Crime in Sports - #457 - Down To His Last Yacht - Evel Knievel - Part 9

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

This week, Evel is in hot water, after beating a Fox executive with a baseball bat. He is sentenced to jail, but like Evel always does, he figures out a way to make it a spectacle, and a show. How does he do that? By renting limos for all the prisoners, and causing a major traffic jam, while angering everyone in the jail system. He also claims he's going to jump out of a plane, with no parachute, and that he's near broke, and "down to his last yacht"!!Check yourself into jail, get out out of jail on work furlough & spend your days, drinking, in Beverly Hills, and tell everyone that you're going to jump from 40,000 feet with no parachute with Evel Knievel - Part 9!!Check us out, every Tuesday!We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail] Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!!  Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsports [e-mail] facebook.com/Crimeinsports instagram.com/smalltownmurderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. When Luigi Mangione was arrested for allegedly shooting the CEO of United Healthcare, he didn't just spark outrage, he ignited a cultural firestorm. Is the system working or is it time for a reckoning? I'm Jesse Weber. Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery+. When a young woman named Desiree vanishes without a trace, the trail leads to Kat Torres, a charismatic influencer with millions of followers. But behind the glamorous posts

and inspirational quotes, a sinister truth unravels. Binge all episodes of Don't Cross Cat early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Hello everybody and welcome back to Crime and Sports. Yay! Oh yay indeed Jimmy, yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo, I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another crazy edition of Crime and Sports, part nine of Evil Can Evil. It's going to be a 10 parter and today is going to be in jail and you can

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or above and you're gonna get more than you're bargaining for you're gonna get hundreds and hundreds of back episodes of bonus stuff you've never heard that'll be available immediately to binge and then you get new ones every other week one crime and sports one small-town murder and damn it You get it all That's right this week what you're gonna get for every ever will give you every crime crime and sports bonus will give you every inch This week we're gonna talk about for crime and sports we're gonna talk about fraternity hazing Now you might go what does that have to do with sports? Well, most of those guys are into sports of some kind.

A lot of them, they all play lacrosse or some dumb shit. You know what I mean? Or even just, what's the frisbee golf or whatever the fuck they're playing? Now, pickleball or whatever dumb trendy game. Have you seen foot volley? No, no. It's ridiculous. I'm sure they haze each other.

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It might be true. Who knows we'll talk all about it That is patreon. Hey, you never know patreon.com Slash crime in sports is where you get all that and you get a shout out at the end of the show Jimmy will destroy your name not on purpose. Oh you go that said let's dive back into evil okay now we left off evil had just decided to just decided to beat the living shit out of the guy who wrote the book about him for calling him a son of a bitch which is an insult to his mother. His mother.

Yes. So he goes to… Those people fascinate me. Evil's fascinating. There are a lot of people that believe that's an insult to your mother. He doesn't believe that's an insult to his mother because he calls himself a son of a bitch all the time. He's mad that someone wrote a book about him, period.

That's it. He likes to spew out his own PR bullshit and if anybody else takes his story and spins it any other way He gets very angry about that. I think is what is I mean? It literally is an insult to your mother, but it's fucking I mean, it's it's yeah, especially in the context He goes the literally he said I was in tears hugging evil's father So happy that that son of a bitch didn't die in the canyon. That cantankerous son of a bitch didn't die in the canyon. That's a love.

Called my mama bitch. Yeah, and he goes, you called my mama bitch. So he goes to court and obviously against his fuckin' attorney's advice, he pleads guilty, not even later, and gets a deal. He just goes to court for the initial pleading and says I did it takes it yeah I did what the cop said and the guy deserved it so the time yeah which obviously for later on for civil

suits and all that isn't really a great deal so that's what's going on right now his lawyer wants to quit because he's like I was going against my advice and it's all over the place that every newspaper, its front page, that Evil Knievel just pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon. Right. And the guy, the. A bat.

A bat, and the guy is pissed off, the guy who was injured, Saltman, because Heath wants it to be attempted murder. Yeah, it should be. He said, the only reason it was my arms that are broken is because I covered my head, that's what he was trying to hit, which is attempted murder. Yeah, it should be. The only reason it was my arms that are broken is because I covered my head. That's what he was trying to hit, which is attempted murder.

Because there's defensive wounds. Yeah, exactly, yeah. His skull would be broken. If I had stab wounds in my hands trying to defend myself, you wouldn't say it was just an assault with a deadly weapon. You'd probably say, you were trying to kill me. So yeah, that's who it is. And Knievel says, Mr. Saltman wrote a vicious book of pornography about me, right?

Insulting me my wife my grandmother my children and loved ones never insulted the grandmother Yeah, I think he knows what pornography is So Anyway, Saltman the victim here said he couldn't believe any of it had happened. He said, I went through stages like you read about with rape victims. First, I felt sorry for myself. Well, it's PTSD is the thing.

That's people who get, this happens all the time that people will get like mugged or jumped in the street. They're all fucked up for a while. It's not. Oh my God, sometimes if you just hit a cat in your car, it fucks you up. Oh, yeah. I can't drive anymore. I would be very upset about that yeah I would be awfully upset about hitting a cat that would be. It's not easy to. I've never before and really me up for a while

yeah. The only animal I've ever with my car is a bird that like flew into the front of my car. Yeah I felt bad but it like bounced off into the woods and I don't know where the hell it went so it wasn't like I had. Yeah I didn't have to like I didn't have to pull over and stare at its mammal corpse You know, I mean that would have been hard. I hit one on a freeway. It landed in front of my car I was like, I mean, what do you expect buddy? Yeah, that's Gotta be a little more careful. She more suicide. Yeah than anything a deer ran into me once. Yeah, that's suicide Yeah, it was no in Arizona. Actually. Yeah, I's suicide. That was in Arizona, actually.

I was serving papers way out in the desert. And it was one of those, I don't know if it was a deer or one of those little prong things. It looked like a deer with little prong corns on it. And I was way out like in the desert. One of those prongs. I don't know what the fuck it was. I don't know a Southwestern deer.

I don't know what that is. I don't know either, but that's a very funny description of an animal. It was out there and I was driving down the road, this dirt road, and it ran out and I like tried to avoid it, went the other way and it fucking kept going and ran into my car. It was probably somebody's pet. It was crazy.

Down there. He like bashed it with his horns and then ran away. I was like, this fucking, what the fuck dude. If it ran away, we're fine. I got out yelling at it. Yeah, I was pissed. I was like, you motherfucker. You put it in my car.. I got out yelling at it. Yeah, I was pissed Yeah, motherfucker I literally got out yelled you motherfucker and as a deer ran away from it like that's how stupid I am or some other

Some fucking fictional Fantastical It could have been some fucking fictional, fantastical, southwestern desert fucking piece of cryptozoology that I didn't think about. Might have been. You've heard of a bobcat, this is a barbed cat. A barbed cat. What I didn't notice was the straps holding the antlers on or under its chin, that was the thing.

Somebody had redesigned this animal completely. Someone made a headband. Yeah, that's what I missed. That was my bad. So he said, first I felt sorry for myself. Why did this happen to me? Then fear. Is this guy going to come back and finish the job?

Then anger. My son was a water polo player at Arizona State, a big kid. And I guess his teammates had to stop him from getting on a plane with a baseball bat and come looking for evil Evil's got a gun. You don't want to do that's a that's that's bringing a bat to a gunfight there my friend That's not gonna work. Yeah, I was glad that didn't happen But for the first time in my life, there was someone I could have killed

I had never felt that the final stage and this took a while was pity This guy just blew up a good life. He said he felt bad for evil. Yeah, because he's a fucking dummy. So this is a great article from a newspaper here. Now this goes from, you remember the coverage of him, obviously, for the last fucking eight parts, and the coverage is always either fawning or kind of side of the mouth, sarcmouth sarcastic tongue-in-cheek but still like this guy's crazy and we're all gonna watch what he does but we all know he's a little full of shit

but you know still the show's worth it type of thing. It's gone from that to public sentiment has completely flipped on him. Oh? Like the press figured out that his toys weren't selling as well, his last jump was a disaster. There's blood in the water with evil well yeah and now this criminal thing right he's got that but he's got his his track record of jumping is all

shit too it's all yeah lands like 20% and even when he does he gets hurt sometimes anyway it's just yeah it's rough If a quarterback wins 20% of his games He's shit-canned and we don't care about yeah. Yeah, if he completes 20% of his passes, that's not great It's not good. You're like well the ball look good coming out of his hand. It doesn't matter didn't land in the receivers hand That's the problem here. That's what we got to worry about So this now they're the press has completely turned on him and they say quote evil Knievel is a disease This is a newspaper article the symptoms are a failure to assimilate to normal adult life Compounded by unbridled greed and a total lack of taste. He is an American byproduct as noxious as carbon monoxide

That is a pretty yeah From poison. Yes from a you That's pretty, yeah. From... It's poison. Yes, from, you know, he's kind of a jerk off, but you know, he's an entertaining jerk off to human poison as a completely... You won't silently kill your whole family. While they sleep. While they sleep like a Yankee outfielders child.

That's what happened to that kid. That's sad, man. That Brett Gardner's kid. What? They figured out it's carbon monoxide poisoning. Yeah. Yeah. That kid was 14 years old. And that sucks, man.

That's rough. They went on... It's heartbreaking. They take the whole family on vacation and the 14-year-old gets killed by carbon monoxide. That's horrifying. Jesus. It's fucked up. So they go on...

Were we in Airbnb or something? There was no fucking alarm that somebody's getting sued Yeah, I mean it's I'm sure they were at some very high-class resort or something and Brett Gardner made shitloads of money on the Yankees So I bet they their vacations are nice probably but not that nice There should usually he makes enough money for carbon monoxide detectors. Yeah Exactly where they were in Costa Rica or something. So I don't know what the Who knows what the what the rules are there? But I? Don't know not good. Let's do the US mainland. Yeah, I

Was like is it is it the same thing that killed Gene Hackman's wife? I'm like, is it else shit did that do it? Was that the most unexpected cause of death that ever occurred yeah, we're like Oh what hurt it I was like, there's a vicious murderer. Oh, yeah, Mike or Or like she poisoned him and then like couldn't take it So she offed herself or like I was I thought was a dog and the dog Yeah, cuz the dog was yapping cuz gene was dead and it like gene or some shit like that I had a whole scenario She just swept up now shit. That's it. That's all and then he's He's too old to live on his own and too senile to know what the fuck and the dog

Yeah, don't need days without food will kill a dog. So there you go. That's it. Oh the most boring The most breaking boring a to be fucking just old people having a sad death in a house. Nothing spectacular Not that I wanted them to be butchered, but it's just sad anyway Yeah, this is this is more gut-wrenching than a madman out there someone. Yeah, at least that would have been interesting But also to And die like that fuck you at least he didn't know where the hell he was or what was going on, so maybe that was good. I don't know.

I mean, clearly he didn't have any fucking idea. No, he had no clue. Who knows if he hung out primarily in one particular room, and who knows? I'm surprised they didn't have, he had $80 million. I'm shocked they didn't have a person there that helped take care of him. How do you have $80 million

and have one person taking care of you? A nurse and a housekeeper, you would assume they would get. And how do you have mouse shit in your house if you've got $80 million? That's because they don't have a housekeeper. See what happens? That's what I mean. What are you being cheap about?

Hire somebody to clean this fucking place. Hire a pest guy. You can get $80 million, dude. Stretch stretches. I assure you and you're 95 you Get the best give me the best pest guy on earth if you have to import them from Thailand I don't give a shit get him over here gene you're 95 you can spend 10 million dollars a year and just on pest control I promise you can spend it just on pest control only I promise you could spend it just on pest control only With a team of guys with fucking rifles waiting for mice to come out of the field to shoot them before they get to the house You could have that out there. You could literally pay for that and be fine

So anyway, this article goes on to say there is no honor No quest in evils work courage implies overcoming obstacles for some higher goal. Stupidity means taking unnecessary chances. Greed forces one to do things he normally wouldn't do for the chance of making inordinate sums of money. We don't need Evil Knievel in Atlantic City. No, we need more carbon monoxide. We need more carbon monoxide.

So what he does is, okay, now this is pre-going to jail. Now, which we'll talk about, because he's gonna be sentenced to some jail time here. You have to, yeah. But he has decided that to try to spin the press in a positive way, because he's in the media a lot now He's getting articles like that written about him. He said I'm gonna do something else here. I am going to Announce the biggest stunt I've ever announced before

Try to get like another snake River Canyon thing going on I'm gonna jump Idaho. I'm gonna jump what no well I'll read from the book Okay, this is they say on Friday November 18th The newly convicted felon called a press conference to announced that he was going to have his spleen removed Okay, not cuz it's fucked up by the way yeah, the spleen is not fucked up This is this is what he wants it out of there. Yeah, he's he's fighting right now He's like I don't need it anymore it's just gonna fucking slow me down that's his beef and yeah he's stripping it down he's stripping himself down like a motorcycle for weight is what he's getting parts of here I've

heard of a lot of accidents where people lose their spleen I'm just gonna get rid of it I'm gonna preemptive spleenectomy here. So he's trying to spin this in a way that is gonna make him sound spectacular and get him back in the news and get him another big payday is what he's looking for. Because at this point, he's got a lot of money going out, not a lot of money coming in, which is not great. So anyway, he says he's going to be dropped

Anyway, he says he's going to be dropped from the bomb bay of a World War II B-29 or B-50 aircraft at 40,000 feet with no parachute. Oh, he's gonna be the first to do this. And he's going to land on one of 13 haystacks set up in a casino parking lot. A haystacks set up in a casino parking lot. A haystack. A haystack. He's gonna jump 40,000 feet and into a haystack, okay? That's his one of 13.

And this is amazing. This is what he's telling people. And like I said, the reporters aren't clamoring around him anymore like, oh my God, what's he gonna say on his every word? Now they're like, let's see what this jerk-off's got to say. Like, it's a totally different tone so it i'll read from the book here quote my name is evil keneval he said as he appeared from behind a curtain in a function

room at the sheraton universal i am a daredevil i am the best at what i do they go on to say he had lured maybe a hundred people a group filled with many more friends and back slappers than press They're in the to the room to announce his participation in what he called the most daring and spectacular feet in the history of man Yeah Wow Steve Harvey of the LA Times not that Steve Harvey. I would don't know Steve Harvey in a giant purple jacket said this Brown suit with purple pants and giant purple jacket said this. A brown suit with purple pants. A giant shoulder pad said,

of the LA Times, pointed out that a first press release had referred to the event as the most daring and spectacular feat known to man, F-E-T-E. He fucking didn't spell it right at first. That was the first, he sent that out to the press. F-E-T-E? F-E-T-E. Feet. Is that not it? No, it's not. Oh, it. F-E-T-E? F-E-T-E. Feet. Is that not it?

