The seeds of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list were planted on February 7, 1949, after The Washington Daily News published the article “FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives Named.” The FBI’s public affairs function at the time had given the reporter—who’d asked for a list of the “toughest guys” the Bureau wanted to arrest—the names of 10 dangerous individuals.

The resulting news story became so popular that the FBI created the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on March 14, 1950.

This week marks the 70th anniversary of the list, which is commonly called the Top Ten. The program uses public outreach to capture offenders wanted for serious crimes.

Over the years, 523 fugitives have been placed on the list, with 488 of them having been caught. As a testament to the effectiveness of the program, 162 of those captures were made with the public’s direct assistance.