Crime in Sports - #458 - Busted, Disgusted & Can't Be Trusted - Evel Knievel - Part 10
Episode Date: April 29, 2025This week, we finish up our epic Evel Knievel series with the IRS breathing down Evel's neck. He decides that he's an artist, painting pictures, but that's not exactly the truth. He tries to ...rule his son's career "with an iron fist". He also owes someone $100 million dollars, and he needs a new liver. He also has a new, VERY young wife, and a string of arrests, for everything from domestic battery, to gun violations. Finally, the death on an icon!!Find yourself a wife who is less than half your age, pretend to paint, as some sort of new career, and get a new liver from someone who died in the most ironic way possible with Evel Knievel - Part 10!!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: crimeinsports@gmail.com 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 crimeinsports@gmail.com 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.
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We are excited today to finish up Evil Knievel.
Evil Knievel, he lived and he rode,
and today he dies, everybody.
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That said, let's do this. Let's dive in here one last time with evil evil Knievel. We're in
1979 now okay, that's where we caught up with evil evil's career has fallen apart
Nobody wants to watch him jump son's money his son's jumping he's in super shitloads of debt
He owes the IRS millions of dollars in the 70s,
which is crazy, and he has no way of making...
You saddle with the realization that his son is a drip?
Yep. No way of making millions of dollars.
His son jumps just fine, but has the charisma of a wet sponge,
so that doesn't work real well.
So he's gonna dip his toe into the waters of something else.
What is that?
Art. What is that art?
When you think of evil Knievel you think of a fine art I assume right
This is fucking amazing that's what he's trying to that's sad so
I am going to read a little bit of from this newspaper article from the Sun News in 1979. When he relates yesterday's rounds of golf, his manner is breezy and fun-loving, but when
he speaks of his paintings, the bright blue eyes become intensely serious as he gestures
outline, as his gestures outline the actions he plans to capture with his paintbrush.
The artist is evil Knievel
This is so ridiculous and it's so funny that press people are like, well, I'll buy whatever he's doing. I guess I'll just keep
Writing about it art is not a new thing with the man more famous for taunting fate from the seat of a motorcycle
From an early age. He sketched the wildlife that surrounds his Butte, Montana home
Imagine we've heard about childhood evil.
He didn't sit around sketching things, he was running into things with his head.
What are you talking about?
He's been drawing trees and deer as far as you can remember.
He's just sitting out on the porch looking over the prairie watching the elk frolic and
fucking sketching them.
My ass.
He said quote, I've been painting all my life.
In fact, let me tell you something about that lynx.
He continued indicating a painting of a lynx in the snow just catching the scent of a hair.
My grandmother pulled out a sketch a while back of a lynx in almost that same pose.
I had made that sketch when I was seven years old.
It was almost the same stance as the painting
The subjects of Knievel's paintings are the scenes the animals and the people
has He has seen in the mountains in Western areas
He often combines a background from a photograph of an actual scene with an animal. He has watched
His paintings vibrate with color and life and are very detailed as to the background
and subject.
The interest of the viewer is caught by the intensity of the colors and is held by the
intricate detail Knievel incorporates into each painting.
The paintings are in watercolors and acrylics.
He says, quote, I cannot use oils.
Not only do they take a long time to dry, but I'm allergic to turpentine
So he's not allergic to falling
You know six stories from the sky onto a motorcycle and cracking a skull open no allergies there But turpentine makes me break out in a little rash
What the fuck are you talking? I get real itchy. Go itchy sometimes. I like it
What the fuck are you talking about? I get real itchy.
Get a little itchy sometimes.
I don't like it.
I'm a fan of the itch.
No.
The difficulty in obtaining the degree of detail
he strives for with the watercolor
seems to challenge Knievel as his painting
of a bighorn sheep.
There is intricate detail not only in the sheep,
but in the mountainous background.
Knievel said, quote, that was a hard picture to paint.
It was hard. You watched the background.
How hard does this go?
That one was hard.
That was a hard picture to paint.
Hard to paint is not, no, that's a weird thing.
You know who says that that picture was hard to paint?
People who don't know how to fucking paint.
Yeah.
If you made me draw a picture,
I'd be like, that picture was hard to paint, dude.
I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. That's crazy.
I gotta see the picture too, cause it's like really bad.
He's going, that one was hard.
That was a hard picture.
I really want to do a thing where we do a video
of we each get an easel and a canvas and we get all the paints and we watch an old Bob Ross episode and try to do try to
paint along with Bob Ross and see what we come up with by the end of the 30
minutes I really want to do that so fucking bad side by side they're gonna
look terrible both of them because we'll be way behind and oh shit how do we mix
that he's three steps ahead no pausing we missed how we how do you make the
river shimmer now we don't know what the fuck we're doing how does that tree
reflect in the river what did he do which colors indigo ah shit is that oh
no that's the that's the blue not the green god damn it we'd be a disaster
even if we both worked on the same picture. We'd be all fucked up never mind separate. Oh
My god, so he says you watch how much is a little too. He never gives a measurement
He just goes just a little of this a little of that
Beat the heck out of that'll say it's like that's not how with how much
That's like saying put some salt in well how much salt do I put into this are we talking a handful a pinch?
