fbi.gov APIwww.fbi.gov ↗
Retrieve FBI Most Wanted profiles including charges, aliases, physical descriptions, reward amounts, and images. Search by name or browse terrorism categories.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/63d519bd-15b3-4844-ac0d-8157d0ecd635/list_most_wanted?category=wanted_terrorists' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
List all FBI terrorism most wanted persons. Returns persons from 3 subcategories: Most Wanted Terrorists, Seeking Information - Terrorism, and Domestic Terrorism. Paginates through all results internally and returns the complete list for the selected category.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| category | string | Filter by subcategory. Accepted values: 'all', 'wanted_terrorists', 'seeking_information_terrorism', 'domestic_terrorism'. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"total": "integer - total number of persons returned",
"persons": "array of person objects with uid, title, description, aliases, dates_of_birth_used, place_of_birth, sex, race, nationality, hair, eyes, height_min, height_max, weight_min, weight_max, build, complexion, scars_and_marks, languages, occupations, warning_message, caution, details, reward_text, reward_min, reward_max, field_offices, locations, status, poster_classification, images, url, and more",
"category": "string - category filter used"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"total": 22,
"persons": [
{
"sex": "Male",
"uid": "58a2b2e74df44187bd7d935aba56842e",
"url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/saif-al-adel-1",
"eyes": "dark",
"hair": null,
"title": "SAIF AL-ADEL",
"images": [
{
"large": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/saif-al-adel-1/@@images/image/large",
"thumb": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/saif-al-adel-1/@@images/image/thumb",
"caption": "Photograph taken in Tehran, Iran, in 2012",
"original": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/saif-al-adel-1/@@images/image"
}
],
"aliases": null,
"reward_max": 4999999,
"reward_min": 1000000,
"description": "Conspiracy to Kill United States Nationals, to Murder, to Destroy Buildings and Property of the United States, and to Destroy the National Defense Utilities of the United States",
"nationality": "Egyptian",
"reward_text": "The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Saif Al-Adel.",
"place_of_birth": "Egypt",
"dates_of_birth_used": [
"April 11, 1963",
"April 11, 1960"
],
"poster_classification": "terrorist"
}
],
"category": "wanted_terrorists"
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the fbi.gov API
The FBI Most Wanted API exposes 3 endpoints covering wanted persons listed on fbi.gov, including terrorism subcategories, full individual profiles, and cross-category name search. The get_person endpoint returns over 15 fields per profile — uid, title, caution text, reward_max, images array, aliases, physical descriptors (hair, eyes, sex, race, nationality), and the official FBI page URL. Use list_most_wanted to pull complete terrorism category rosters or search_wanted to query across all classifications by name.
Endpoints and Coverage
The API provides three endpoints. list_most_wanted returns all persons from the FBI's terrorism-related wanted pages across three subcategories: Most Wanted Terrorists, Seeking Information - Terrorism, and Domestic Terrorism. Pass category as 'wanted_terrorists', 'seeking_information_terrorism', 'domestic', or 'all' to filter. The response includes a total count and a persons array with fields such as uid, title, description, aliases, dates_of_birth_used, place_of_birth, sex, race, nationality, hair, and more.
Individual Profiles
get_person accepts a uid (obtained from list_most_wanted or search_wanted) and returns the full profile. Key fields include caution (a narrative warning block), reward_max (integer dollar amount), an images array with large, thumb, original, and caption variants per photo, and the url pointing to the subject's official FBI page. Physical attributes — eyes, hair, sex — and identifying details like aliases are included where the FBI has published them.
Search Across All Classifications
search_wanted queries across all FBI wanted classifications, not just terrorism. The query parameter matches against person names/titles and supports partial matches. Results can be filtered by classification values including 'terrorist', 'information', 'ten' (Ten Most Wanted), 'missing', and others. Pagination is controlled with page (1-indexed) and page_size (up to 50 per page). The response returns total matching records alongside the persons array and current page and page_size values.
- Build a real-time law enforcement alert tool that surfaces new terrorism wanted listings using
list_most_wantedwith category filters. - Cross-reference names in a database against FBI wanted persons using
search_wantedwith partial name matching. - Display full wanted person profiles — including caution text, reward amounts, and photos — in a public-safety application via
get_person. - Aggregate reward_max values across terrorism categories to identify highest-reward cases.
- Populate a missing persons or fugitive tracker with aliases and physical descriptors (hair, eyes, race, nationality) from the persons array.
- Monitor changes to the Ten Most Wanted list by filtering
search_wantedwithclassification='ten'. - Extract and store official FBI image URLs from the images array for use in identity verification or journalism workflows.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does the FBI have an official developer API for its Most Wanted data?+
What does the `search_wanted` endpoint search against, and which classifications can I filter by?+
query parameter matches against person titles (names only), not general keywords or charge descriptions. Supported classification values include 'terrorist', 'information', 'ten', 'missing', 'default', and similar poster types. Results are paginated — use page and page_size (max 50) to navigate large result sets.Does `list_most_wanted` cover wanted categories outside of terrorism?+
list_most_wanted is scoped to the three terrorism subcategories: Most Wanted Terrorists, Seeking Information - Terrorism, and Domestic Terrorism. For other categories such as cyber, violent crimes, or white-collar crimes, use search_wanted with the appropriate classification filter. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add a dedicated endpoint for non-terrorism category listing.Does the API return fugitive status history or a timeline of when a person was added or removed from the list?+
Are there fields in `get_person` that may be null or absent?+
eyes, hair, aliases, and caution are returned as null when the FBI has not published that information for a given person. The images array may also be empty for some profiles. Code defensively against null values for any optional physical descriptor field.