No, it's not. Oh, it's F-E-A-T, isn't it? Yes, yeah, so he sent it out wrong, I was like, oh shit, fix that. So they said he had a, so they said causing many people to think that a lavish dinner was going to be announced. They said he had a pointer, diagrams, facts printed on no-nonsense cardboard,

plus a full set of his personal x-rays that he was glad to share. This was it, he said. The end of his career. It's over. Presumably, and not, presumably not to be confused with any of those earlier retirements that he was going to take. Right.

Yeah. He was done with motorcycles. Yeah. Yeah, he was done with motorcycles. Yeah, John with motorcycle dumps challenges Canyons and and all long lines of cars buses or Pepsi Cola trucks done with the ass over tea kettle crashes He's done with all this daredevil business except For this one last colossal extravaganza How big would that haystack have to be I can't imagine like how deep would it have to be yeah? Yeah, assuming you hit it which is crazy. You're just gonna land on it. Yeah, but even assuming you do that

Yeah, how deep 40,000 feet was it have to be a haystack is seven story pyramid you want to yeah? This is gonna have to be I would assume a big square a big square big flat landing pad Yeah, that's gotta be the same depth three stories high. I would think Possibly. I mean, yeah, I would I jump out of a plane and landed on a net. No, no Yeah, no parachute and that net was like fuck so high in the air and then oh Yeah, all the way to the country or energy as he came to the bounce. Yeah. Right. It was so, he hit the net at like 200 feet. Oh my God, I bet that was a launch, another fucking, and he's coming down again.

But with this, with the hay bales, it couldn't be bales, because you'd just splat on those things. No, you'd just bounce off of them. You'd bounce, it'd kill you, you'd have to land on them. So it would have to just be pile of fluffy hay. How would you get piles of fluffy hay that high to where it would absorb?

It just doesn't... And somebody would have to fluff it to keep it puffy so that it doesn't settle. Very fluffy, yeah. You'd have to keep it real, a nice soft landing with maybe some pillows on top. I don't know. Maybe you just should jump out of an airplane with no parachute and just be like,

you all expected, or were hoping to see me die in the last, this one you're guaranteed to see me die. I'm definitely gonna die, come see evil die. It's so fucking weird, I don't know what he's thinking there though. It's almost like he needs to take a physics class before he starts, that's the main thing he needs to do here

is just one, hire one nerd to just follow you around and go Okay, let me tell you what would happen if you do this and then you know You're gonna get up to this speed and then you're gonna stop really fast Goddamn, they say 13 haystacks would be laid out in the parking lot of some lucky casino either in Las Vegas or Atlantic City a Spec would appear in the sky at a distance, then take shape as it moved closer. My god, it was that World War II bomber, the B-29 or B-50 piloted by an unnamed World War II hero who had flown over a hundred missions during the big one and never missed a target. The payload this time would be a human being, evil. There he is. The game was to drop our hero through the bomb bay doors from 40,000 feet as if he were

another bit of bad news for the citizens of say Dooseldorf. The estimate was that he'd be traveling as fast as 130 miles an hour in his descent. Yeah, that's crazy. You fucking move, man. Now, because a man's spleen had proven to split open like an overripe grapefruit sometimes at downward speeds of over 100 miles an hour, especially upon landing, the organ would be removed surgically from our hero a month or two before the great event by skilled physicians. While they were at it event by skilled physicians while they were at it the skilled physicians or maybe in a separate set of of skilled

physicians what they would implant a sophisticated missile guidance device in his chest this is what he's telling the press I'm gonna remove my spleen Replace it with a With a missile guidance system 1970s missile guidance system mind you which Okay, I mean a missile good okay alright missile guidance is with rockets and shit Yeah, no not with evil out of a bomb door. That's crazy. Shoot rockets out of his ass. That would be something I'd like to find.

That'd be amusing. Do that on the 4th of July. And sell a jet engine right in your fucking keyster. He wants to do this on the 4th of July too. This is gonna be great. They said the goal would be to land on one of the 13 haystacks and not, of course, anywhere else. The missile guidance device would be keyed into one of the 13 haystacks and not of course anywhere else the missile guidance device would be keyed into transponders in the haystacks

This is wonderful A transponder and kill yourself Back then it was private size of a briefcase a transponder like that It's not like now or you know the 70s for Christ's sake look what a cell phone was What do you think a missile transponder would fucking be? So holy shit they said our hero not wearing a parachute But with minimal protection in a pressurized suit and a special helmet Presumably would land with a whomp rather than a splat, hay flying into the air in celebration, the cheering would last well into the night. That's his plan.

Evil said this will be my last and final act as a professional life risker. He said I will be 40 years old in a year and I would like to relax. Chill out. The live crowd would be enormous, spectacular, the television audience from around the world and the hundreds of millions. Life itself would stop for this one moment. There would be betting, probably an international lottery, people guessing which haystack would be the landing spot. The winners would all take home fortunes.

All bets would be off of course if our hero missed the haystacks altogether. He said he'd been thinking about this stunt for a long long time and simply had never mentioned it before. You know, cause Evil likes to keep things close to the chest as we know. Evil never puts his cards on the table. He figured that the upfront payment would be 20 million dollars. Who the fuck is paying him 20 million dollars to kill himself in a parking lot. What sponsorship is he getting? In the Caesars Palace parking lot honestly. So and he would spend every cent before he jumped just in case. Ralph

Andrews productions would handle the television rights and productions, casinos would bid against each other for the right to play host. This is what he's announcing. This is his big announcement here. The date would be 4th of July 1978 eight months away after he had finished that his 180 day jail sentence You know this little nuisance he's got here because that's what he gets sentenced to 180 was it six months six months you sir may fuck off six months in County Jail in LA now The judge though. This is the fucking crazy part the judge During that thing was like I find it refreshing to have somebody

So openly admit to their crimes and not try to you know not try to hedge in court Comes in here and says, not guilty. You're just going to walk in and go, guilt with a, you got a name. We know you. I find it refreshing that he's not trying to play the normal legal game. Do what's best in his best interest. I find that refreshing. Tyson walked in and was like, you're charged with rape.

And he's like, guilty, Your Honor. Guilty right away. Still in his street clothes. They just, guilty. Oh, OK, I guess. In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him.

We're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world. And the suspect... He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione. ...became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was targeted, premeditated, and meant to sow terror. I'm Jesse Weber, host of Luigi, produced by Law and Crime and Twist. This is more than a true crime investigation we explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country

forever. The people to a true issue. Finally maybe this would lead rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our health care system. Listen to law and Crime's Luigi, exclusively on Wondery+. You can join Wondery+, in the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple podcasts.

You know those creepy stories that give you goosebumps? The ones that make you really question what's real? Well, what if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories are not found in haunted houses or abandoned forests, but instead in hospital rooms and doctor's offices. Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

And each week on my podcast, you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling, they stumped even the best doctors. So if you crave totally true and thoroughly twisted horror stories and mysteries, Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries

should be your new go-to weekly show. Listen to Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Spotify or Apple podcasts. The problem is he could have got four years in prison for this. Oh, so because he said I'm guilty, they were lenient because of that.

The judge and he's evil, can evil. Right. The judge could have very easily said, great, four years in state prison. Goodbye. Enjoy. Say hi to Charles Manson for me. Cause that's who you're gonna be hanging out with That's crazy. So But anyway, they said he would soar like an eagle on July 4th Though before that happened he had to go through the garbage like a dump or a jail like a seagull is the way he put it It's gonna be a seagull here Yeah

He would do all of that the old evil Knievelvel, American Daredevil, American icon, was going to be back, boys. One last time a reporter asked, do you have a death wish? And he said, I do have a death wish. I'd like to die in bed with a good looking broad when I'm 103. That's a death wish? Is that what he said? Yes, that's what he said to a guy who was writing it down and recording it. So a death wish is not...

That's his wish for death. That's his... He just... A death wish is not a fantasy in which you die. You want to die right now, you don't care. He's like, my ideal death, let's see, how would I wish to die? At 103 in the arms of a hot broad.

Do you have a death wish? I do, a beautiful woman sucks my soul out of my penis. At 103. And I shrivel at 103. Yeah. What the fuck? Soon as I come, I turn to dust. That was the last bit of moisture I had in me.

I turn to dust and I fall apart You know that part where people die and they're they're they're in pain. I'd like to come and then die Just mummify immediately and break into a thousand pieces. That's what I'd like Would you expect anything less from evil though, honestly if you're asked that that's what he says it's fascinating He doesn't know what death wish means no Death he's defying death every time he starts all the time Every day fucking crazy. Yeah, I got one for you. What's yours? I got one for you. What's yours? Try this one for a second.

Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second.

Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second.

Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Try this one for a second. Sounded hollow and flat, desperate. This was certainly was an attempt to rekindle the feeling, the excitement of the weeks before Snake River. Many of the same words and components dusted off and presented again.

But now, well, everyone had seen Snake River, everyone had seen a lot more of evil, everyone had pretty much had enough. This is the end of a fad's run here. Right, yeah. You know, and things are changing. this is the end of a fads run here. Right, yeah. You know, and things are changing. 1970 and 1977 are completely different times. Absolutely.

Couldn't be more fucking different than that. So it's just a different thing. The absence of specifics for evil in a haystack, quote unquote, was a giant indicator that the event would never happen. There was no deal with any casino on the books, there was no deal with any television network, there was no deal period for anything more

than the rented room with the Sheraton, the chairs and tables, the buffet spread, and the words in the air. The Sheraton. The Sheraton, apparently this was nice, because I remember last time you were saying this is where Telly Savalas was staying, filming Kojak. Yep, Sheraton's used to be like fucking, they were great. Then they all got sold and now they're all just Marriott's.

That's all. Family destination that's a little bit better than the comfort suites. I remember when we went to San Francisco one time, I stayed at the Sheraton, because it was when we were first going on the road and I heard Sheraton's were nice, so I was like, ooh, that one's,

it's like a reasonably priced Sheraton, look at me. And it was a- Yeah, I used to give that away on Double Dare. Oh, yeah, price is right. You're going fucking, you're going acapulco and staying at the Sheraton. This though was a horrible shithole actually. So I was like, oh, Sheraton's aren't nice anymore.

Stop staying there. The one that fucked me, because I always thought was really nice. It's the hotel in DC near near Franklin's grave. Oh, no in in in Philly you mean Philly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You said DC. Yeah. Yeah, that's Careful I don't remember either shit. I remember you just talking about it Fuck we're meeting at the grave to get weed that time It is a Hyatt Can't trust anything anymore, they're all one

But the Hyatt specifically are like really really fucking bad and I think it's a high. I don't remember. God damn it. It's driving me nuts, but whatever They used to be so nice and then yeah, they're just pieces of absolute shit Absolute dog shit all the all the the porcelain on the tub was chipped off and that's fine rusted I just paid $230 And that's the crazy part I'm like a Friday night in a decent like in a big city $230 hotel rooms a red flag that's gonna be bad. Yeah, be a shit. Yeah, you got to pay more if you don't want to Which is expensive. That's crazy. Yeah, I was trying so hard to actually like leave the place with money

So I was yeah, I was like trying to save money. This is when we first started where we first started touring Yeah, we're playing smaller venues and it was there was a profit margin when windum So dumb yeah, don't stay at windums. Those are bad Those are bad. Yes, They used to be nice. Yes, you are absolutely right. Fuck, what happened? What happened to the world? What's going on, dammit?

Yeah, yeah. So, evil they say. Newspapers across the country mainly ran a little people in the news note the next day from the Associated Press or UPI or Reuters. Mostly another, hey, look at this bit from Nonsense Hollywood. This is not a front, he thought this was gonna be

a front page and it's just like a little blurb like, oh, Evil Can Evil, remember that guy? He said this dumb shit too. This old man said some crazy shit. We had to hear about his death wish. Said some stupid shit. Sounds great. The Valley News, a suburb in Los Angeles daily, actually added some outside

expertise to the story. A reporter called the LA County Medical Association and the State Board of Medical Quality Assurance to ask about the feasibility of removing someone's spleen so that someone could be dropped from a World War II bomber. The reply was that operation would be, quote, totally insane, very improper, and a highly questionable procedure. Absolutely. Yes. To get a doctor to do that would be like finding a doctor that would give a 12 year old a vasectomy.

Like that's not goes. Not that I'm saying it's a terrible idea. But your doctors generally won't do it until you're either older or have a couple of kids. They won't just get some, you know, young guy. We should circumcise and then vasectomize babies and then be like, you have to earn children. You have to earn your vasteferins to be untied, whatever the fuck they're called. You have to earn that.

Untied, whatever it is. Untied and made whole again. Maybe that's a thing. We have to, you put in like an application when you're like, I would say about 28 at the earliest. That's the earliest you can put in an application. You can't put one in before that. It comes with a W-2.

You gotta show how much you make. Oh no, it's a whole process. No, I want an interview, like a panel, like a parole board almost. I want a panel. I don't know who's in charge of this panel or anything. So I'm back to you. Me and you.

It's fine. Me and you are on it, I know that much, and then we'll get a third person, we'll figure it out. But I don't trust anybody else with this. I'm voting no, probably about 90% of the time. I was gonna say, we're gonna have to agree on it all the time, and me and you are gonna confer, and I feel like we'll be in agreement on 99% of these.

Most of the time, I'm just gonna look at the traffic on the main freeway of every town they live and be like, nope, too full, can't do it yet. No, we're still, the line at the Burger King drive-thru is still a little long. I'm gonna go ahead and deny this. So the highly questionable procedure. The entire enterprise was highly questionable. He said, quote, I've earned millions of dollars through the years facing the greatest competitor in life. That is death, is what he wrote in response to a letter

to the editor from James M. Perry, a former commanding officer for the US Army Golden Knights parachute team, who questioned all the facets of the Haysa stack jump here. Evil said, uh, quote, I enjoy life. I love to live every day, hoping it will never end. I do my best to see that it does not. There are two things that have kept other men from doing what I'm going to do.

One is fear, and the other is the sudden stop when you hit the ground. He left out his third reason. No one cared. No one gave a shit. That's the thing. No one. That's why no one would do this because no one cares They said the announcement of the stunt was pretty much as far as that stunt ever went and the stunt man himself went to jail. Oh So yes, he's got to go to jail here he's got to go check himself in at the at the you know, the county jail here, which is like on the sixth, seventh, eighth floors or some shit of the justice building there in LA. So they're saying he could be out of jail

in four and a half months for good behavior. And the judge, when he was sentenced, Knievel told the judge that he'd been a brawler all his life. He said, I'm a fighter and I stand up for what I believe in. Yeah. That's what he said. That's why he did this. You also stole things. You're also a piece of shit. Dude, he showed up like all fucking to jail, all happy hellos and everybody. Hey, how you doing? Good morning. Good morning.

How are you? Shown up in a blue leather outfit like a crazy person. Hell yeah. Big sunglasses on. Rockstar, yeah. Yeah, he's, the reason why, well they asked him too, how'd you feel about the sentence? He said, I think the judge was fair.

Said he's a good, judge is a good judge. He's a fair judge, that's what he said. So the thing that he's in such a good mood about that nobody else knows is that he has put in an application and his lawyer's working it through the system to get him out on work release. To where he- He's not even gonna go to jail.