What are we doing? So he putty knife brushes. He's got so many eyes. He loves that putty knife
So he does how he makes his tree things. Yeah
That putty knife diggers with the putty knife. I'm like that
And there's a mountain hold on let me do this in one stroke and everything's reflecting off the mountain. You're like. Oh fuck you fuck you hippie
You know what I've had a fucking house brush and just drags it over it, and it's like it starts glowing
Dick you're a dick
We'd watch those with me and Sarah, and we just yell at him you fucking ass shut shut up Bob
We can't do that you know it is he actually how you made Danielson use that brush to paint fences
He's like hey, you know just do this. It's easy
Like no, it's not you know it's not easy Bob you know it
So paint that as well as I can grow your fucking afro
I'd have a better chance of I could grow the afro
I'd have a better chance of I could grow the afro
Well, he's a perm this is a part what he did. Yeah, it was a perm. Oh, was it real? Yeah
Yeah, that's way more. Yeah. No, that was a perm for sure
So he says evil goes on to say you wash the background in and when you have three or four different tones of blue to work with, it's not easy to do.
If you look at that painting, even the rocks are done in blues and grays.
They say Knievel's portfolio contains several portraits of Indians.
One of the most striking features, a warrior wearing a wolf's head headdress.
This was taken from a smaller photograph and was enlarged about 63 times according to Knievel.
He pulled that number out of it 63 times.
63 times.
He did got a calculator and said,
well, this is the measurement horse shit.
He just, it's all horse shit.
63 times.
It's just another picture.
It's somebody else's picture.
He just painted it.
Another entitled ages is the portrait of an old Indian woman.
Another still shows a chief in full feather headdress.
Knievel says, one good thing about painting Indian portraits,
no one knows who this warrior was.
His mother wouldn't know him probably
because I changed his face a lot.
If you paint a portrait of a person living now
that people could criticize,
it would be like someone looking out the window.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Who even knows who it is?
It's fucking unrecognizable.
Yeah.
He said, you tell someone to look out this window.
He was in an ocean front hotel room at the time.
And tell you one thing they see, and you will have 10 answers
from 10 different people.
One will see the ocean.
One will see a good looking girl in a bikini.
One will see the hotel.
Another will see the beach.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
But no one knows what this Indian looked like, so everyone looks at it and says, that's a
great Indian.
He may be uglier than when I started on the painting, but it's easier for me to do it
that way.
That's one of my favorites.
Ugly and up Indians apparently, that's one of his favorites.
Knievels-
We're going to make them less attractive.
Yeah, there you go. Knievels never casual about the subject matter of his paintings. Yeah. We're going to make him less attractive. Yeah, there you go.
Knievel's never casual about the subject matter of his paintings as they usually involve an
incident or experience he associates with the subject.
An animal he has tracked, a scene he has admired, or a person he has known.
One of the paintings of a location dramatically illustrates this involvement with the subject
matter.
Knievel says, this is a painting of Lancaster, California. A place called
Mira Loma. This is where I was in jail the last time. Jesus Christ, this was the
honor farm I was on, the so-called honor farm. There's a big huge fence running
around it. He said, see that's blood not paint and that's the window I slept
under. I don't remember why I painted not paint and that's the window I slept under.
I don't remember why I painted that and I don't remember why I put the blood in it but I remember
that place. He also says I paint a lot of wildlife and I love to hunt birds, pheasants and ducks
especially. Now they say Knievel's art has been used to benefit charity as in the case of a handsome
painting of a red fox against a background of snow. Knievel places the animals in natural habitats, usually actual scenes.
Often a hunting incident is interwoven into the memories behind the painting such as the
elk that escaped, eluding three of Knievel's shots only to be captured by his paintbrush.
He said then there is the then there is the handsome bull elk and he says quote
That's that animal still alive in Yellowstone National Park because I went back to Washington to see John F
Kennedy I shot one of those big bulls and took a royal crown back to the president
I remember that's from like part two
I told him I'd like for him to look at the signatures I had on a petition
I had 30,000 signatures
and I said you've got to stop the slaughter of thek and Yellowstone and trap them and transplant them in Wyoming
and Montana. So Wyoming instigated a feeding program in Jackson Hole. In Montana now we
trapped them in big traps, put them in trucks and transport them. Is that real?
I hope not.
Jesus. It has turned out to be a worthwhile program. And he says, and I'll tell you why,
and why I was so concerned about it.
First of all, the people of Montana
are people who live very simply.
The people who are employed there don't make big money.
There is little big money there.
He said, you see Yellowstone National Park
is not interested in the preservation of wildlife.
They're interested in the management of wildlife.
Oh.
Okay, I guess.
