Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Ten, the n.

[established as a publicity stunt in 1930s by J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), head of the FBI]

(US Und.) the Ten Most Wanted Criminals List.

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[US](con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 204: I nearly made the Ten once [...] I was the eleventh most wanted man in the country and Mr. Hoover was fixing to put my name on the Ten as soon as he had an opening.