He'd be able to leave at 6 a.m. and come back at fucking midnight basically. Just have a nap there. He's gotta go have a nap in jail, that's it. Or nine o'clock I think he's gotta be in. Six to nine and then- Nine hours. But there's a three hour grace period, so it's it. Or nine o'clock I think he's gotta be in. Six to nine and then. Nine hours. But there's a three hour grace period,

so it's midnight, let's be realistic here. I. Yeah. So he knows that this is in the works and the press doesn't, so that's why he's in such a good fucking mood here. Yeah. If the application is approved,

he would leave the jail in regular clothes, every day at six, and go about his duties until 6 p.m At night, but then later on it turns out to be 9. So I don't know what they're talking about here they said he could be out of jail in four and a half months and So he's sentenced he admits that you know He's he doesn't want to go to jail, but you know got to do gotta be a man take your fucking medicine basically The judge told him by the way no affront justifies such retaliation It sets a terrible example the judge went on to basically say that listen you're supposed to be this

You you talk about how you are the like idol of youth and like you can't this isn't an example to set for kids The fuck is wrong with you and evils like I think you should teach kids to stand up for what they believe in And jump out of bombers jump out of bombers The problem is though. I know the reason why he didn't just get of oh That's another evil Knievel thing a lot of people said is because it was two-on-one They he had some some goon with him to help him beat this guy up with a bat which made him look Yeah, that's pretty shitty if he showed up and in the fucking 20th century Fox Cafe Fuck your hands through his jacket on the floor on the ground and said I'm challenging you mister

I'm gonna kick your fucking ass right now me and you were gonna step outside and then he did it Nobody would have probably given a shit You know what I mean? Cuz that's what Frank Sinatra used to do it And nobody fucking cared cause he'd show up and go, Hey asshole, you know, let's go outside. Motherfucker show up at bars. So anyway, yeah, the book goes on to say, Knievel was handed 180 days in Los Angeles County jail,

plus three years probation. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of four years in state prison or to the one year recommended by the district attorney and a deputy probation officer here. The deputy probation officer, Ann Burnett here, called it a cowardly act. This was not even a one-on-one confrontation. Yeah, man held him down.

Yeah, he got held down and beaten with a bat. So he needed a weapon and another guy. What the hell is that? So this sentence was seen as lenient, obviously, for pretty brutal attack here. The judge, Judge Edward Radifi, while he said that quote, long ago we abandoned the concept of frontier justice here in California and in the civilized world, he also praised Knievel's guilty plea, said it's very refreshing for the court to have a defendant charged with a serious crime walk in and openly admit his guilt. Really

makes everything a lot easier for everybody. If everybody just did that even if they didn't do it we could really just get people cruising through here this would be like a free-flowing artery right now just all these people saying they didn't do it it's just clogging everything up man. Christ. So they said just all take the rap for Christ's sake. Even if you didn't do it. Have some respect for my schedule you know what I mean that's all I'm asking. He said Knievel said he thought the judge was fair on his way out of court. The idea of six months in jail did not seem to bother him. He would set off on a trip through the California penal system that was alternately comic, embarrassing, and flat out sad.

It was a Hogan's Heroes, McHale's Navy sort of sitcom wackiness that grabbed headlines and attention on the surface, that crazy old evil Knievel, but a tale of further self-destruction underneath. What he didn't realize was that the train of slowly accumulated gravy was leaving the station, taking away the pieces of the extravagant life that he had built and try as he might, he would not know how to stop it. The old tricks weren't working anymore.

That's what the book says. And that's it. I mean, he, like I said, he's putting out plenty, but he is not taking in anything. Yeah. I'm making any money. Yeah. And it's not like he was making good investments or anything like that. He stuck his money in a fucking literal vault, played with it, and then went and spent it. Let his friends come over and do backflips in it. No shit, and God knows what the IRS is going to have to say and everything else. So the book goes on to say,

Public perception had changed. He convinced no one with his boasts of frontier justice. He tried to say that he needed assistance because his hands were still broken from the shark tank crash, but no one believed him. Two on one was two on one and America didn't like that. One guy here is an agent who represented shit, George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, all these different people. He said the biggest problem with fame is that people begin to think everything is forever.

Fame and all the things that come with it are lent to you. You don't own them. You have to pay rent. And when you don't pay the rent and people know when you don't, then everything can disappear. You kill your franchise. True. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. The the the you have to be a certain amount of legend before you can. your franchise. True. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be a certain amount of legend before you can, that's untarnishable almost, you know what I mean? It's like. You gotta be, fuck man. You gotta be Elvis legend. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I mean. You have to be Elvis or I mean, look at what fucking, look at what OJ, you know what I mean? Like he was a hero. Yeah. Fucking look at what OJ. You know what I mean? Like he was a hero and You know that even people turned on him obviously after he almost decapitated his wife But you know when people first happened people were like no not OJ. He didn't do it. Nobody believed it

So a story in the National Enquirer appeared in his last days of freedom Evil Knievel's lavish lifestyle was the article title. It proved to be a final celebration of his affluence. Harry O's shot of evil loading the 38 Smith and Wesson, the I don't pose for anyone pose. Remember that? Yeah. Sat nicely under the headline. A picture of the recently departed Evil Eye 1 feed ship was included, along with a picture of evil leaning against the front fender of one of his Ferraris.

Though the story mentioned the subject's upcoming incarceration, the tone was curious as if nothing had happened, a celebration of his good fortune and fiscal folly. He said, this is a quote from the article from Evil, quote, I met the Shah the other day, the Shah of Iran that the... S-H-A-H, yeah. Yeah yeah that they overthrew in 79 or whatever 78 and he said you bought more planes in one day than I've bought The prisoner to be said meaning the Shah of Iran who was the richest man in the world at the time Yeah Knievel listed one more time the spoils of his profession

He claimed, yes, he once bought seven airplanes from Beech Aircraft at one time, owned a total of 11 airplanes, two of them Learjets. He once, of course, also owned 13 boats headed by the feed ship, which he admitted had been leased and now had been returned. He said, quote, I gave it back to the guy I leased it from because I felt sorry for him. He's going through a divorce. Not I can't afford it, which is the, he missed payments on it and the guy took it back. Other point is the Shava Ran is the most wealthy person on the planet and you quote unquote, outbought airplanes with him.

You can't do that. You're not even in the top 10 riches on the planet. You're not in the top 50 in our country. Never mind in the world. Like you're not in the top 1000. No, you're not literally embezzling a country's oil resources to your own personal accounts. That's crazy. Like at this point, we like trying to compete with Putin. Like, well, he just steals all of their money so you can You say what's Russia's GDP and he goes let me check my chase account hold on and he goes

I have to type up Same thing with this shit. So Yeah, he feels bad for him. He rounded off the estimates for the jewelry and cars, but he did say he had a late addition to his garage, the $129,500 white and gold Stutz convertible, the only convertible Stutz ever made. He claimed he paid 675,000 in taxes the previous year. His story read like a trip through life's checkout lane. This was the pile of high calorie stuff

that had been amassed. A careful reader noticed that there wasn't a fruit or vegetable involved. Quote, if I lost it all tomorrow, I haven't lost anything. I've had the gracious hand of God on me to let me live a dream of a life. Did I tell you about my death dream, by the way? Right, death wish.

Oh man. So, oh by the way, Right. Death wish. Oh man. So oh by the way once his conviction went through Harley Davidson withdrew its sponsorship of evil. You have to. You can't. Yeah. Their whole thing was trying to not have that image of guys beating each other up with baseball bats. Yeah. And now we don't want criminals and bad men riding their bikes. Nope. And we want yuppies. We want bankers riding them. We want people who can afford them to fucking want them. That's what we want. Yeah, we want to sell you a $40,000 bike and have you put $40,000 worth of accessories on it.

That you bought from us. We want you to walk into a dealership and buy one, not like put one together out of parts you found lying around from other people's shit. They literally had a Chrome card. That's what it was called, because you would buy it and then go buy all your chrome with it. Oh my god.

You would apply for it and then go, I mean, you're buying it. You've got a fucking annual fee. That's wild. What's my chrome APR? Anybody know? 1994. So the book goes on to say about the LA County jail. This is a Lou Mack here, quote from him.

He's one of the residents of the jail at the time. He said, there were some serious convicts in that place, some hardcore criminals, some guys serving life. All those County, if they were there, it was for court appearances. They're not serving life in County, but they could be in County while serving life to go for court appearances and shit There were stabbings and beatings. I had threats against my life I got up on some guys bunk one time and he didn't like that and the word went out that he was gonna kill me Just for that. I went an entire week without ever sleeping until it got resolved

So they said the serious cons were supposed to be on another floor, but they'd get to move around. They'd come down to our floor at night to have sex with the gay guys. The guards were in their pocket. There you go. Mack was a resident in the next cell when Knievel arrived at cell number 11. The moment brought a touch of excitement to Bored Lives.

Yeah, if you're bored sitting in jail, here comes Evil Knievel, that's something new. Everyone knew who Knievel was. A crowd gathered to watch the famous man now wearing prison clothes examine his new six by 10 foot living quarters, an area sometimes shared by as many as four prisoners at a time.

He said, I got a yacht bigger than this. That was his quote. Okay. Now the people in jail. Your motorcycle's bigger than this that was his quote Now the people in jail Yeah, your car is twice as that yeah now the people in jail love this shit. They love it sure yeah They love it. He's like society forgets about those people. We don't give a yeah He's like the most successful pimp ever and he just got put in the cell blog They're like this guy's awesome fuck. Yeah. So he's like a hero in jail.

Everybody likes this fucking guy in jail. So here's a little quick thing here, a little story from the book. I love when they start out a story and it's just a side bar. One night, not so long after Knievel got out of jail for whacking Saltman, that's way past this in the story, he went to a place called the Red Rooster

on his round of Butte bars. He wound to a place called the Red Rooster on his round of Butte bars. He wound up gambling, played Texas Hold'em, caused a scene, one of those turn over the table kind of scenes that shut down the game for the night. Knievel was mad at the dealer, a woman. He called her a long line of terrible names and made her cry before he finally left. The game was backed by a large-sized guy named Jimmy Dick. Jimmy Dick, who was not on the premises that night. The dealer was his girlfriend. Okay, Jimmy Dick sounds like he doesn't take much guff. You know what I mean?

No, that's a man with two slang worms for penis as his name. That's his whole name. Don't mess with that guy. No, that's a lot. It's Jimmy Schlong Dick. He might as well be named. That's a The lot going on there. So I'm the pecker and he runs Butte, Montana card games like that's yeah Yeah Dick who did not know evil but certainly had heard about him forever put retribution on a to-do list for further action The time came soon enough.

Evil was back at the bar within weeks, noisy as usual, when Jimmy Dick and Terry Richards, another large sized guy, arrived after an all-day rock concert. Terry Richards acted first. Hey, are you Evil Knievel? He asked. Yes I am, Knievel answered. Would you sign this cocktail napkin for me? Knievel signed with his usual autograph flourish?

Happy landings evil Knievel Terry rich that's nice Terry Richards. He's got to have a thing to say yeah Terry Richards took the napkin rolled it into a ball put it in his mouth and ate it his eyes never left evils as he chewed What he could have just thrown it on the floor. It would have given the exact same throwing it down on the floor would have given the exact same message without having to eat a cocktail napkin. But also that's now going to land in the toilet. Yeah. Happy landings in my poop. That's what that is. Uh, Jimmy Dick then came into the picture.

He planned to kick Knievel's ass. Wait a minute, I know about you, Knievel said. Jimmy Dick, I've heard of you. A conversation followed. The result was vintage Knievel. He brought out the old pie. He brought the old mental positive mental attitude, the W. Clement Stone PMA, his insurance bullshit from back in the day words followed more words and Jimmy Dick not only was convicted convinced not to

inflict great bodily harm but was now the newest employee of Evil Knievel he hired him he hired him he's I don't want to get my ass beaten in this bar so I'm gonna hire this guy instead yep he was Evil Knievel's bodyguard and they were going to Australia. Okay, the lore of Australia was that nobody knew much about Shelly Saltman in Australia, the whole crime thing. Promoters wanted Evil's name to attach to a multi-act thrill show they would take across the country. 44 cities in nine weeks. Australia has 44 cities? country, 44 cities in nine weeks. Australia has 44 cities? Wow.

I was gonna say, I could name seven maybe that have people in them and then the rest are what? And I think eight, when I say that, I think I'm exaggerating, I don't think I can name eight. I think I got Adelaide. Adelaide, sure, yeah. Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne. Melbourne, done, that's it.

I'm out, you name another one, I'm gonna be fucking shocked. Oh, damn it. Oh, there's gotta be more, I know there's more. The Gold Coast is an area, but I don't know if that's a city. No, there's more in the Outback, there's a couple in there. You also got the Outback, is that a city? There's the Outback. Yeah, Australian listeners more in the outback. There's a couple in there. You also got the outback.

There's the outback. Yeah, Australian listeners, by the way, this is the extent of what the rest of the world knows about you. This is how you've cracked America. They know this, and that's not a knife. This is a knife. That's all we fucking know about you.

Understand that. And your koalas have sexually transmitted diseases. All of them Wow What is the because we've done episodes where there's teams over there and I can fucking can't That's He didn't have to take big risks mostly ride around and make way for a kid daredevil, Dave Buggins, a 16 year old, an Australian.

Knievel didn't want to go, but he did like the upfront money, the advance, so he went to Australia. The tour was a mishmash that could have been predicted. Knievel was drinking, impossible to handle. From the time he refused to talk at the opening press conference in Sydney, to the time that he decided the facility in the town of Griffith did not meet his standards and he refused to perform, to his eventual break with the show in Wagga Wagga? After only 8 of 44 dates, he made it clear he didn't want to be there. Jimmy Dick watched the entire scene.

Knievel did not like being the second banana. Every night the Australian announcer would make the jumping sound like a competition between Knievel and the Australian kid Dave Buggins. Every night Knievel would do a little jump. Every night the kid would be spectacular. It was part of the show. Australia beats the United States. It's like a wrestling show. Sure. Yeah. Japan, they bring the American guys over there and they

have a Japanese guy beat him. That's it. Dick would watch the show with Buggins' father. The kid did spectacular things, rode inside some kind of iron ball, leapt over 14 cars, was routinely young and fearless. His father was excited. He kept asking for Jimmy Dick's opinion. How good was this kid? How good really? The father obviously wanted Evil Knievel's friend to say that his son was better than Evil Knievel. So Jimmy Dick finally said,

look, your son can really ride a motorcycle. He's great. That means he's got about 5% of this business covered. They said no better explanation of Evil Knievel's success had ever been given. Yeah, that's great, he can ride the motorcycle. Can he be full of shit? Can he draw a crowd?

Can he fucking do all of these other crazy Evil Knievel things that he does? Can he be a ringmaster of a one man circus? Can you do that? Yeah. That's a big deal. Is that possible? So that's a big deal.