He said so, he goes on to talk more about the elk.
They say that Knievel utilizes the work
of photographers in his art.
Says the photographer catches the stuff
the painter can't catch.
Sometimes the photographer looks at a photo
and says he'd like someone to paint that.
He said Knievel usually takes about three days
to complete a painting, though he does
take longer when a painting involves a great deal of detail, but he doesn't work on only
one painting at a time.
To avoid boredom, he usually has at least three paintings going at one time.
Are you picturing Evil with three easels out, like painting a little stroke on one, a little
stroke on the other?
I'm totally picturing that.
That makes him more of a genius
if he can continue painting one
while after staring at another.
Let's hold that genius up for a minute
because there's a resolution to all this
as you might imagine.
So they say often he'll make major changes
in the composition of a painting
as was done with a painting of a tree
and one of a cowboy riding just after a rainstorm. He said I used to add
puddles. Okay. His art has been accomplished with one man, his art study
has been accomplished with one man, Jack Ferrerter. Now remember that name for
whom he has great respect. Knievel says he's one of the finest.
He paints in oils, he can do anything,
but he loves to paint in oils.
He's helped me and really given me some good lessons.
There's nothing that Jack Faragher
doesn't know about painting, I think.
He's from my hometown, Butte, Montana,
and Sacramento, California.
He said he also studied with Pop Weaver,
who was the father of sculptor Jack Weaver
while in high school.
So you know, he's got art cred coming out his ass.
He says that he almost flunked art in high school.
He says quote, I drew so well in high school that the teachers accused me of tracing pictures.
Oh, right.
He's so good that it couldn't be real.
That's how good he is.
There's no way a teenager.
Jesus Christ. That's the good he is. There's no way a teenager could do that. Jesus Christ, that's the fact, or that's the truth in fact.
I remember that I drew an eastern brook trout with a colored pencil with a coachman fly
above it and the trout breaking water.
The teacher wasn't going to pass me and said, you didn't do that, you traced it.
I said, the hell I did.
And there were three or four or five of my buddies sitting there who said he didn't trace it, he drew it. I said the hell I did. And there were three or four or five of my buddies sitting
there who said he didn't trace it, he drew it. I'm sure they're honest, obviously all
the Butte hoodlums are honest. They said it, so it's facts. Frame house galleries of Louisville,
Kentucky have the distribution rights to prints of Knievel's paintings and they will soon
be distributed nationally. Knievel stated that there were 1000 prints of each of the originals with smaller prints
priced around $200 for a print of an evil Knievel.
Locally the owner of one of the grandstands biggest gift shops is interested in handling
the prints.
In discussing the paintings with Knievel, one gets the impression that art has always
been an intimate part of the man's life, though it was nudged aside during the years of the
spectator motorcycle feats.
He said, I sketched and did a lot of drawing while on the road.
When?
When you were drunk?
When you were banging fucking broads?
At what point were you doing that?
When you were loading your gun in the fucking hotel rooms?
He said, I like to paint and sketch in different locations now that he plans to know more jumps
He can turn to his art professionally. Oh, of course
That's been holding him back the whole time all those millions of dollars and jumping
He can complete the pictures that are in his mind and memory none of his four children ranging from 18 months to two years
18 years to two months, have exhibited artistic talent.
But Knievel shares his talent with Emma, his grandmother.
The two paint together frequently.
Oh, give me a fucking break.
Sitting on the porch with grandma
painting wildlife scenes, Evil.
Frequently.
Yeah, without any whiskey or women or.
Right.
Not seeing that
Adult fun if evil painted
If evil painted it would be like of like this is a chick
I saw in a bar the other night who showed me your tits it was great like that's that's who he'd be painting
You know what I mean or at least painting the cycle that's gonna carry him over the snake
Him flying over the canyon with a topless chick down there waiting for him or something, that would be evil.
So he said, the Knievel paintings
do make strong statements, especially
of the interrelationships between the animals themselves,
as in the painting of an eagle clutching a hare
as he spreads his massive wings to leave a cliff.
There's untamed strength in the painting.
There's no doubt that Knievel's art will also
be expected
by the public, by those who treasure Western art,
and by those who admire wildlife,
and by many who appreciate the interplay of detail,
strength, color, and Knievel's emotional involvement
in each piece.
The depth is crazy.
This is a load of shit.
So what he does is he gets a fucking big RV and piles his wife and
baby into it oh really and fucking starts going around the country selling
all this shit he has all these different stops of promotional spots and his whole
thing during all of this is I found God now yeah now I'm all into Jesus I don't
drink I don't fucking carouse Jesus. I don't drink.
I don't fucking carouse with women.
I drive around the country with my wife and sell art.
That's my new thing that he does.
Within three weeks, his wife and baby were home
and he was just out on the road drinking and whoring again
like a fucking monster.
Well, now with a truck full of fucking paintings
instead of motorcycles.
All this shit he had to do.
Yeah, that's it.
So this is from the book here, a quick little excerpt.
