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Public Enemy No. 1

"Public enemy no. 1" is an expression used to indicate the most dangerous criminal at large.  The expression originated in the 1930's in the United States during the period when J. Edgar Hoover was building the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Prohibition was still in effect giving rise to such famous criminals as Al Capone.

The concept quickly caught on and began to be spoofed as early as 1934, when Moon Face Martin is listed as "Public Enemy No. 13" in Cole Porter's "Anything Goes."

How It's Used

“For heart disease researchers, however, the question is not whether a food is natural but whether eating it increases the risk of heart attacks. They agree that trans fat raises levels of LDL cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease. But, they said, it makes no sense to focus on it to the exclusion of saturated fat, since Americans eat four times as much saturated fat as trans fat.

“‘What's Public Enemy No. 1 with respect to cholesterol raising?’ asked Dr. James Cleeman, coordinator of the National Cholesterol Education Program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. ‘From a dietary standpoint, it's saturated fat.’”

“Russia’s problem is that few — here or abroad — have much faith in the impartiality of its justice. Its prosecutors have repeatedly failed to persuade European governments to arrest and extradite suspects fleeing Russian charges. They include several of Mr. Litvinenko’s associates, notably Boris Berezovsky, the tycoon who is Public Enemy No. 1 here, and Akhmed Zakayev, a leader of Chechnya’s separatists.”

“In France, where purchasing power has replaced unemployment as Public Enemy No. 1, unions representing workers from teachers to factory workers have taken to the streets in protest.”

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