Ask Robbie Knievel. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Even with his name. His name gave him half of that and he still couldn't do it. So here's an article November 30th, 1977 from the Star Ledger here. And it says, Evil's fall from grace is a jolt for ideal toy. The company there. His It was a huge seller. They said Evil Knievel may have created more problems than he realized when he

recently assaulted his former agent. Knievel not only had to face law for his actions, but he may also have shattered the faith, the faith of millions of adoring fans. In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This a silent starts firing at him and the suspect he's been identified as Luigi Nicholas manjani became one of the most

divisive figures in modern criminal history was meant to sow terror is awoking the people to a true issue. Listen to law and crimes Luigi exclusively on one degree plus enjoying one degree plus one degree app Spotify or Apple podcasts. In the early hours of December 4th 2024 CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This a silent starts firing at him and the suspect he's been

identified as Luigi Nicholas man, Johnny became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history was meant to sow terror is walking the people to a true issue listen to law and crimes Luigi exclusively on one degree plus enjoying one degree plus one degree at spotify or Apple podcasts. In the early hours of December 4th 2024 CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the

streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him we're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world. And the suspect he has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history was targeted premeditated it meant to sow terror. I'm Jesse Weber host of Luigi produced by law and crime and

twist this is more than a true crime investigation we explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country forever. The people to a true issue. I mean maybe this would lead rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our healthcare system. Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. The impact of evil's outburst perhaps can best be a scene in yesterday's announcement

by the ideal toy corp that its third quarter loss would approximate the company's 1.6 million dollar profit in the first half of its fiscal year so evil literally turned a company's Money upside down with this everyone stopped buying the toy. That was it ideal manufacturers and markets a broad line of evil Knievel action toys. The company puts falling sales on Knievel products at the top of the list for reasons of its poor third quarter performance. They were all in the Hollis New York Company, which has a major assembly and distribution in Newark, said its earnings for the 39 weeks ended November 3

will be at or near the break even point compared with a net income of $4.2 million in the same period last year. That's a big miss there. Based on those figures Ideal's net earnings of 1.6 million in the first half of 77 will be offset by a loss of an equal amount in the third quarter. If its fiscal year ended February 3rd, the company reported earnings of 5.2 million on sales of a 136, 7.6 million. They said several factors contributed to the sharp reduction in profit margins.

Foremost was the precipitous decline in sales of the evil Knievel category of action toys. So everything couldn't have fallen off harder at the same time. He's basically, if you follow his rise and fall, he's basically has the same career arc as Paulie Shore. He really does. This just hit me, but it's fucking perfect, dude.

It's perfect. Like he started out hot. He's on MTV and Cino Man. Spring Break hot, he's on MTV, and Cino Man. Spring break and Cino Man. Spring break and Cino Man, even like Sun and Law and that shit's in the middle. Uh oh, it's starting to go, jury duty. Oh, we're in the army now, oh God.

Jesus, sitcom, Pauly, oh fuck, this is getting bad. I don't wanna know about your life. Then we don't have any tables tables available Mr. Shore and then it goes to that. Our next reservation is next month Mr. Shore. Our next reservation is when your mom dies and you take her over a comedy club because let's be realistic not one motherfucker on earth gave two shits about Paulie Shore not one comic has ever respected a fucking thing he did. And then the second his mom died, all of a sudden,

there's a new ass to kiss and it's Paulie Shores and these fucking groveling pathetic comedians do it. It's hilarious. Cause his brother handled the business. Yeah. It's fucking crazy. Yeah. They work so hard to go there to try to get passed by Pauly Shore You go I could go up there fart no a microphone It's better than anything you ever did and you're gonna tell me no go fucking not me We didn't try but like that's that would be the attitude

Pauly Shores $50 he can kiss my dick Yeah That would be the attitude. Fuck that. I don't need Paulie Shores $50. He can kiss my dick. That's too bad. Yeah. You need a 60 year old Paulie Shores to tell you you're funny. Fuck that. Old fucking Paulie Knievel over here can suck my dick. It's the same amount of time though. It's really, really crazy.

It's a 10 year window up and down. So yeah Knievel's recent conviction in the baseball bat attack and his subsequent six-month jail sentence to be served nights and weekends Certainly didn't help sell ideals toys one analyst said demand for products associated with daredevil Motorcyclist evil started softening, but even before the incident Ideals current line of Knievel's products are currently on the market, but the company isn't saying what its plans are next year.

The security analyst speculated the line will be trimmed down or maybe even phased out in the coming months. So he's not even gonna have toy income anymore. Wow, they said some of the Ideal's new product lines, such as its slotless track race cars, have been well received but not enough to offset the volume drop of Knievel items. Because they had a whole production going, I mean they're pumping them out. So that's what happened.

Now here's Evil in prison. This is what we've been waiting for. He had maybe the craziest prison experience ever here. Okay, right from the book. He was a different sort of prisoner from the start. After less than 72 hours inside the Hall of Justice as scheduled, his participation in the work release program began. He was outside again. So he was in there for two days.

Not only outside, but outside in style. His chauffeur appeared at 9.30 a.m. on a Wednesday in the $129,500 white and gold vintage Stutz and Knievel came out of the building in another superfly outfit and whoosh he was off to his business day. He had the office at Ralph Andrews Productions in Toluca Lake, the sign evil in a haystack on his door. But in a pattern that developed quickly, he spent most days at the bar of either the Sheraton Universal or the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He's hanging out at the polo lounge.

That's not jail. That's crazy. The other work release prisoners went mostly to menial jobs, traveling by bus back and forth to work in factories or farms to pick vegetables or to wherever they could find any kind of employment. Knievel rode in the Stutz every day off to the Polo Lounge. His publicist defended it by saying that was his place of business, that was what he did for his work, talked with people. He had drinks and socializes, that's his job. Okay.

At night, back in jail, he was the same celebrity he was on the outside. Bigger, in fact. The other prisoners admired his style. He brought back pictures of himself from the Toluca Lake office, signed autographs, answered questions. He had no trouble. They loved him in there. They love a celebrity in there, because that's a guy who's not famous, I get to say I know

a famous guy. Mike Tyson went to jail. They loved him in there. It doesn't matter. It's pretty cool to say I sat across, I looked at Evil Knievel through my bars. Yeah, people like that shit. Yeah, and also what he did, it's not like he fucking diddled a kid or something. What he did they thought was cool. Broad daylight in the middle of a crowded room, he beat the shit out of somebody with baseball bat. They think that's awesome I know people that that met Aaron Roth or Aaron Hernandez and were jacked about oh We know a guy that posted a picture of those two together on Facebook loaned him his phone Probably after he murdered a man probably because he didn't want to make a call

Yeah, I'm in a hotel or in the airport airport Aaron Hernandez doesn't have a cell phone. Why doesn't he have a cell phone? There's a reason. Or he, yeah, he doesn't want to use that to the co for the call he's using because of records and all that. Yeah. Well, he, he didn't have his cell phone. He used his phone and then deleted the number after using it. Yeah. What does that tell you? That's so creepy. Yep, that's wild. Yeah, our friend facilitated murder possibly. Yeah. Helped facilitate. So they said even his crime, whacking someone with a baseball bat, hey, the guy deserved it. The other prisoners recognized

the approach. Bunches of them gathered each night in his cell where he told stories about his jumps and surgeries. The crowd would extend into the hallways it was so large. He would turn serious sometimes, back to the W. Clement Stone Foundation and dispense formulas for success. He could use his own success as a lesson in how to find a straight path, how to leave a criminal life and still fulfill your dreams. So leave that behind.

If he could still do it, if he could do it, then hey, other people could do it too. Lou Mack, the fellow inmate said, he was a real big boost and inspiration to me. I was just some punk kid, a bad kid locked up in drugs and violence. He showed me how to look beyond my nose. To this day, I say that him coming to jail probably was the best thing that ever happened

to me." Interesting. Another guy here, Victor Thomas, who was serving a burglary sentence, said it amazed me that he could just adjust to being in that cell after living his extravagant life. The guy was just like one of the boys. He showed us the scars all over his body from the bad unlucky accidents he had while performing. All the plates and screws and surgeries made him look like the six million dollar man. Knievel hired Thomas, that's the burglar, known throughout the jail as a talented artist to sketch a series of pictures

detailing his stay behind bars. to sketch a series of pictures detailing his stay behind bars. Really? This is like he doesn't have a photographer, so he's got a sketch artist behind him. The pictures didn't necessarily have to show things he actually did in jail. Yeah, just evil and. Yeah, dry, evil, carnival, playing basketball in the prison yard. Quote, Thomas captured him playing basketball, guarding an inmate with an enormous Afro,

eating lunch, yeah, this is how you nailed it. That's why he's not playing basketball, he's gone all day. Signing autographs, signing in and out as part of work release program, sleeping in his bunk, going through a strip search, rear view. Knievel said the pictures would be used

in a future autobiography. He said, there's no cash payment for for you but Thomas would become famous when the world saw his art. Thomas said nothing ever came of it but I don't think he had any intention of coming through anyway. The work release program was nothing less than idyllic under the circumstances. Hang around the hotel bar during the day, have a cocktail, perhaps more than one, spend the night signing autographs and telling campfire stories to people who really wanted to listen.

Never show remorse, not once. Knievel was spotted one day playing golf. He was wearing yellow shoes that Doug Sanders had given him. This was better than summer camp in the mountains. This is great. Rosenfeld, the publicist, was in the back seat of the Stutz one work release morning with Knievel and some other people moving through the Hollywood smog when Knievel suddenly ordered the chauffeur to take

the right at the next driveway. The driveway led to the front gate at 20th Century, the scene of the crime against Saltman. Guards came out of their little booth to bar his way this time when they saw Knievel. It was a good laugh. The work release program was a laugh. He just did it to fuck with him. The Los Angeles Times, as often happened with newspapers and situations that are too good to be true, soon took notice.

On December 15, 1977, less than a month into Knievel's sentence, a front page story by veteran court reporter Bill Farr detailed a brewing storm into Knievel's sentence, a front-page story by veteran court reporter Bill Farr detailed a brewing storm about Knievel's work release situation. The headline was, quote, Knievel's furlough fuels controversy. An accompanying photo by Art Rogers was stretched across five columns and showed Knievel leaving jail, the chauffeur waiting next to the elongated Stutz. It was not exactly a scene out of the Birdman of Alcatraz. Yeah.

Now, the other thing the book says here that everybody noticed the leniency here, the Los Angeles Times has often happened with newspapers and situations that are too good to be true, soon took notice. They're like, is this for real? On December 15th, 1977, less than a month into Knievel's sentence,

a front page story by veteran court reporter Bill Farr, this is the same thing, detailed the brewing storm about this. And they said, if I couldn't be on this program, I'd end up having to file for bankruptcy, is what Knievel said. And that would not only hurt me and my family, but put a whole lot of people I work with out of work. But I'll have to leave that to other people to say whether it's a fair thing.

They said, do you think it's fair you get to do all this? He goes, well, I'm trying not to go bankrupt. The implication in the story was that his fame had given him a free pass. Ann Burnett, the deputy county probation officer, said again that Knievel was a totally unsuitable candidate for work furlough, and the deputy DA said that he's got no remorse. Why are we letting him do this?

He said, my focus is on deterrence. As I have mentioned, he's a public figure. He claims a special relationship with the country's youth. This status carries with it special responsibilities. Want us to try to set an example for those who may wish to follow him. Now, Knievel, this is amazing, Knievel who beat the shit out of this Saltman guy, almost murdered him, he is now suing Saltman.

Evil is suing him. For throwing my shoulder out. You know, yeah, my little oblique pull when I was swinging my bat at you tennis elbow. Now he's suing him for $210 million. Oh, come on. For what? Which is the craziest thing I'd ever, I think that's what Tracy Morgan got for almost being murdered by a Walmart truck. Yeah. Like 30 years later. Yeah. Like 30 years later. Yeah.

And almost killed a very famous person So this is crazy Wild shit, so that's what he's suing for For what does he say what? for To said it was an effort to destroy his credibility and public image the book, okay Which is you can't sue him for that so Christmas Eve 1977. It's gonna bring some joy here Yeah, this is a story from the book again on Christmas Eve out on furlough

Knievel showed up for dinner at the Beverly Hills home of JD agadasia And that's the guy he used to his former partner's promoter there this guy agadasia and had been through a rugged set of promoter there. This guy, Agadazian, had been through a rugged set of operations for cancer. Knievel wanted to cheer him up. A low public profile did not seem to be part of the plan. The daredevil arrived on a three-wheeled jet motorcycle that had been developed by Bob Truax for parades. It's got a big flame shooting out of the back. It's a fucking jet engine. He whooshed down Sunset Boulevard By the way, this can't be street legal. No that there's no way that's no way He's got a registration and like a smog check thing on this no way that happened pollutes like crazy and jet jet you will

Yeah, you can melt the fucking bumper off somebody's car behind you that should also be an issue I don't think you're supposed to do this. Setting parrises on fire down South. Yeah, as it goes. Just melting Malibu's behind you. So as he whooshed down Sunset Boulevard, pulled into the circular driveway in the Truesdale Estates with an entrance that involved noise, sparks, flames, and the usual stuff associated with jet engines. Agajanian's family rushed outside to see what the commotion was.

His son said this, this is Agajanian's son, said, Evil drove the jet cycle around a little bit more, then we all went inside for dinner. He had to leave early to go back to jail, so we all went out to see him off. It was quite a sight. Dark now, that thing roaring away with the flames coming out of the back. Exciting! The next morning, the first thing he heard, the young kid, was crying. He went out and found his mother in tears on the front lawn. Every flower, every bush, every bush, everything that she had planted had been scorched

by the flames. All singed. The entire garden was destroyed. It was this giant huge garden that was just burned to fucking crisp now. He said it was a real mess. The hand pipe of a jet engine. Good God. It was a real mess. That jet motorcycle put out a lot of heat, he said. Yeah. I would say. Okay, now here's the crazy shit. January 3rd, 1978. Well, here's the crazy shit. Like we haven't had nine parts of crazy shit. Okay, this is when Wednesday, January 3rd, 1978,

the work release situation became a mess, according to the book here. Knievel, who said he had won a big bet to open the new year when the underdog University of Washington beat the University of Michigan 2720 in the Rose Bowl behind quarterback Warren Moon Now by the way, that's the same game that Ted Bundy went out of his way to fucking watch when he was Escaped from jail and was in the Chicago area. He went to a bar to watch it when he was

Nationally wanted for murder. Yeah and escape. That's pretty fucking funny. So at the same time, in different places. Ted Bundy watched a game that Evil Knievel lost money on. Won money on. Oh, he bet on the underdog. He bet on, yeah, he bet on the underdog and won. What do you think? It's evil, he's not betting a favorite, that's boring.

