FBI's 100-Year Anniversary: From Capone To Bin Laden

by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

In the 100 years since it was created on July 26, 1908, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation -- or FBI, as it is better known -- has grown from a few dozen detectives to a force of 30,000-plus.

It has been elevated to the stature of global legend, thanks in part to names like J. Edgar Hoover -- the man who led the FBI for nearly 50 years, including during World War II and the tumultuous civil rights movement -- and Elliot Ness, the agent who felled notorious gangster Al Capone.