after being seriously wounded in a gunfight with local police. Angela Yvonne Davis#309August 18, 1970Two months Angela Yvonne Davis was captured October 13, 1970, at a motel room in New York City. She had fled California and evaded the police for over two months. She was charged in California with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide, due to her alleged participation in an escape attempt of George Jackson, a Black Panther Party member, from the Marin County Hall of Justice during his trial, in which the judge, Harold Haley, was shot to death after being taken outside into a van. She was exonerated on all charges in 1972 after being held in a Women's Detention Center in New York City. Dwight Alan Armstrong#310September 4, 1970Six yearsDwight Alan Armstrong was wanted in connection to the Sterling Hall bombing. He was removed from the list on April 1, 1976, because he no longer met the list criteria. He was eventually arrested in April 1977 and sentenced to 7 years in prison for second degree murder on May 5, 1977. He was paroled in 1980. Karleton Lewis Armstrong#311September 4, 1970Two yearsKarleton Lewis Armstrong was wanted in connection to the Sterling Hall bombing. He was apprehended in Toronto, Ontario February 16, 1972, Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was returned to the United States in March 1973 where he pleaded guilty to second degree murder and arson and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but had his prison sentence reduced and was freed in February 1980. David Sylvan Fine#312September 4, 1970Six yearsDavid Sylvan Fine was wanted in connection to the Sterling Hall bombing. He was arrested in San Rafael, California on January 8, 1976. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison for second degree murder and eventually released in August 1979. Leo Frederick Burt#313September 4, 1970Six yearsLeo Frederick Burt was removed from the list on April 7, 1976, because he no longer met the list criteria. Burt has not been captured and is still at large with state charges still pending against him in connection to the Sterling Hall bombing. Bernardine Rae Dohrn#314October 14, 1970Three yearsBernardine Rae Dohrn was wanted in connection to activities associated with the Weatherman group. The process was dismissed on December 7, 1973. Katherine Ann Power#315October 17, 1970Fourteen yearsKatherine Ann Power alongside Susan Edith Saxe (#316), was wanted for robbing a series of banks. One lead to the death of a police officer, where she drove the getaway car. She was removed from the list on June 15, 1984, because she no longer met the list criteria, but surrendered to authorities in 1993. She pleaded guilty and was imprisoned in Massachusetts for six years before being released on 14-years' probation. Susan Edith Saxe#316October 17, 1970Five years Susan Edith Saxe was wanted for a series of bank robberies with Katherine Ann Power (#315) to fund anti-government movements during the Vietnam war. She was arrested in Philadelphia on March 27, 1975, after a Philadelphia officer recognized her from a photo distributed by the FBI the same day.

1971 No one was added to the list in 1971.

1972 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed Mace Brown#317October 20, 1972Six monthsMace Brown, a hired killer, was wanted for the escaping prison with seven others while on death row in Washington, D.C. for shooting a witness in the head in connection to a drug case. He was killed by police officers in a bank robbery shootout in New York City on April 18, 1973, during which the bank robbers took hostages.

1973 Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed Herman Bell#318May 9, 1973Four monthsHerman Bell, was wanted for the murders of officers Joseph A. Piagentini and Waverly M. Jones, when he and two others ambushed and fatally shot them in the back, outside a housing project in Harlem on May 21, 1971. They cited their ongoing war with the United States as members of the Black Liberation Army as their reasoning for the murders. He was arrested in New Orleans on September 2, 1973, by the FBI and local officers. Twymon Ford Myers#319September 28, 1973Two monthsTwymon Ford Myers, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was wanted for the non-fatal shootings of four New York police officers and a robbery. He was killed in the Bronx, New York on November 14, 1973, during a shootout with the FBI and the New York Police Department. Ronald Harvey#320December 7, 1973Three monthsRonald Harvey was wanted in connection for the murder of Major B. Saxon and six others, which included five children, when he failed to show for a line up. The motive was believed to be a dispute between two Muslim sects in Washington. He was arrested in Chicago on March 27, 1974. Samuel Richard Christian#321December 7, 1973Five daysSamuel Richard Christian, founder of the Philadelphia Black Mafia, was wanted for his connection to the murder of Major B. Saxon and six others, as well as the 1972 murder of Tyrone "Fat Ty" Palmer. He was arrested in Detroit on December 12, 1973.

1974