Yeah, that's dumb, yeah. That's fucking boring. So he used part of his winnings to order up a dozen Cadillac limousines What for what you may ask to take his friends on a party to do like a fucking money did he make a lot? Apparently no no this wasn't that this was to transport the other 117 members of the work release program back and forth to their jobs 117 members of the work release program back and forth to their jobs

In limo in limos, they would have the $17 per hour drivers Which was just an insane amount of money back then plus Cadillac limos for the rest of the week through Sunday Wow Quote this is from evil in order that this new year 1978 be started with a feeling of friendship It is in personal gratitude that I offer the limousines and chauffeur service to my fellow inmates on a 24 hour a day basis Please accept this as an honest goodwill gesture to you and your families Wow so the publicist evils publicist The was the man who actually ordered the cars from Carrie Limousines and put out the press release

through the city news service, telling reporters that the event would happen. He drove to the Hall of Justice to see how well everything worked and he found chaos. They don't have, this isn't an award show, they don't have a giant area blocked off for limos to pull up, especially 17 of them. Where the fuck do you think that's a lot of limos, man?

Picture any normal place. Do they have room for 17 limos to line up outside? A limo is generally a car and a half, two cars, sometimes three, depending on how big the car. And you got 17? That's 50 cars. Where the fuck are they parking? So the press guy said, the publicist said,

I said, how bad could it be? And then I got there. It was like the Oscars. Oh my god. Limousines are everywhere. They created a morning rush hour gridlock. Some drivers had parked in the spaces for workers at the Hall of Justice, including the spot reserved for the sheriff.

That's excellent. You know, you're getting a ticket for that. Some had double parked in the street. Knievel, who was met by this day by his own driver in the customized Cadillac pickup truck, a customized motorcycle sitting in the back, finally was convinced by his probation officer to cancel the cars. The probation officer, Dennis Caldwell, said that the prisoners would put their work release status in jeopardy by accepting the rides. So only 10 of the eligible workers had signed up because of the threat.

So they all got their own limos, basically. The pride, they were like, I don't give a fuck. I don't care what you say about my work release. I'm riding in a fucking limo. I'm riding in Evil's limo. All alone. Chilling back there. What you say about my work release? I'm riding in a fucking limo. I'm riding an evil limo all alone Chillin back there They said the project if it was that was the right word was not viable Knievel reluctantly agreed

He said that he was disappointed that he had only acted out of friendship and concern for his fellow inmates Whom he saw struggling every day to travel to work The final words on the venture came from two of the chauffeurs. One said, quote, it seems kind of wrong to be driving criminals around in these big cars. But come to think of it, a lot of criminals drive around in Cadillacs anyway, so maybe it isn't such a mockery of justice after all. Yeah. Diddy rode one for years.

For years? Well, yeah. How many fucking, the Wolf of Wall Street rode around in one. How many disgraced Wall Street assholes and everything else ride around in those. And pimps, we have, runs the gamut. So another one said, it's kind of unusual.

We usually take people around Beverly Hills. So yeah, there you go. And Knievel was doing his own thing. So okay, here's the fallout from that Friday January 5th two nights after the limousine extravaganza An all-points bulletin was issued to local law enforcement agencies notifying them that Knievel had escaped from work release. Oh You can't you can't escape I mean guess if you don't, it's funny, not coming back is considered escaping. Yeah, that's what, yeah, if you don't show up

at a certain time, that's escape. Yep, he had not returned to custody by 9, by 9.30 after one of those polo lounge days. The rules gave him a three hour grace period. Oh, okay, you're supposed to be in by 6.30, but you can get in by 9.30, so that's what he would do every night. Okay, so you haven't been back by then. No, but you can get in by 9.30. So that's what he would do every night. So he got in. And he hadn't been back by then?

No, and after that, you're considered a fugitive. Right. After you don't be there by 9.30. So his absence was classified as an escape. He had called, told probation officer Caldwell, that he was upset by certain world news reports on television and that he was leaving the country until it, quote, straightens itself out.

He didn't specify what the it was, but it was a spokesman for the sheriff's department that said he understood that Knievel was referring to a tour of the Middle East by then President Jimmy Carter. Oh, man, you better hang tight, but it's going to get worse over there. He didn't like he didn't like that. So he's leaving the country. Okay, okay Someone suggested evil Knievel might be headed to Cuba Publicist Rosenfeld also received a call Rosenfeld wasn't home, but his wife answered evil told her in a rambling roundabout Monologue that he was upset with the breakdown in the moral fiber of the United States. Or something like that. She told him, you should go back to jail.

Make my husband's job slightly easier please. She wound up talking to him for a long time, the publicist said. He kept saying that he wasn't going back. She kept saying that he had to go back and that he'd be in too much trouble if he didn't go. I think she's the one who finally convinced him." He turned himself in at the Hall of Justice at 2 40 in the morning on Saturday. He told Watch Commander Lieutenant George Corbett, you wouldn't believe the troubles I'm having. I guess so, you're fucking five hours late. These troubles were immediately extended as he was then booked on a felony escape charge and transferred to a private cell, away from his new jailhouse

friends and his fans. They rescind his work release privileges as well. Now he doesn't get to leave. No, if he can't come back on time, he don't get to leave. I mean, that's kind of part of it. His state of mind, his fractured state of mind became part of the public record one week later. 53 days after beginning to serve his sentence, 7 days after his walkout, he appeared before the three-member LA County Board of Parole Commissioners to appeal for his freedom. It was a memorable performance. His approach seemed to come straight from a 1940s black and white cinema version of

parole board drama. He fought back tears. He pleaded. He begged. He gave a grand over the top evil-knevel performance. I need your help, he began in a shaky voice. And you could parole me this minute if you believe in me. The hearing was held in a room inside the central jail.

He was seated in a single chair in front of the panel, dressed in prison blues. He was forceful in his contrition as he was in any of his pre-jump homilies. He mentioned family, God, and Christian pop singer Anita Bryant. What? What the hell does she have to do with any of this? Didn't expect that, did you? If I said he mentioned family, God, and what's the third third thing he mentioned would Anita Bryant be the thing you thought of? Wow

He blamed the media for society's ills assholes always do that. He invoked the sadly departed image of Elvis He admitted that he was he was dead by then He admitted that he was pretty much broke that he had squandered the millions that had come his way and now owed hundreds of thousands of dollars more. He lamented the loss of his daredevil youth. He praised Judge Radifi, a fair man. He damned Hustler magazine for wanting to run a centerfold spread of Jimmy Carter's mother, Miss Lillian Nacon. That was a publicity thing. Larry Flint said, I'll give Jimmy's car, mother million dollars to pose naked across the pages. Yeah. Yeah. I assume. Yeah. That's my, it's always that with Larry Flint, isn't it?

Who knew what he looked like or sounded like before? Nobody. No idea. Woody Harrelson. That's all I know. Yeah, that was a good movie actually people versus Larry front court Courtney love in a big stretch plays a junkie. She had to really stretch it To play a crazy junkie with a famous husband who almost dies So and hers did die but anyway He missed only stray dogs orphans and split milk in his litany of sad and and split milk in his litany of sadness. His trouble-missing curfew, well, here it started with Miss Rona Barrett saying on national

television that he had been seen with quote, another woman at a cocktail lounge while on work release. That obviously wasn't true, of course not, but his wife had seen this report and his son had called him from Montana and said his mom was despondent and well, that would get to anyone. Made my wife say, meanwhile, he's been announcing, I'm going to have a fucking fivesome with these four hot young blondes tonight. Tell my wife please on his way out of a fucking out of a bar.

This is my death wish He said quote I felt society was against me that the press had treated me wrong and I didn't care for this country He said the press puts pressure on a lot of people like a guy like Elvis Presley who finally took his own life with drugs Not on purpose, but yeah. Wow. He said, I'm not a poet or a singer or a dancer. I'm a professional risk taker. And at 39 years old, there's no future for me in this daredevil business.

If you think like a young man at this age, you are dead. Two friends had flown from Butte to help bolster his case. They were met at the airport by the chauffeur and the customized Cadillac pickup truck of work release fame. A buzz of curbside interest suddenly surrounded the two men as they stepped into the cab and were driven into town. The first to testify was Gary Winston, the county attorney in Butte. He asked that Knievel be granted a transfer to Butte for post-jail probation. Winston said, I promise you it won't just be a holiday for him. The second witness was Father Joseph Finnegan, who ran a boys' home at the old Hanson packing company.

He brought an old Irish priest in to go, hi, the lad's just a, he's a troubled youth, but he keeps the other boys in line. Yes he does. Probably ought to drink that guy. Youth but he keeps the other boys in line. He's donated pallets and pallets of the Irish Spring to our little… Father Finnegan detailed Knievel's trips to the home to speak to the boys, his generosity of spirit, his invitations to both the boys and their parents to visit him at his house or on the golf course.

It was one of the few looks at any charitable enterprise by the man. He'd encourage the boys to stop smoking, the priest said. He'd give them fifty, a hundred dollars to stop. He was very good. The board listened to all of the words, asked very few questions, then decided not to decide. A special hearing was already scheduled in five days in Santa Monica before Judge Radifi. The District Attorney John Van de Kamp had decided in the end not to prosecute the felony escape charge, so the hearing was added to determine Knievel's immediate future in the California

penal system. The parole board would await the decision of the court before making its own decision. The judge apparently, not real into this, the judge said quote, if a legitimate escape charge, as we said in the Los Angeles Times, if a legitimate escape charge can be filed against Knievel, it should have been filed. I don't appreciate them throwing it back at me, but I will handle it. The judge's crankiness had turned to base-level outrage by the time the hearing arrived. Looking down from his bench at a quiet, for once, evil, he said flat out, I don't want to hear about this case anymore.

The judge then laid out the defendant with a gusto not seen since the many writers had gone to work on the Daredevil three years earlier at Snake River Canyon. Radifi characterized Knievel's beating of Shelly Saltman as an act of extreme cowardice, not frontier justice. And not, you're not a heroic avenger, he said quote unquote. The frontier justice argument was nonsense. Someone held Saltman while Knievel beat him with a bat. This was not the act of some fearless and courageous character, some childhood idol.

This was a coward at work. To Radifi, Knievel's tumultuous and very public time in jail so far had indicated how little the man understood about the severity of his crime. The judge was fed up with all of it. He felt abused by Knievel's conduct. He said quote, some of the show business stunts and PR pipe dreams like lining up limousines in front of the jail serve to inflame the public and discredit a program in which thousands of men have served with dignity.

You are not Evil Knievel the daring daredevil. You are Robert C. Knievel, an inmate with a booking number. You ought to spend the rest of your time in jail and self-examination. Do your time in jail with some dignity. Dignity is not a big word that I would put in to evil Knievel. That's a lot of other words. Doing your time, you kind of throw dignity, right?

The fuck out the window. Yeah, yeah. I said don't make a mockery of everything. So the afternoons at the Polo Lounge were done for the duration of his sentence. Work release privileges were permanently rescinded. Knievel would be shipped to the Wayside Honor Rancho in Castaic.

This was a long way from San Quentin, perhaps, a minimum security unlocked facility where 72 convicts worked as gardeners, growing the plants for the rest of the prison system, but it also was 100 miles from Beverly Hills. The fun was done. Yeah, that's real. You're just actually a real prisoner now. So, yeah, it's all in the paper that the judge fucking rescinded everything. It's a big deal. Judge gives Evil Knievel a good tongue lashing is a big headline in the paper. Yeah. Evil loved it by bent over and took it.

Rolled my eyes back in my head. Man. So they said the important news about Knievel during his work release folleys. It had been less than two months. Remember since he entered jail, less than four months since he attacked Saltman had taken play like tax. Saltman had taken place, uh, further back in the papers than many of these curious adventures on page one, often not in the papers at all. Quiet items about business decisions being made, about lawsuits filed and lawsuits decided, loans called in or rejected, properties seized.

This is where the true punishment was being delivered. A t-shirt company in Helena wanted money for shirts that had been made, shipped and never paid for. Watchamacallum's helicopter service still wanted the money for services rendered during the canyon jump. Right. Years ago. Years ago.

The town of Twin Falls wanted money for cleanup. The provider of portable toilets still wanted their money for all that shit. In Bell Harbor, Florida, the Transit Charter Company wanted $50,000 for the D. Robinson renovations of the 116-foot feed ship, Evil Eye 1, that had not been authorized. They're fining him for that. The US government wanted money from back taxes. The bill, with interest, had now crossed the $3 million mark. Three, he owes the IRS. What the fuck?

Three million dollars. And the interest is insane on that money. It's gonna be five million every month. It's crazy. It's fucking crazy. And those motherfuckers, even if you get an extension, they still charge you fucking interest. No, no, no.

It's not an extension of a pause. No. Of we'll give you an, it's not an extension of a pause No of will give you an that's what an extension is is we won't fuck you They go. Oh, no, no, no, you will we'll put you in jail, but you're gonna pay a fuckload more. That's what that is Every day fucking cunts. So these state but but if you overpay throughout the year We'll give you it back just that money. Yeah money Yeah, I want to charge them fucking interest for hanging on to my money. Give me my interest. Yeah, what the fuck nice Yeah, late fees for not oh, but it's all on you all on your math anyway, so yeah, I'm supposed. I'm a fucking yeah I'm supposed to know fucking tax. I'm an actuary now. Thanks. I'm gonna do all my math Yeah, I'm my own CPA, I gotta know all this. The state of Montana wanted the money.

The list didn't seem to end here. Oh, they wanted money too. Oh yes, a civil suit by Shelly Saltman for unspecified but sure to be costly damages already had begun to climb its way through the process. Our hero's working capital had pretty much disappeared simply because he had spent everything, his credit line had also now disappeared in a hurry. Unable to generate new interest in

his career no matter what he did, even offering his spleen to the daredevil gods, importing limos for convicts, crying and pleading before the parole board, his prospects had disappeared. The biggest blow of all came from the Ideal Toys company. Zeke Rose, the PR veteran of the Snake River toy, had delivered the company's blunt appraisal for the future of the Evil Knievel line on the day Knievel went to jail. The marketplace would decide Christmas would be the test.

The company was not happy with the events in Los Angeles. They said the company realizes and recognizes that it sells its products to children and that it has a responsibility to the children and their parents. Christmas had arrived and departed. Sales, which had begun to shrink before the attack, had disappeared from the charts.

So the Knievel toys had been responsible for 18% of Ideal's $137.6 million sales during the previous fiscal year. So that's almost 20% of your, that's a lot. That's not good, yeah. That's big, one in $5 comes from there. They had been the company's biggest seller for the past three years.

Now before the end of this fiscal year, they were discontinued. All done, they're wrapping them up. Done. Yup. They said that the wine-trob, the president of Ideal Toys, knew the news before Christmas. He sent the goodbye letter on December 14th, 1977. Dear evil.