He drank, he had meetings, he chased deals.
He went to Muhammad Ali's house in Brentwood, California.
Really?
To pitch a shoeshine polish business.
What?
That's the way, I don't know why. He can't do that. I don't know why, I mean, I guess they both's the way. I don't know why.
You can't do that.
I don't know why.
I mean I guess they both wear dress shoes.
I don't know.
Yeah.
And their names.
But you can't go to a, you can't go to him and be like, this is all shoeshine shit.
I'm going to put this on and look like you.
What do you think?
That was something evil would say.
He said he told.
Look, we're unrecognizable.
He told Ali they would make a commercial, do a jump. He would steer the motorcycle.
Ali would sit on the back while he jumped. No, you're gonna kill the man.
And Evil said, we'd be the two most famous people in the world. Ali's like, I'm already
the most famous person in the world. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about If there's another mom and I guarantee there is
I'm good right now that people think of Ali told him quote not me boss
Yeah, so I ain't getting on that fucking I get none of that fucking motorcycle. So no. Thank you was the whole thing there
August 23rd
1979
Still talking a bunch of shit.
Now it's about kids' safety.
All about this, he's doing these like,
speeches where he's like, Mr. Hey everybody,
let's be safe out there.
He said, I have not allowed my son to jump until this day.
Horse shit.
Not true.
Years ago you had him jumping and all sorts of shit.
Liar.
He's been riding a motorcycle since he was two.
I didn't have a mother and father.
If my son did what I did,
I'd have knocked the hell out of him.
You had a mother and father.
You had a family.
What was he talking about?
Christ.
In one breath he says he plans to see his son
reach the age of 40 without injury.
And in another breath he says everybody in the business must pay the price.
He says, you have to face the facts,
you're going to break a bone or two.
So that's what he says.
And then he also, someone asked him
how he used to prepare to jump.
And he said, I used to drink a lot.
He wasn't kidding at all, he was just dead serious.
So they talk about, again, the money he's making
and he's saying he owes the IRS a couple fucking million million dollars and all this type of shit and he's kind of like he put I guess he's listed his home for sale.
He given all of his writing equipment to Rob to Robbie.
That's what he's doing and all that kind of thing.
Rob to Robbie. That's what he's doing and all that kind of thing. Um,
so they said he tells you the neat thing about owing the government is that there are a couple of lawsuits pending and those suing him have to stand in line
behind uncle Sam. That's the good thing. Yeah. He's still got the,
the whole thing with the Saltman guy that he beat with the bat.
That guy's going to sue him. He went into court and said,
I beat him and he deserved it. Guess what? You're getting sued now. Yeah.
So the article says, which brings us to the baseball bat
incident, they talk about him being
portrayed as this horrible guy beating
a man with a baseball bat.
And Knievel told of going to jail in maximum security
because he was a keep away prisoner.
No, they put him by himself so he'd be bored
after he didn't come back one night.
That's what they did.
You got out for a very long time
until he stopped coming back.
And then they were just mad at him
because he did that so they wouldn't let him sit around
and have everybody kiss his ass all the time
like they did normally.
And he also, he mentioned being in the next cell
to Charles Manson for two weeks. Not true
Was he even in court he wasn't a corker and was he no, I don't think so
No, I mean who knows if they Manson came in for a court date or something
I mean he gets moved around for shit, but still weeks. I doubt it two weeks next to him
He said on the escape because he was on the honor farm. They're not putting Charles Manson on the fucking honor farm in the 70s
He said in the 70s.
He said, and the escape thing, which got me another four months.
We said, the article says,
what does this man who is telling children
not to take motorcycles into their own hands
have to say about taking the law into your own hands
now that he's served his time?
Quote, I have performed for kings and queens and presidents.
Taking the stand I did against that man,
I ended up being
ended up in jail left me very insulted.
Okay.
He said he was proud of what he done.
He said I could have sent somebody else to do it but I took great pleasure in breaking
that quote anti-semitic expression deleted arms.
So you could pick whatever anti-Jewish sentiment you want and insert it in there.
That's what he said because who knows? I wish him a heart attack and cancer, he then said.
Oh my God. This guy's just writing it down for the lawsuit. Just there's more shit. There
we go. And cancer. So he's trying to he's reliving his youth this article says through his 17 year old son who's making his professional
Motorcycle stunt riding debut on Sunday. No, he's not already did that
Maybe motorcycle wheelies for years, maybe he did little jumps too in his other smaller jumps
And so they said that I the last this is evil the last couple years all I've done is bet
They said that the last, this is Evil, the last couple years all I've done is bet $20,000 a day
on 18 holes of golf and I've three-putted so often
on the double or nothing 18th
that it's time to go back to work, he laughed.
Lost all my money playing golf, he's saying.
You need money, yeah.
Yeah, Evil is already talking about a stunt 4th of July
where he would jump out of an airliner,
remember that's still on the table,
but he's gonna take his spleen out
and jump into giant haystacks on the ground
from 40,000 feet above.
