The FBI just released its annual Internet Crime Report, providing data for the 2024 year. The Internet Complaint Center within the FBI has been open for 25 years now. Since that time, the center has received upwards of 9 million reports of malicious activity. As technology advances and computers play a more and more prominent role in our professional and private lives, a center capable of looking into serious internet threats is a necessity. The recently released report by the FBI states, “the attack surface for cyber actors has grown exponentially.” Of course, this is just one of the areas the FBI is instrumental when it comes to crime.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started out as simply the Bureau of Investigation in 1909. To begin with, it had very little power and was barely a match for the crime and corruption that was rampant in the U.S. at that time. The new agents first investigated mostly white-collar crimes and civil rights cases. There were a few treason and anarchy cases in the mix as well. However, it was soon getting involved in national security work. During the lead-up to World War I, it became embroiled in the complicated business of counterespionage. Over its long history, it has investigated countless murders, bombings, hijackings, kidnappings, and burglaries. Many have hit the headlines, and some have even been the subject of books, dramas, and movies.
In this article, we will explore 16 of the most famous major cases in FBI history. Some are tragic, some are bold, and others are downright bizarre. (For a more specific type of crime, explore the most infamous white-collar criminals of all time.) To compile a list of the most famous major cases in FBI History, 24/7 Tempo relied heavily on the well-documented cases in the Major Case section of the FBI website. Next, we selected cases concerning different crimes and ones that took place in vastly different eras. After that, we consulted other historical sources like the Oklahoma Historical Society for specifics on certain cases.
This post was updated May 13, 2025 to include information on the release of the FBI’s yearly Internet Crime Report.
Escape from Alcatraz
- Date: June 1962
- Suspect/criminal: Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris
- Crime: Escaping from Alcatraz Prison
- Outcome: Escapees were never found
RESMURS CASE
- Date: June 26, 1975
- Suspect/criminal: Leonard Peltier and others
- Crime: Killing two FBI agents
- Outcome: Captured and put on trial
Black Dahlia
- Date: January 15, 1947
- Suspect/criminal: Unsolved
- Crime: Killing Elizabeth Short (aka Black Dahlia)
- Outcome: Remains unsolved
Nussbaum and Wilcoxson
- Date: December 1960 onwards
- Suspect/criminal: Alfred Nussbaum and Bobby Wilcoxson
- Crime: Series of bank robberies
- Outcome: Captured a few years later
Krupp Diamond Theft
- Date: April 10, 1959
- Suspect/criminal: John William Hagenson, James Reves and others
- Crime: Theft of the Krupp diamond
- Outcome: Thieves arrested and diamond recovered
John Elgin Johnson
- Date: September 25, 1953
- Suspect/criminal: John Elgin Johnson
- Crime: Murder of an FBI agent
- Outcome: Criminal killed in shoot out with FBI
Jack Gilbert Graham
- Date: November 1, 1955
- Suspect/criminal: Jack Gilbert Graham
- Crime: Bombing of United Airlines Flight 629
- Outcome: Found guilty and executed via the gas chamber on January 11, 1957
Brink’s Robbery
- Date: January 17, 1950
- Suspect/criminal: Joseph O’Keefe and others
- Crime: Theft of $2.775 million
- Outcome: Eleven people were convicted for the robbery but not all money was ever recovered
Charlie Ross Kidnapping
- Date: September 1937
- Suspect/criminal: John Henry Seadlund and others
- Crime: Kidnap of Charlie Ross
- Outcome: Charlie Ross and one kidnapper killed, John Henry Seadlund captured and given death penalty
Murder of Judge Vance
- Date: Mid-December, 1989
- Suspect/criminal: Walter Leroy Moody
- Crime: Several parcel bombings including one that killed Judge Robert Vance
- Outcome: Moody sentenced to death and executed in 2018.
Lindbergh Kidnapping
- Date: March 1, 1932
- Suspect/criminal: Bruno Richard Hauptmann
- Crime: Kidnap of son of world-famous aviator Charles Lindbergh
- Outcome: Hauptmann executed in 1936 still maintaining his innocence
The Osage Murders
- Date: 1920s
- Suspect/criminal: William Hale and others
- Crime: Murders of several Osage Indians for their ‘head rights’
- Outcome: Hale convicted and sent to prison in January 1929
Patty Hearst
- Date: February of 1974
- Suspect/criminal: Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
- Crime: Kidnap of Patty Hearst (granddaughter of wealthy newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst)
- Outcome: Hearst joined SLA participating in bank robberies but claimed she was brainwashed.
Weinberger Kidnapping
- Date: July 4, 1956
- Suspect/criminal: Angelo LaMarca
- Crime: Kidnap of one-month-old Peter Weinberger
- Outcome: Baby Peter was killed / LaMarca found guilty and sentenced to death
Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr.
- Date: April 7, 1972
- Suspect/criminal: Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr
- Crime: Hijack of United Airlines Flight 855 demanding cash and parachutes.
- Outcome: McCoy, Jr was convicted and received a 45-year sentence
JFK Assassination
- Date: November 22, 1963
- Suspect/criminal: Lee Harvey Oswald
- Crime: Assassination of President John F Kennedy
- Outcome: Oswald murdered by Jack Ruby but numerous conspiracy theories presist
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