Yeah. He's getting a dear evil letter. I would like- It's worse, yeah. It's so worse, yeah. Yeah. Because also you're in pain and you want to have your spleen removed, so it's much worse. I would like to take this opportunity to clear any misunderstandings which may exist concerning ideal and its relationship with you and the toys that bear your name. During the last five years, the sale of more than $100 million in Evil Knievel toys has

been a revelation to the toy industry and testimony to your popularity and ability to make quality products. It marked the first time that a successful toy was marketed bearing the name of a real person. Previous such efforts and successes were limited to dolls. Despite the quality and durability of the toys and your heroic exploits and public concern for the safety and welfare of children, the sale of Evil Can Evil toys were destined to decline. This year that decline was sharper than anticipated. I've always felt that our relationship was rewarding both personally and professionally

and trust you will emerge from your present difficulties to achieve whatever new goals you've set for yourself. May the new year bring you and your family peace, health, and happiness. And no money. And not another fucking dime from us. Whatever goals you've set for yourself. Like not to be bankrupt. So they said based on what happened last fall,

there's no reason to continue production. As with Zeke Rose said as the company made the official announcement on March 28th, 1978 that it was taking the toys off the market. So yeah, now Evil, still at the Wayside Honor Rancho when the ideal announcement was made. He'd been, shit been quiet there except for a three-day emergency trip to the USC Medical Center in February because one of the penal system's doctors had read his spinal x-rays and worried that paralysis

might be imminent without an operation. They were like, holy shit, this guy's a disaster. The doctors at USC didn't agree, and the good behavior at Wayside, in the end, won him parole, an early release on April 12th, 1978. A week before that release, he had Rosenfeld, his publicist, distribute a letter to the media detailing his new financial status.

His point was that his time in jail, not his attack on Saltman, had knocked him low, and he hadn't been able to work. It said, quote, last year at this time, I had 16 boats, three of them yachts with a value of about $5 million. I've had to sell them all with a value of about $5 million. I've had to sell them all with the exception of three speed boats and one 80 foot yacht.

You poor, oh what a poor, he only has one yacht now, Jimmy. I had to unload down to two. Fuck man, that's crazy. Yeah, that's the day that I will shave my armada down to three yachts. I'm done. I can't have it. Or three boats, no way.

He says, my Navy sure is decreasing in size. He said he had two houses left. One in Butte for the summer, Fort Lauderdale for the winter, which were all the houses he ever had. But now he said, I only have two houses left, even though that's all he ever had. He never had three.

He said he sold all but the largest of his diamond rings. He estimated that through the years all of the evil Knievel products, the toys, the bicycles, the pinball machines had combined for sales of over $180 million and he said his profits from that figure were what had financed his lifestyle. He said things are tough but I think I can make it. Newspapers across the country had a lot of fun with this. The headlines were like, quote, Evil Knievel down to his last yacht. With the change in his situation.

Yeah, before he went into jail, an article came out showing off everything he has. By the time he gets out. He's poor He's only there for six months the fucking less. He did five months That is wild So it's the speed to which it happened was staggering they say in the book not much more than a year earlier He'd been getting ready for the jump over the pool of sharks ramping up the interest the movie Viva Viva Knievel was gonna hit in July.

The toys were still selling. He'd signed a deal with ABC to do some commentary and a few jumps. He had a future. Now he was pretty much broke. How could that be? A few minutes after midnight, in the first hour of April 12th, 1978,

Knievel was released from the county jail at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. He'd served four months and three weeks of six-month sentence. So that's a lot. He was on probation for the next three years. The superfly outfit was gray this time. The attitude still was unrepentant. Quote, I feel the majority of society understands the reasons for my actions, he said.

This was his continuing colossal misread of public opinion, or maybe his simple stubbornness. Butte, Montana was not America. Society didn't understand at all. He would never do another jump on network television. He would never be a rich man again, though he would try to keep that appearance. He would never be in demand again.

On Friday night back at the Sheraton Universal, he threw himself a welcome home party. The honored guests were mostly convicts from the LA County Jail who had been released before he was. Awesome. Toothpick, T-bone, come to my party. Hey, come on over here. But also some guards and some friends.

There was a lot of singing prison songs. A PR agent Rosenfeld was in attendance. One of his last acts working for Knievel. He had one enduring memory. Quote, somewhere in the night, Evil was in a lot of pain. A doctor appeared from somewhere and gave him an injection right there at the table, right into his hand. I'd never seen anyone get an injection into his hand. What kind of injection?

Like an IV. Oh my God. Like a pain killer injection. Oh I guess on the top of his hand? IV. I think a painkiller. Yeah painkiller. So yeah this goes on to this is a funny thing from a newspaper here. This is is Evil Knievel sorry for the attack. Question did Evil Knievel after he went to jail for hitting a fellow with a baseball bat ever apologize for the attack. That's from a reader of this newspaper. Answer, no. In a four-page letter from the Miro Loma Honor Farm, where the bat boy is serving six months

for assault on a Fox TV executive, he wrote, I'm not sorry. There's a phrase in the Declaration of Independence which says, in effect, that when you feel your God-given rights are being violated, oppressed, or tread on, you have the right, no not the right but the obligation to revolt. I did by hitting a man with a baseball bat which by law is considered a deadly weapon. I did it, I'm not sorry for it and I'm doing my time in jail with no special treatment for breaking the law. Okay, that's... Not a drop of special treatment.

That's insane. Here is an article about the Australia series where it's this is from Australia and the headline is teenage stuntman's feet puts evil Knievel to shame. Yeah. He jumped over 25 cars setting a new record 138 feet 6 inches easily beat the previous record held by Eddie kid They said famous American stuntman evil Knievels best jump was over 19 cars, which he did five years ago But while Dale Buggins was cheating death to set his name in the record books his anxious mother took a walk through the bush I was terrified to watch just in case he got hurt. Yeah, we don't have the took a walk through the bush. I was terrified to watch

just in case he got hurt. And we don't have the option to walk through the bush. So yeah, they're talking about how amazing this kid was and how he really isn't. So now we have July 19th, 1978. This is a newspaper article from UPI. Evil Knievel sued for missing show. See now he's a mess. Here we go. Knievel's being sued for $550,000 by a music company that charged he reneged on a promise for a performance two years ago. You were going to pay Evil Knievel $550,000. I hope to jump not to sing, right? Right. The suit which went to trial Tuesday in Austin was filed by Music Capital Inc Inc., which charges Knievel made an oral promise to perform a motorcycle stunt in September 76.

The company is seeking $50,000 expenses and half a million dollars it said it lost in expected profits. Knievel's lawyer H. Lee Godfrey said he did not expect Knievel to appear at the trial. He said Knievel lives in Butte and couldn't be subpoenaed to testify unless he is within a hundred miles of the site of the trial. Okay. So they also, this is right underneath it by the way. This has nothing to do with anything. But it's an article from Italy from the exact same time and the headline is, Padding Girlfriend Upheld by Judge. Ferrara, Italy. A Ferrara judge ruled Tuesday that padding one's girlfriend on the behind is no crime.

Really? Judge Guido Cavallo. Judge Guido acquitted Francesco Curdi, 26 who was arrested saturday in the village of bondino on charges of committing obscene acts in a public place his own girlfriend? his own girlfriend, it was obscene act in public not that she, he didn't assault her the arresting officer said curty repeatedly pinched his girlfriend while saying good night on her doorstep he's grabbing her ass, he's fucking Italian. Sorry, our hands wander.

Oh, he's a man. I like ass too. Feels nice on your hands. It's good stuff. Kurti, the girl, and another girl who was with them testified that all he was doing was patting her affectionately on the behind, and the judge ruled, there ain't nothing wrong with that.

That's the good of man. He said, that's a what do you do? She? She likes it. Oh she likes it so much. It's okay. She like it as she get turned on by it. That's okay then. It's okay. August 24th 1978 here. Wow there's an article here that's from the Great Falls Tribune. Man lives by repetition, but not me. I'm Evil Knievel. That's the headline here. And this says, it should have been a simple assignment. Interview Evil Knievel.

This is how this article starts in a newspaper by Jay Goley. He's at Eddie's Supper Club now and he'll be at the Heritage Inn in 45 minutes. Evil bought some paintings today and that's why he's in Great Falls. It wasn't simple at all. I'd interviewed a few senators and talked to presidential candidate named Carter once, but Evil Knievel? He was in jail in California for busting up a writer. I'm a writer.

Besides, he must have talked to hundreds of reporters better than me. What if I ask a dumb question? Will he send me away? I missed Knievel at Eddie's. Busy home changing clothes. I'd spilled an orange Julius on my pants. That's a dumb thing to do. I feel like I said, oh, it's just orange Julius.

Don't worry. That's a man that pissed his pants. No, no, it's orange. Just smell it. It's fine. Yeah. People who go to Eddie's usually look decent. I didn't, but I caught up with

him at the Heritage. The desk clerk said to look in the lounge. I should have known. Evil's not the type to closet himself in a room though as far as I can figure he had the $11,000 worth of paintings up there. Near panic I walked into the lounge and asked the bartender directions directions were easy for her. Knievel was one man down at the bar. I recognized him as soon as she pointed, but the place was so dark I expected to see him at a table surrounded by admirers.

He seemed a little apprehensive at first, but when he found out my opinion of the National Enquirer is the same as his, he relaxed. You're not one of those guys, are you? One of those. You like the National Enquirer, right? Right? No? Okay, good. So I relaxed. He relaxed. You're not one of those guys, are you? One of those. You like the National Choir, right? Right? No? OK, good. So I relax. He relaxed. So did I. It was obvious.

Evil Knievel is almost like everybody else. Only the God and his diamond rings on at least three of his fingers. The Stutz convertible outside the broken bones I know about, but couldn't see made him different. We talked about art first. Knievel considers it a good investment. Quote, I think anyone who puts his money in the bank these days is an idiot. So he bought $11,000 worth of art, a painting by Earl Heike, I don't know anything about art. Yeah, Earl Shy. It was, it was a 76 maverick. That's what that's what that's what he bought

We're going all AMC's today javelin, how about a javelin? By us and it's some silvers and bronzes by Cm Russell Knievel had trouble trouble remembering Hicca's name But said the painting was the man's last work before he committed suicide. Quote, I think he was a much better sculptor than he was a painter, Knievel says. Heike doesn't stay in the conversation long. Russell comes up. The bronze is the last bronze Indian on a horse Russell ever did. It's called some shit here. To find out the name, He pulls out a sales slip. He doesn't know what it's called either.

The price was six thousand dollars. There's more on the slip. Montana Grizzly and Buck and Deer and Silver. But I don't know the names and he puts the slip away. The Russell Museum he said it is the most beautiful contribution to the heritage of Montana we've ever seen. The art will go in Knievel's personal gallery. There are only originals there, he says. Dolly, Russell, a lot of others, mostly Americans.

He said, art costs money. The word is out that Knievel's hard up. I asked him. I am, quote unquote here, I am, or quote, I only have three diamond rings and two or three watches, he says. He had 60 horses and had to sell 40 He had 16 boats, but only two were left sold two of his four houses cut down his airplane fleet Things are tough and I had to sell some of them

Sounds terrible So what's he so what's he doing things to buy so all Stupid shit that goes down in value a second. What you buy is The dumbest things to buy. So dumb. All stupid shit that goes down in value a second, what would you buy? It's the dumbest things to buy. If he was buying a boat and then some artwork of equal value, he would have been in a lot better shape right now. So they say, so what's he doing now? He bought a six cylinder Honda from a friend, Rob Slack.

Slack runs a Honda dealership there. He's an old Knievel friend and he and his family are at the heritage to have a drink with the daredevil But they wait while we talk, but I wanted to know what Knievel is doing for a living He says he's booked solid for the next three years first There are 22 performances in Mexico in November and December then 46 in Australia next spring. We know what happened there After that there will be 50 in Japan and a number in New Zealand he did like eight ones in Australia and that's it he said and what about the big one the jump from 40,000 feet without a parachute he said it's set for July 4th 1980 yeah two years later it's been pushed kicking it

down the road and it's gonna be. We keep kicking it down the road. And it's gonna be in the Dominican Republic. He goes, they'll let you do anything down there. Yeah, fuck. Now he's like a priest finding the end day. Yeah, that's all. What, ah, snake oil, god damn it. Or a fucking stockbroker telling you

when the market's gonna turn around. Yeah. Same shit. You fucking snake oil fucker. Yep, he says he can get permission to do it in this country for one thing He wants a betting state. He said that's important because the bets are part of the plan He says there's gonna be 13 haystacks on the ground each of them 50 feet by 50 feet It's pretty big. So yeah, that's it. That's a that's a fucking bail. That's a hay bale. That's loosely held together, right?

Oh, yeah, 50 feet by 50 feet. It's a big area. That's got to have like walls to it though to hold that shit in. It has to. How are you going to hold it together? Wow. It's just grass, man. Yep. They said, what if he misses all 13? And Bevel said, you can bet on a miss too. Bet on which one I'll land on or that I miss.

So for the first time his shackles seem to rise when they ask him, are you really serious about this? He said, what other men dream of doing I do. Then he launches into an explanation. Man lives by repetition, he says. First he fought with clubs and rocks, then with bows and arrows, then with guns and bullets, then tanks and planes. It's different, but it's the same.

He'll make the jump, he says, quote, because I can fly. I'm not a product of repetition. Oh, wow. But how will he do it? He begins a story about drinking wild turkey when he was a kid and suffering from hay fever. It turns into a joke. He says, quote, I figured if I drank so much wild turkey and hit a haystack, I could fly and make it. Then he turned serious, I guess. The jump will be well planned and

he'll use a transponder buried in his body for warmth at 40,000 feet. The transponder will be used to guide him down. Jesus Christ. It also warms up. It's a warming. Yeah. Like a driver's seat of a 2018 Chevy. I know a guy with a warming pacemaker. He turns it on on cold mornings and heats them up from the inside. It's very nice. Like an engine block. That's what you've got to do. Like one of those engine block heaters in Minnesota.