Holy. Makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, he said, I was thinking about quitting permanently,
but every promoter in the United States has been calling,
trying to get my son to jump further
than he's capable of right now and for very little money.
Every promoter in the country.
He said, I don't want him to lose his life
trying some stunt that he's not ready for because of a promoter's greed
I'm back on the road setting up ramps telling him what he can and can't do and he does and he does it because I rule
him with an iron fist
He's 17. I rule him. He says with an iron fist
Oh man dressed in a leisure suit and flashing a diamond studded bracelet on one wrist and two diamond rings on each hand
He spoke with the ease of a huckster selling his wares. That's what he is
Perfect. He said he's the best. He said he can jump as far now as he ever could but the healing process takes longer
He said before when I crashed it took me two months to two weeks to a month to mend it now
It takes six months or a year
Obviously you're old you know that happens he said I want to help my son get started on the right foot in the business I can make 25,000 to 100,000 per
weekend and have fun doing it I'm schooling my son in this racket there
you go you can call it our our motorcycle and auto safety stunt show
yeah he said it's tough on any son whose father has achieved some sense of
notoriety, but I do know he's more capable than I was when I began.
Uh, I was just fortunate.
I came along at the right moment in time and proved it to be a tremendous asset
for me.
He said professional football isn't the biggest attraction in the world.
I am.
Oh, me.
Not that super bowl that had all those people there last year. Remember the biggest attraction in the world. I am. Oh, me. Not that super ball
that had all those people there last year. Remember the biggest deal. Me. Yeah. Fuck
Terry Bradshaw was this 1979. He said I can put 400,000 people into Wembley Stadium in
four nights. Not quite. You didn't. Not quite. Um, so that's what's going on here October of 1979 October 8th they they're talking about now. He's the article is titled woes for evil Knievel
So he says that a Knievel has been ordered by a judge in Twin Falls, Idaho to pay
$9,600 to the owner of the property that he used in the jump attempt
dollars to the owner of the property that he used in the jump attempt.
Still still for cleanups. And also that company is the one with the chemical toilets.
So they still they're still looking for their shit money.
Six years later, the torched chemical toilets still have not been paid for.
Still April 22nd, 1980, Knievel defaults on mortgage.
Oh, yeah. Now he's not even paying for his house. Never mind other shit. Yeah. April 22nd 1980 Knievel defaults on mortgage. Oh
Yeah, now he's not even paying for his house. Never mind other shit Yeah, his sprawling house in Butte remember the one we talked about that he had built to his exact specifications and all that
Will be sold at an August 21st foreclosure sale if the daredevil can't satisfy a
187 thousand dollar mortgage
That's high. Yeah a $187,000 mortgage.
They filed a notice of sale in the clerk and recorder's office alleging that Knievel and
his wife Linda have defaulted on a November 1975 mortgage.
The papers name a number of other creditors with interest or liens on the property.
Chief among them is the IRS, which has liens on the property totaling $709,713.
Oh hey, how's it going? Amazing. IRS, which has liens on the property totaling $709,713.
Oh, hey, how's it going?
Amazing.
I just finished paying off all my debt
with the help of the Credit Counseling Society.
Whoa, seriously?
I could really use their help.
It was easy.
I called and spoke with a credit counselor right away.
They asked me about my debt, salary, and regular expenses,
gave me a few options, and helped me along the way.
You had a ton of debt, and you're saying Credit Counseling Society helped with all of it?
Yep. And now I can sleep better at night.
When debt's got you, you've got us. Give Credit Counseling Society a call today.
Visit nomordets.org.
In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of
Midtown Manhattan.
This a silent 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's been identified as Luigi Nicholas
Mangione became one of the most divisive figures in modern
criminal history.
It was targeted premeditated and meant to sow terror.
I'm Jesse Weber host of Luigi 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.
He's awoken the people to a true issue.
Hey, Luigi!
Hey!
Finally, 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.
And they're going to sell it for a hundred something thousand dollars?
That's what the mortgage is.
Now they're going to do an auction for it.
And there's the evil saying he's hoping that they're going to do an auction for it and there's the evil saying he's hoping that
they're going to get like a million dollars for it or something and it ends up selling
for five dollars above the starting bid at like two hundred and twenty seven thousand
dollars.
I want to say something like that.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
Five dollars above the starting bid.
So nobody even cares that it's evil shit.
It's just they just want it for the property value.
That's all it's worth. It's all it's worth. Yeah. That's where it's evil shit. They just want it for the property value and that's all it's worth.
It's all it's worth.
Yep, that's where he's at now.
That's not good.
It's almost like when you say something's worth something just because you want it to
be.
Yeah, because your name's on it.
Yeah, doesn't make it worth that.
So April 22nd, 1980, evil didn't learn those lessons though, obviously. He's all about, he's talking about,
there's a thing with Robbie and he ends up doing
a safety thing.