He says he has so much metal in his body, another piece won't matter. A ground team made up of a Russian a Saudi Arabian a Chinese and an American quote-unquote will guide him to the landing zone they all walk into a bar yeah he says he's serious and it's not a way to commit suicide he says I have purpose for doing this when I say to the world that this will make a fine contribution to this country and society. Okay. I don't even know what about that. That's just crazy. Then he goes on to do another bad quote where he says,

God created all men and baseball bats and Winchesters made them all equal. He really, he threw baseball bats in and it's not Samuel Colt, isn't it? That's the quote. It's not Winchester. There's a whole bunch of shit there. And the, I don't know, the baseball bat

that he used was aluminum, so. Yeah, I don't think that's. And I think. Not even natural. They're pretty hard, right? Can you shoot, I don't know. Can you shoot those and put holes in them? An aluminum bat, probably. Yeah, because I, you have, yeah,

because I remember using those. It's gotta be some big fucking gauge, right? They get dents in them from baseball. They get dents in them from 12 year olds hitting them with baseball, so they gotta. They get dents? them from baseball. They get dents in them from 12 year olds hitting them with baseball. So they gotta go. Yeah, yeah, you get dents after a while. Not big ones, but any breach of the surface

from a baseball thrown by a 12 year old has to be. Throwed by a 12 year old, and you can put a dinger in it, then yeah, bullets would probably do it. Oh man. So anyway, he says that he's in Great Falls right now because his 16 year old son is in the hospital And he says he has a broken nose. He had a fight with his dad We like to drink and fight and Robbie came out second this time

Why he's 16? Robbie said he was drinking with his son and they got in a fistfight with each other. Holy. He, what the fuck, we like to drink and fight is what he said and Robbie came out second this time. The boy was on probation and came on quote unquote according to Evil and came home three hours late. Knievel said quote, it was a bad situation, but I got in a fight with him and we wrestled

and tumbled and he ended up getting a broken nose but he's still the best little boy in the world he says that he's got to be hard on his kids he said I think we got to go back to that old adage that if you really love your kid you take a whack at him the old adage is spare the rod spoil the kid he said it in a different way if you love him take a whack at him, which is a more succinct way to put it, I guess. Kids are getting in trouble on drugs, ending up dead. He said, I'd rather be called by the sheriff than the coroner. I'm sad about our society and its laws because now if you take a whack at your kid, they put you away

and society works to put your little boy away if you don't have the guts to take a whack at him. He talks for a while about Bute and his friends and all this shit and that's how this goes. This reporter says, I leave Knievel to his friends and his drinking. On the way out, I meet two men on the way in. That evil Knievel is an opportunist. I'll just say that, one says. The other man nods. I just walked to the car

Yeah, he's hospitalized in Atlanta October 12th 1978 He has to have minor surgery Wasn't planned you know to drain an abscess from his right heel You that's what I was like gross you get that that is fucking weird This is an interesting thing here. November 13th, 1978, from an article here from the newspaper in Butte. All in the family is the title. Evil Knievel's sister plans to marry

one of her brother's jailers on January 13th. This is the sister who went out with Elvis for two years. Now she's gonna go out with a fucking LA County jail guard? Wow. That is great. Douglas Sparks is his name. And wow. She says, well, yes, the way we met was a little bit different.

When my brother Bob was in jail in Los Angeles, Doug was a legal sergeant for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, her office. Doug and Evil came together frequently in that setting, she related, and Evil invited the lawman to Montana for some fishing. Robin was delegated to show him around. Two weeks later their marriage plans were discussed. Oh my God. Robin, who has an eight-year-old son from a previous marriage, said her brother had dubbed her the million dollar bride. This is because Evil said he lost a million dollars while he was in jail and now his sister

is marrying one of his keepers. Wow. This guy has two sons from a previous marriage. Robin said Evil will be the best man at the wedding in Butte. Really? Jesus Christ. November 30th here, 1978. Here he is in a fucking, look at this shit.

Here he is with a microphone and a chinchilla coat. Look at how ridiculous that is. That looks so warm. That looks so nice, doesn't it? Soft. What time of year is that? November 30th in Montana. Nice jacket.

So, Knievel's 84 year old grandmother makes no bones about how she feels television treats her daredevil grandson and she expresses herself in pure bute. This is Knievel's grandmother. Those lousy bastards. It's 84 years old. I love it. Why can't they show you making at least one good jump? They always show you falling off. Well because he constantly falls now. There's a lot more of those Knievel's a special guest at Tuesday night's boxing card has been much in the public eye for the past decade blah blah blah And he's doing just a announcing an action chilla coat here Standing in a chinchilla coat and walking stick he ate a lengthy lunch with a group of friends and the talk of

course was of haystacks and baseball bats yeah Knievel met he says with which isn't probably isn't true last week with Las Vegas gambling officials he said I want the gambling concession on which of the 13 haystacks I'm going to land in. Okay. Who's going to bet? Who would bet on that? I don't know. Knievel talks. I think 1 in 13 is pretty good chances, pretty good odds for a gambler.

That's not, yeah, that's not bad. Those aren't bad odds. He says, I'm picking up 30 million on the act. Why should I need more? Now it's 30 million he's gonna make. Wow. Asked when he would make the jump, he said, quote, I'll be honest with you. I'll make it when I'm good and ready, but until then I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth. He said, I'll start praying when I step out of that plane at 40,000 feet. He started,

it just goes through all his old motorcycle drunk bullshit here. He says that, you know, he thinks that a lot of people root for him to die and it'll be easy to root for him to die because he's jumping out of a fucking airplane. So why not? He says also another explanation of his attack on Saltman. He said you accept a man as a friend you give him love trust and confidence and when he turns it into something else for a lousy hundred thousand dollar profit, you feel betrayed." He did admit that about 80% of the book was true. He said it was the remaining 20% that really made him mad.

Sticks in your craw, sure does. He said, I stood up for my rights with a baseball bat. Declaration of Independence says I have the right. First of of all you're not given rights by the Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence was a letter to England saying what we were gonna do and to the rest of the world saying you mean the Constitution yeah And that they you don't have a right to that so anyway That's what he's doing. He said I can't buy life insurance, so I buy diamonds. He's doing the same old shit here He revealed the reason for planning his haystack jive dive sans parachute

He said I have hay fever and I drink wild turkey whiskey the way I look at it if I hit one of those 13 Haystacks, it'll cure my hay fever And they said what if you miss and he said then I'll stop drinking. Oh Yeah, you'll stop everything Jesus Christ, so he's basically trying to reestablish his same horseshit story That's I mean, there's countless newspapers of him He goes to whatever town he's in and that newspaper will have a story of, I went and met evil in the back of this lounge in their town and he's got all of his diamonds and he's talking about jumping and he's doing all of this shit.

And it's the exact same shit. They call me a daredevil, but I'm a dare. I'm not a devil. I call myself evil, but don't spell it like evil. I love my kids and I love my wife and all that shit. He also says he never refuses kids an autograph or anything else. He says, I guess it goes back to my own kids. I miss them growing up because I was seldom there always going out on the road.

My boy 16 has been in trouble and I regret it. So yeah, that's how that goes. And, guess he said that, this is interesting, he's at a lounge here in this one article, and they said, honey, how about another drink? Evil says to a barmaid, pay the girl, he says to Jimmy the driver who peeled off, that's the guy who wanted to kill him by the way, Jimmy Dick, peeled off a $20 bill from a roll,

keep the change, Evil commandeer commanded. After the drinks were served, he was interrupted again by a young woman who said she was with a convention of waterbed manufacturers. She asked Evil Bob if he slept on a waterbed and appeared delighted when told that he did. Of course he does, because it's a dirty bed.

Oh, you know it, yeah. He said, quote, I wanted on a bet from her boss, Evil said with laughter after she left. When Evil Bob laughed, everybody laughed, and more everybody laughed the more he talked. It's the worst fucking bet on the planet, and somehow they were so fucking popular. Yeah, they don't work.

They're so dumb. They don't work. They hurt so bad. They hurt, you fucking end up on the wood. No because it's a it's a mess you'll end up Someone will end up over there. Oh shit the wave came knocked you right off of me fucking on the high seas It's not fun. No, those are terrible for anything Anything a bet is made for sleeping fucking things like that terrible for and it does both of the ruins both of those Jesus Christ man that is fucked so He says a couple years ago. I want some money playing hockey

Won some money. Oh that was Okay, so I'm a pretty good hockey player not great mind you to be great You have to start playing at five or six and I started at 15 Well, I was supposed to take three shots at this goalie up in Toronto. Remember that we talked about that last episode I got ten thousand dollars for going up there and I'd get 7500 for every goal I made the day before I was practicing and I knew they were watching me So I told them I wasn't feeling too well and could only fake to my right and go to my left So that's all I did fake right and go left fake right and go left

So they must have told the goalie because that's what he was looking for We got on television and what I did do was fake left and go right I put a wrist shot in the right. I put a wrist shot in right through him I should have had my second shot too, but I just missed it. So that's pretty fucking funny He says this also, my idea of heaven is playing golf every day. When I play golf, you pay a thousand dollars for a ball hit out of bounds, a thousand dollars for a ball hit into a trap, another thousand for a ball into the water. But if you hit a duck in the water, you win $10,000.

Okay. Cause I would be homeless. That's crazy. That's that's how he played yeah I'm not rich in a bad golfer, so this would be terrible. I wouldn't take much I could try I could probably blast a fucking duck or two Maybe I don't think I get close. I don't know what direction it's fucking going to He said the best round I ever shot started out like hell I had shot a 40 on the front front a front nine, and I was mad. Couldn't do anything right. I parred 10 on the 11th hole, hit a terrible shot, threw my sand wedge against the cart,

the club shattered and the shaft came back up and struck my right arm and I still have the scar." So, that's his golf story. That's the best he ever did. That's the best he ever did. That's a fucked day of golf. No shit. So then he says, when I was in jail last year, my good friend John Brody, former San Francisco 49er quarterback there, told me I'd better bet on Washington and the Rose Bowl, so I did. When I won, I wanted to do something for those other 53 men on work release with me, so I rented 13 Cadillacs for my black pals The sheriff came in the next morning saw all those Cadillacs and said who's in my parking space

My cellmate was an old black fellow named shamrock and he called me up and said I've been in jail most of my life But now I can drive home in a Cadillac. Thank you He even wanted to take me out to dinner, but now I can drive home in a Cadillac. Thank you. He even wanted to take me out to dinner, but he wanted to take me to a soul food rib house. Can you imagine us driving up to a soul food rib place in that Caddy? Yeah. I can see customers going to dinner. Perfectly fine.

Yeah. He's also like, this is the 70s. Plus this is the 70s. Even if he wanted to be racist racist he forgot that pimps exist If you want to be racist you can at least said that he said I didn't mind being in jail I think I got the best of it because they sentenced me to six months I only served five months 23 days, which is actually four months. He actually served to me. It was worth it Yeah, that's interesting. Then he goes on to try to justify the baseball

bat meetings and everything else. He talked about some of his escapades. He said, I drove a truck through the side of a club in Butte. He said, if his politics, if Senator William Proxmire ever runs for president, I contribute a million dollars. Jesus Christ, what a fucking lunatic he is. The marketing of his name, he said Ideal's toys are the biggest toys in history. He said I'm putting up a flagpole in my yard that's gonna have the biggest flag

in the United States on it. Really? It's gonna have 13 stars on it because that's what America meant to me. He loves Montana. Yeah. I'm just thinking for a second, you love Montana. Montana was well after the 13th colonies happened. He's the original like fucking tool here. Original fucking dummy. A knight with evil Bob Caneville would not

be complete without a glimpse of his next stunt and he talked about fucking haystacks and all that and blah blah blah. So that's all he's doing basically. He said now there's one Los Angeles Times, February 2nd, 1979. He says he's down to his last five million. Last five million. Down to his last five million. That's all he's got. It's all over.

I can't wait to make my first. Come on, down to my last five million. It's all over. I can't wait to make my first. Come on, down to my last. Wow, he said times are hard. He said, honey, I'm almost broke. I'm down to my last five or six million. Oh boy, or six, I don't know, I'm not sure. And he also, now he's even less remorseful for the beating. He now says, I should have killed that little bastard.

Yeah. He also says he has no regrets about punching out his teenage son, Robbie, last month and giving him a broken nose. As he explains to his son, who'd been in some trouble, he said, I broke his nose and it broke my heart. But since then, we've become a lot closer. It's better that he should hit Robbie and set him straight,

he says, than Robbie ends up doing drugs And winding up dead meanwhile drinking a ton is probable drinking a ton and doing a but having a bunch of things that injure you is the Most likely two factors that you're gonna get I mangled my son's face So that he never does drugs, so he doesn't do drugs That's he's fucking nuts drugs so he doesn't do drugs that's he's fucking nuts so I don't know why their dad's love coke they love it yeah makes it feel better they love it so much they end up doing heroin and meth later it happens yeah coke is fun coke's the fun

one and then the rest of them darn little fun anymore by your dad sends you down that path so fast absolutely and especially when you're 16. Yeah. So it's a man fight almost. February 17, 1979, Idaho wants to remove Knievel's monument. A six-foot tall granite marker dedicated to Robert Ebel Knievel rests outside a Twin Falls, Idaho building waiting for the motorcycle daredevil to pick it up. The marker designates the site from which Knievel

launched his unsuccessful attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974. Let's see here. This, they said it's not located at the jump site and that bothers the officials here of Volco Inc. They said, we just want to get it out of here, but we don't exactly know how to go about it, they said. It's just a big statue of him, they want him to come get it.

They're like, come get your statue, please, we can't get it. Then he says, February 19th, 1979, newspaper article, it says, sorry, marker's not for sale. Okay. I thought we were getting rid of it. And that is because numerous individuals have asked to buy the evil Knievel monument. But one guy, a long haul truck driver for Volco Inc saw the five foot high monument, which was designed to mark this shit. He says

he asked his boss if he could buy it and was turned down. He said he was just holding it for his friend Knievel. that's what the guy was told. So he said it belongs to Evil Knievel. So then they talked it over with a friend, this guy said, he decided that they'd be able to assume the bill owed Volko by Knievel if Knievel and Barry would agree. So the answer was again, no. He's like, what if we pay for what it is? Because Evil didn't buy it.

So anyway, they said that it was not for sale. Then shortly after, Knievel became involved with the courts and all that shit. They said, we heard he'd made a statement that he planned to take out bankruptcy, so we wrote to the bankruptcy court of Montana. The couple offered the court their proposal of paying the entire amount owed to Volko

in exchange for ownership of the granite statue. And they said no, there's no bankruptcy filing actually happened, so we can't do that. So anyway, there's people trying to get his statue. Is it a statue or just a slab that says words? Oh, I think it's five feet high. Yeah, but is he five feet tall? Oh, it's a, I think it's five feet high. Yeah, but that could, is he five feet tall? Oh, it's not a white box.

A six foot tall granite marker. I mean, it's not like a statue of him, but it's a big marker. Yeah, yeah, that would be funny, him in his chinchilla coat or some shit. Five feet high. This is absolutely insane now. May 14th, 1979, a daughter is born. He has a child

Why seems way past having children right? He's only 40, but still it seems crazy Linda gives birth to Alicia the fourth child with Bob Alicia is 16 years younger than the nearest sibling. Oh, I'm sorry 16 years is the closest sibling. Oh, I'm sorry. 16 years is the closest sibling. Yeah, Robbie. Tracy, and then 17 years younger than Robbie, 19 years younger than Kelly. Oh, so Robbie and Tracy are a year apart, Jesus.