Very, very into that.
Safety display of stunts.
Yeah, well he talks about a 15 year old high school
freshman who was killed when he tried an Evil Knievel
bicycle stunt off a homemade ramp.
Oh my god.
Yeah, killed.
He was pronounced dead at the scene after landing on his head.
And his father Pete said he had made the sign of the cross before trying it.
Well that didn't help.
So the good news is he's fine now somewhere else.
Jesus.
They said the boy built a four foot high ramp
at a trailer park by using a metal case and two tires.
Oh no!
No, he took a running start and his jump was all right.
He got as high as eight feet in the air
and the bike flipped.
He came down straight and never let go of the bike.
What?
Yeah, they said the other boys at the scene,
they took him to a, they took a running start,
and he said he stopped to make a sign of the cross,
and in a second try, he did that.
He said when he hit the ramp,
and the back tire got tangled with something and flipped.
So, there you go.
May 24th, 1980, an evening at Rio Panar with Evil Can Evil.
What does that mean? Well, he's an evening at Rio Panar with Evil Can Evil. This is, well, he's an evening with Evil.
He can come hang out with Evil here.
You just sitting around drinking or what do we do?
I don't know if it's a charity thing or what here.
It's a country club having lunch before setting out
for a round of golf, they said.
Yeah, they're talking about just that he's still golfing
and still doing all that.
He's selling golf out and still doing all that.
He's selling golf outings with people.
I mean that's fun I think.
Yeah, something.
You spend hours together with him.
Yeah.
18 holes.
He's a crazy person out in the open.
He said, someone asked a waitress what kind of guy Evil Knievel is.
He is quite nice, she replied.
He's probably still there.
She's afraid of getting beaten with a fucking golf club or some shit
Holy shit, so they said incidentally evil said he was in Florida
Talking business with a group of interest a group interested in building a motorcycle museum
June 5th 1980 his home is up for sale officially
It's appraised at about nine hundred thousand dollars, Knievel said a few weeks ago, which
means nothing.
Nothing. It means it's worth fucking four.
He had monthly mortgage payments of $4,008 and didn't pay them. When he had all that
money-
Four grand a month.
Why didn't he pay his fucking house off when he had all that money? Why would you keep-
Yeah, own the place.
Why would you do that?
Yeah. Why would you do that? Yeah, own the place. Why would you do that? Why would you do that?
Somebody told him about taxes.
Someone said interest in tax and all that.
Own your home, dude.
You're not paying your taxes anyway.
Well then again, the IRS would just take it then
and it would be either way, it's gone.
So I guess it doesn't fucking matter.
So yeah, this is a big deal and an embarrassment for him
to do this, obviously here.
He also here is a evil, can evil,
all sorts of safety things.
He's like promoting safety things.
He'll be like, yeah, you should go to this firehouse
and get reflectors.
They'll give them to you.
For your bikes?
For your bikes, yeah, shit like that.
He's very much into that.
July 10th, 1980, here we go.
Things are, he's starting to sell off his stuff here.
We'll talk about, it says, motorcycle stuntman Evil Knievel's been playing local courses
recently while working with the Special Olympics and multiple sclerosis officials.
Oh, he must be very sensitive to those kids.
Come on, Twisty, get over here. What are you doing there?
Yeah, come on. Stand up.
Come on, let's see how fast you can run. Me and you foot race.
Holy shit. You talking to me? Oh, my God.
Jesus, he's like, I just picture him like Matt Dillon and fucking something about Mary.
You know what I mean?
You know, the best thing I got going.
Yeah.
He is promoting a national special Olympics for Tampa and hopes to hold some exhibitions
there to further the cause of retarded children.
He has played some exhibition golf with touring pro Chi Chi Rodriguez for the multiple sclerosis
cause.
I remember that guy.
Although not.
That was a fucking copper bracelet.
Yeah, yeah.
A little hat and acting like his club was a sword. He's a douchebag now that I? Although not. That was a fucking copper bracelet. Yeah, yeah. A little hat and acting like his club was a sword.
He's a douche bag now that I think about it.
Yeah.
As a kid I was like, that's an old guy, he's having fun.
But now I'm like, you old douche.
Take your sh-
Fucking old asshole was on TV selling copper bracelets to old people like he was going to
cure their asses.
Cure everything.
Yeah, he's a fucking snake web salesman.
Jesus Christ.
He fits in right-
Wear this bracelet, my wrists don't hurt.
Fits in with evil perfectly.
Yeah.
So they said, while in the Tampa area,
Knievel's trying to sell some of his famous equipment
and move his exhibits from the Ringling Circus Museum
in Sarasota to Orlando, where he hopes to open
his own museum.
He's also involved with a firm making multiple vitamins.
Vitamins.
Oh, boys. Get your evil Knievel vitamins
Get the fuck out of here
Finally August 22nd 1980 evil loses his house
Gone it is sold for two hundred fourteen thousand four hundred sixty dollars
Quarter million not even not less than even, sure enough, yeah.