Yep, this is the first one of the births that Knievel had actually seen and been there for. And he said, he told a reporter that it was, quote, something to see. In the 60s, men did not go into the delivery room. Really? That did not happen in the 60s. In the 60s, they'd sit out in the lobby,

smoking and drinking booze. That's what they'd do. You ever see, you never watch Mad Men, and Mad Men, they have another kid in like 63, and that that's yeah, that's the guy sit around smoke And there's just a bunch of guys sitting in there. I hope everything's alright That's what it is terrible Smoking a cigar drinking a whiskey and they come out until your wife's dead That's a better way to take it I guess right maybe yeah, yeah, yeah

You're either witnessingmer or more volatile. Then witnessing it, that'd be less traumatic. Yeah. Less traumatic than being there for it. Yeah, I don't wanna say you're believed to death. I wanna be there for, you know, you wanna be there, you wanna be there for them, but at the same time, when did it become okay that I'm gonna fucking be involved

in a major medical procedure that's happening right now? Like, I don't need to be here for this. Even when it's just a natural birth, that's happening right now like I don't need a beer for this Even when it's just a natural birth, that's fucking crazy in itself But also what about the c-section crazy her fucking guts are open man. I don't want to go I don't know they open up like a burlap sack. Yeah, it's fucking crazy. It's wild Okay, and I have a distraction and like when we're having dinner, I don't want to be a distraction. Dude, you've got yeah, I've got my wife laid open. How about we pay attention? Pay the fuck attention to what's going on. No, stop talking to me about college football. What are you doing? Stop. So May 20th, 1979, in the newspaper, Knievel not sure about more

stunts. And he says, I can still jump as far as I ever could I can probably jump farther what why what would make you jump farther but at 40 this healing process that I have to go through is awfully tough thing on me I can't heal up anymore with a broken arm and beat myself in the chest in two weeks it takes me two years so I don't know I'm being careful about planning he talks about he's got to go to Japan he he's going to go do everything like that. They said, did your prison experience change you at all? He said, oh, it made me aware of what a sad state this United States of America is in. I feel that we're being sucked into communism because of the socialistic leaders that we've

had and because of the promises that have been made to the people. Our government kind of reminds me of Jimmy Jones I think he means the cult leader Jones Jim Jones. I think we're all just waiting for in line to drink the Kool-Aid It's a sad situation He would have he would have been a star on Twitter this fucking idiot would have Christ Almighty He would have had a fucking podcast with five million fucking listeners if he was on today Just cuz he's a fucking a glib moron who said who takes the shortest point between A and B that's meanwhile the answer has a lot of fucking roundabout to

it he's a jackass but he'd be hosting a dumb open mic and making stars out of those people oh yeah absolutely begging for Pauly Shores acceptance did you come to that sort of feeling through your prison experience? He says, well, it's something that I've always felt strongly. However, the prison thing related it to a great deal, or related to it a great deal because I feel the term freedom of the press was so violated by the guy who wrote the book about me. Meanwhile, that's exactly what the freedom of the press is, you fucking idiot.

You don't violate violating the freedom of the press would be to tell that guy he's not allowed to write that book. That's a violation. Death wish is not what, how you wish to die. Is it everything? He just takes shit the wrong way. He's a fucking idiot. He wants it all on his own terms and, and, uh, and his interpretation of everything is the way it should be whether you like it or not. Yep and then he says and I think the words in the Declaration of Independence that say if you feel tread upon or repressed you have the obligation to revolt, again he's mixing up documents and he's saying shit that's not even in the Constitution either.

He's a fucking idiot. So they said having attacked someone with a baseball bat, you must have a pretty hot temper. He said, Oh, I probably have as much of a temper as anyone. Anyone would have done that. That was normal. How many times have we attacked somebody in a business that we've had a business relationship with with a baseball bat?

Somebody calls my mom a bitch. I will murder this whole town. Oh, well, we're going, they're going down. Yeah. I do it. He said, he said, you know, I'm not an easygoing person, but I do believe in one thing. God created all men and Winchester and baseball bats made them all equal. Do you ever feel trapped by the public image that you helped create? He said,

I do feel trapped by it. What I'm going to have to do is make a decision whether to quit or go on. I know if I don't quit, I'm going to die. One last question. The fans would probably like to know what brand of bat you used. Do they want to know? I kind of want to know.

Does he know? It was a Louisville slugger, he said. Of course it was. An autograph model? He said, well, if it wasn't, when I get my hands on it, I'm going to autograph it and I'll send it to that guy. It was aluminum. So who gives a shit?

Yeah, I don't know. It's a dumb bat. Ridiculous. So to finish off this episode here I will read from the book. The fall of the famous daredevil was as breathtaking of any of his stunts have ever been. The hero became unheroic in an instant. Viewed now as someone on a sliding scale between silly and flat- out despicable. The deals disappeared. The lifestyle pretty much went with them. There was no press conferences to announce any of this.

Companies simply moved along to the next hot thing. The piles of money, of course, had been shrinking for a while, but now there were only bits and pieces arriving to plug any holes. The famous daredevil liked to claim that he made $60 million in his run through the public consciousness, but that he spent 62 million. He sometimes said he made 35 million and spent 37 million. The numbers varied depending on the interview, but the constant was that he spent 2 million more than he had. The specifics probably weren't important except to the IRS, but the truth was that he made a lot of money and spent more than he made.

The $2 million difference sounded quite reasonable. His daredevil career sputtered to an end with a forgettable trip to Australia and another forgettable trip to Puerto Rico and a couple other appearances in support of Robbie who had taken over the family's trade. Relations with Robbie, never good, would fall apart, get better for brief stretches, then fall apart again. Robbie ran off to break his father's records one by one using lighter bikes and basic technology, but could never capture the excitement and charisma his father brought to the game.

So there we go. That is part nine. And then next week we will have the literally half of his life still left, but it's the downfall part. And that's- It's the thing people forget about him. And also the only time we remember is when his dad, or when his brother, when his son, when his son goes out and reminds us

how fucking stupid it is that his dad's famous for this. Yeah, we're like, oh yeah, that's Evil's kid. Yeah. Yeah, I think this is before the show we were talking about this. When we were kids, evil wasn't really a thing. Yeah. My family would tell me stories about things that they saw him do because he did so much

of it in Arizona. I thought he was dead when I was a kid. Yeah, but his son was what was keeping that memory and idea alive, but he was just such a drip. He was so boring. That's the problem. Nobody gave a drip. He was so boring. That's the problem. Nobody gave a shit.

He didn't have that oomph that evil had. So there you go. If you like the show, if you love this series and how well it's going, please, please get on whatever app you're on and give us five stars. It helps tremendously. You can also follow us on social media at Crime and Sports. You should definitely head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com. Get your tickets for Small Town Murder live shows. We have the virtual live show, which is exactly

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have happened. People have died, people have been mangled, mauled and everything else. We'll talk all about that for crime and sports then because you know those guys play sports, why not? Small town murder, we're going to talk about the upcoming retrial of Karen Reed. She is the Boston woman who's accused of killing her cop husband outside of a cop's house and she accuses the whole police force of conspiring. The whole thing's a fucking mess and there's a mistrial the first time. Names so with an A too, it's bizarre, right?

Like you're reading, yeah, R-E-A-D. I don't like it. No, it's weird. Karen Reed what, motherfucker? Karen Reed what, what's she reading? So check that out, that's gonna be a great, we're gonna prep you for the retrial here. So talk and tell you everything that happened,

all the conspiracy theories, and we'll put on our tin foil hats and see what's going on and see if we're getting any communication from another planet. That said, you do that, get that. Patreon.com slash Grime and Sports, you get that. And you get a shout out.

You bet. Which is right fucking now. Jimmy, hit me with the names of the people who would never ever Remorselessly beat us to half to death with a baseball bat Jimmy hit me with them right fucking now This week's excited bros are Chrissy such and the such fam celebrating mama such. It's our well, thank you We are such grateful. She donated. Yeah, we're the We're such grateful fellas. They, uh, she,

Chrissy got a Patreon and she went to PayPal, so thank you. Oh wow, you are a wonderful person, thank you. And happy birthday, mama. Gary, Gary Howard is a history nerd, I found out. Gary! Marcellus Wallace and Boobs McGee. Happy birthday, Thomas Smith, he's celebrating over there in England. What is with the fella? Have a jolly good time my friend. Janice Hill, Melanie Keating, I found out that they don't call it jolly old England over there, evidently.

No. We say it, they do. We're mocking them, that's the point. That's what we're doing. Melanie Keating, Cody Leversey is having a baby. We have, this kid's life has evolved tremendously. We've followed him the whole time. I love it.

He's doing fantastic. What a great thing. He's a nice woman and they get married and they're happy and now they're having a kid. This is a good congratulations. That's really nice to hear. Caroline Moore, Victor, what is this? Victoria Dizdar with a K.

Dizdar. Love you too. I don't know where that K goes. I don't know why. Victoria with a K. Oh, Victoria, I thought Dizdar. I'm like, where the fuck is her K in there? How does that work?

Dizdar with a K. I was like, huh? Anthony, Annette, and Mike Osborne in Yankton, James. Down in Yankton. Oh, down in Yankton where all the small in Yankton, where all the smallpox vaccines are that we're sending out Dan Doherty to go grab on a horseback. They're very healthy up there. Other producers this week, Liz Vasquez, Peyton Meadows,

happy birthday, Andrew Wilmers, 26th birthday. Happy birthday to you. We've had him around since the fucking, oh shit. Since he was a teenager. We're raising these people. Isn't that bizarre? Jessica, Melissa, Amanda Rowe, Haley would know last name, Karen Williams, Renata Brown, Kate Ryback, Catherine Paz-Durka, Lisa with an E, Sherry would know last name, Nancy Campbell,

Sarah Rupp, Jesse Aguilar, Paul would know last name, Shelby Coulter, JD Keener, John Stoll, Chrissy Such, see there she is, is Erin Rowan Amanda Fletcher t8 I don't know if that's a gate at the airport or It's T. I's brother T I's brother Cousin likely that would know last name Cora Hudson Sarah Maffei, Jamie Ewart, Megan Faulkner, Pookie Zeman, Justin would know last name, Jay Engel, Drew Patterson, Roman Paul Torn, Ivory Zvorsky, M and L, the letters, M L, Kim Michael, Vanilla, Vanilla Gorilla.

Vanilla Gorilla 73. Remember that guy? Yes I do. I certainly do. I think he's dead. He's dead. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. I'm sorry. Comedian we know. Dead. You don't need to know him. He's dead. He's fucking dead and he never made anything of himself.

Never mind. That was Vanilla Godzilla, wasn't he? Oh, I don't remember either way Somebody called yes Jesse James cuz you're right Thank you vile. All right, we got it mixed up But we got to the bottom of it and but vanilla Godzilla is dead and mostly dead open like shy. Oh one two three Amy Hotchkiss got that Hotchkiss money from the rear end of Chevy. From the diseases that happened. That Hotchkiss disease.

That Hotchkiss disease. I know that's Hotchkiss. That big disease money. Sherry would know last name. Alfredo Sandoval, Luke Riddle, Cody Friesner, Catherine Rowland, Gary would know last name, Jessica Ferrego, Caroline, oh it's Catalina Nunez-Pacheco, that's what that is.

Hey! That's very Espanol-y. Josh Campbell, Steven Aug, Francis writes a bit, I hope she does. Alicia Crockett, Anthony Supa, Sapa maybe, Kel would know last name, Samantha Jachetta. Andrew R. Vaselina, Vaselina, really? Vaselina.

That's somebody's first name, Vaselina Yocheva. Wow, somebody's. Is that a thing in Russia? They thought it was beautiful and started naming people? Maybe, either that or her dad, her mom was very permissive with the anal. But they had some slippage and they called it Vaselina. Incredibly dry.

Vaselina. Jesus. Morgan Dunlap, Jeannie Kimbrough, Carrie. Sorry, Vaselina. Thank you for your money, thank you. It is a nice name, but also so is diarrhea. You know what I mean? We don't name people that shit, Basilina? Maybe she's the fucking heir to the whole fortune. She laughs at us. She's got

Shit loads of money with her well lubricated holes Chris Pupil, Pupil Pupil. Carrie Issa brand. Janea. Jaina. Hyena. Is that Hyena? Kent? With the J? Janea Kent probably. Nikki Taylor. Brandon Johnson. Ashley Parecha. Alaina Prescott, Cassandra Griffin, Mackenzie Shipman, El Merch, Hannah Kittrell, Roman Coxie, Coaxie maybe, Whitney Kurtz, Joshua Reimers, Lisa S. Kell with no last name, Amy Villarreal, Kelly Hickman, Sherry Ronaldson, Emma Elbert,

Kelly Cook, Courtney Height, I'm gonna have to make the font bigger. This is fucking crazy. Am I this, all right. Kristen Kay, Kelsey Tabak, Daniela, Danielle Kay, Brandi Dallas, James, Greenouch, Greenach, Greenach, Green, Green Crotch. What is this?

Channing Spann, Katie Blevins, Duana Lyrea, S, this show brought to you by the letter S, Natalie Kloss, the drummer, oh it's Nate. See, Nate turns into Natalie, I'm so sorry Nate. Joey would know that same, Telly McKay, Anthea Callan, Calan, it's Callan. Samsonite Swanson, that's fucking fantastic. April Allen, Danielle Chastain, that's from Dumb and Dumber.

That's what her name would have, Swanson, Swanson. Slippy, Samsonite, Samsonite, I was way off. Caleb would know last name, Jake Seaman, is that right? Danielle Chastain, I'm gonna move along. Courtney Parker, Nicole Dutera, Libby B, Jeremy Cavender, Jason Barnett, Kim Payne, Rachel Cardy, Marcia Thomas, Justin would know last name, Leslie would know last name,

Orlando would know last name, Audi but is probably Audie would know last name, Jane Louise, Victoria Albin, Camille Etheridge, really, Sarah's sister. Melissa's sister. Gadgeral, Gadgeral Praben, Gadgeral Prabon. Thomas James, Simon Hargud, Lee Ann, Amanda Jones, Amanda Nicholas, Big B, Amanda Hankey,

Sierra Humphrey, Aaron Picar, Steven would know last name, Sophia Cronkite, obviously, Carol Coral, Coral Abrams, oh like the fucking bad guy. Rhea would know last name, Nunya Dam, alright fine, Leah Samowski, Ben B., Robert Hoff, and all of our patrons, you guys are the best, thank you. Thank you so much everybody, you fantastic, wonderful bastards. We love the shit out of you. I'd call you sons of bitches, but then you'd come attack us with a baseball bat for talking shit about your mom.

So it's tough. So thank you for all that you do for us all the time. You want to follow us on social media, go ahead and go to shutupandgimmemurder.com. There's drop down menus. It'll take you everywhere you want to be. Hope you've enjoyed this so far. Last week, or next week, I mean, part 10. Here we go.

And the last part for Evil Knievel. We will finally say goodbye to evil, which I'm kind of sad at this point. 10 parts. 10 parts of evil, it's incredible shit. This is all evil all the time. So thank you for hanging out with us for this entire mess. It's been the whole year so far.

Well, China and evil have covered the whole year. 24 hours of evil. That's what's fucking crazy. We've covered so fucking much. Yeah, takes a whole day to talk about him. Way more than he was ever on TV or anything if you added it all up. So thank you for what you do for us

and live from the Crime and Sports Studios, we will see you next week. Bye. If you like crime and sports, you can listen early and ad free now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wonder.com. Are you captivated by the dark and mysterious world of true crime? Wondery Plus offers you the ultimate true crime experience with early access to new episodes, exclusive content, and a seamless ad-free listening journey. With Wondery Plus,

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