Less than what it cost for him to pay the thing.
A fourth of what he wanted for it.
It sold for $5.66 more than the minimum asking price.
Shit.
The buyer was a Butte attorney named Don Robinson
who said he represented an unidentified client.
Yeah, so now evil is homeless so he's gonna sue that same month evil's gonna sue somebody else that's pretty fucking rich huh he's three hundred and
thirty two thousand dollar breach of contract suit against top-ranked Inc of
California which is Bob Aram's company, from the Snake Canyon River Jump, he says for alleged
failure to pay for media rights for his 1974 Snake River Canyon Jump.
The suit filed says that Top Rank failed to pay him $300,000 for television and closed
circuit, radio rights and other obligations and connections with the Canyon Jump.
Knievel contends that the media firm was to pay for rights whether Knievel successfully jumped the canyon or not. So they say he failed in
his attempt obviously. The suit also contends the top rank guaranteed him another $32 in
contract but refuses to pay. He needs that money. That is fucking crazy. So at this point
he's also lost most of the, he's lost the boats, the planes, most of the
cars.
Yeah.
But he always seems to be driving a very expensive car.
No matter what he's got a Rolls Royce or the Stutz or some weird shit like that.
Somehow he pulls that out of his ass.
I don't know if they're borrowed or what, but it could be somebody else's car.
Yeah.
Who knows?
Yeah.
So September 10th, 1980, Evil is accused of assault again after
an alleged fight in Clearwater, Florida. Fantastic. Fantastic. He was pissed off before and he
was living the life. Now imagine what he's like. Sure he's not pulling every chick he
wants to anymore. He can't buy anything he wants. So a man who told police he was punched
in the head by Evil Knievel at a Clearwater bar Tuesday asked for the arrest of the motorcycle daredevil on assault charges.
Burt Gibson, 38, said he and his wife Linda, 29, spotted Knievel at Benegans.
He's hanging out at a Benegans in Clearwater, Florida.
You don't get lower than this.
Remember Grace? Punched a man over some tater skins. Wow. Benegans in Clearwater, Florida that this is you don't get lower than this number grace
This is over some tater skins Wow
holy
fucking shit
My volcano nachos are late. I'm gonna punch this man
What the fuck punched a man with?
Benegans
Southwest egg rolls on your chin.
If you're very young and don't know
what the hell we're talking about,
Benegans was a place that was like a very popular,
kind of like a TGI Fridays type of joint.
Yeah, it's like a Chili's.
But with more booze, it had like more of a boozy,
like people used to go there to like get laid and shit.
Happy hour after work, yeah.
Yeah, that's, yeah, a bunch of people
in their loosened ties eating fucking cheap appetizers and over drinking and driving home.
That's a Benegans and then having weird unprotected 80 sex with their giant
pubic regions.
And he punched the man in the head about it.
It gets better.
The man was approaching evil with his nine year old son in tow for an autograph.
Oh Jesus Christ.
Gibson said evil Knievel was rude
and brushed his wife aside. The Clearwater man said he called Evil an
obscene name and Evil asked him to repeat it. Say it again. Like you say that again.
What you know what though? Yeah you asked for it. That's the thing and it's funny
because it's a it's kind of a thing with like celebrities where if they blow you off then you're like
Oh, well fuck you. It's like oh, you loved me three seconds ago
Yeah, people do you know what I mean?
People like oh well go fuck yourself then you know what I mean, so you're a dick
You just wanted an autograph, and if I wasn't exactly what you want me to be I'm a dick
Yeah, so fuck you if I'm not in the mood to write at the second then yeah an asshole
I mean and now you're dealing with a drunk man who's losing everything.
Yeah!
And he says, why don't you go ahead and repeat that, what you just said.
He's gonna punch you!
Now you're fucking with drunk bute trash.
He's gonna punch you, period.
Homeless drunk bute trash.
Fucking vagrant bute trash.
This is bad.
You're about to get bad. Get punched.
Holy s**t.
So the guy said it again?
Yeah.
I said sign this a**hole.
When Gibson did, he said Knievel punched him in the head.
Rightfully so at that point.
You earned that punchet sir.
We've made fun of Evil and his dumb shit but if you say something to somebody
and they go, want to repeat that motherfucker? You have two choices, walk the fuck away or
get punched because that's what's going to happen.
Repeat it and put your fucking dick beaters up.
That's it because you're about to get hit. You know, I worked in a bar a long time and
if you heard someone say that again motherfucker, it's on. Go break those people up because
it's about to happen
Ball up your tuggers. We're going after it and who the fuck starts that in front of their kid, too
Yeah, why would you hey fuck you asshole your nine-year-old kids there? That's a nice example to set you fucking dick
I mean probably he probably was like would you say this for the kid and he was like not now man
And then he called him something.
Now he's embarrassed.
Now his kid's like, now I'm a piece of shit.
Evil Knievel's standing right there
and you can't even get me an autograph,
you piece of shit dad.
Well it's more than that
because he said he brushed his wife aside.
So he was rude.
So now, oh, I went up there, not pushed,
but just told her to fuck off probably.
He wasn't attracted to her didn't wasn't interested
So she went back and was like, oh he was an asshole and then this guy got up and like oh you're gonna be you know
Talk shit to my wife and son, you know what I mean?
And I'm gonna be a big dad well go to the hospital and get some x-rays cuz that's what he did and his jaw got broken
Broken jaw. Yeah, he said that his eye was swollen shut and his jaw was broken.
Evil clocked him one.
One shot?
One fucking shot.
Knocked him to the goddamn ground.
That's a pretty good shot.
Don't fuck with a drunk man from Butte, dude, unless you want to get punched in the side
of the fucking head.
Sorry, I wouldn't have said that to Evil.
Drunk homeless man from Butte, James.
Yeah, he's a drunken vagrant.
Those homeless in Butte. They're dangerous
Yeah, Knievel's whereabouts still has a house in Florida. That's the only thing he has left or
That's why he's getting hitting people in Florida instead of Montana Knievel's whereabouts or why he was in the Florida Gulf Coast region is
To start with weren't known clear water repeat police referred the case to the Pinellas County
Attorney's office states attorney's office will interview Gibson and other witnesses to see what the fuck happened here
The incident was investigated by police
But since the brief scuffle wasn't observed by police it was left to Gibson to decide whether or not to file charges
so yeah, that seems like
You know
Want some get some to me. That's yeah. Yeah, that's I mean. Yeah, that's too. He was he's rude to your wife
Okay, you can ignore it earn me you might have to fight the man
If you fight him you can't complain afterwards if you voluntarily fought him you went up to him and said hey fuck you so at
That point whatever happens
Stems from your actions evil Knievels gonna go, Oh, I'm sorry. My fault. No,
he's going to stand his ground too.
Bring her over here. I'll tell her she's pretty and fucking shine. I'll,
you know, I'll give the kid a little tussle on his hair and we'll all fuck.
Maybe you got a motorcycle outside. I'll go do a jump for you too.
Anything else I can do can suck your dick for you.
Take you in the back room, jerk you off. What do you want?
Sorry. I mean to your wife now. I'm your personal dancing monkey
Tell me what to do tell you what pretty put your kid up here in the barstool next to me
I'll tell them all about the birds and the bees. I'll get that out of the way for you
So you don't have to do it, okay
Holy shit
Yeah
In perfect bad, so that's what's going on. September 13th, 1980.
Daredevil to try stunt failed by Evil Knievel.
Here we go.
This is special same day coverage of a spectacular attempt
by motorcycle daredevil Gary Wells
to accomplish what the legendary Evil Knievel failed to do.
Make a successful jump over the fountains
at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas,
and a suspenseful minute-by-minute account
of the desperate attempt to save a person
dying from a snake bite,
highlight an all-new episode of ABC's series.
That's incredible.
It's a new show.
Yeah, there we go.
Also scheduled to astound hosts John Davidson,
Kathie Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton.
That's quite the lineup.
Fran Tarkenton.
Fran Tarkenton. Remember John Davidson?
No.
He was the 80s Hollywood Squares host.
Oh yeah. Big stupid smile.
Is that what his name was?
John Davidson. That's incredible.
That poor bastard was overshadowed by Shadow Stevens.
He really was.
Shadow Stevens was so much cooler than him.
And I don't even know who the fuck, I don't know who the fuck Kathy Lee Crosby is cause I think it's just Kathy Lee Gifford overshadowed by shadow Stevens he really was shadow Stevens was so much cooler than him
I don't even know who the fuck, I don't know who the fuck Kathie Lee Crosby is
because I think it's just Kathie Lee Gifford before she got married
and it's not
it's not, different person
no I don't think so, because it's Kathie with a C
Kathie Lee's with a K
yeah different chick here
also on this fucking
pilot episode
is a pilot who tries to land on the world's smallest
runway a horse that can drive a car and a birth control bra.
Just makes your tits look terrible so nobody wants to fuck you.
Birth control bra.
There's a horse that drives a car?
Horse that drives a car apparently.
Earlier on the day of the broadcast 23 year old world distance motorcycle jumping record
holder Gary Wells will attempt to accomplish the Evil Can Evil thing here and do this.
And September 16, 1980, motorcycle jump stunt ends in bad accident.
Stuntman Gary Wells missed the ramp in his 180 foot motorcycle jump over the fountains
and slammed into a wall.
Exactly the same thing that Evil did except Evil was smart enough to remove the wall so
he just tumbled into another parking lot.
Remember?
He's in critical condition.
Oh god he's gonna die.
He's got both legs broken.
He's all fucked up.
Doctors used 24 pints of blood during surgery to repair a ruptured aorta.
Which if you don't know is the main artery which channels blood out of the heart. He used 24 pints of blood during surgery to repair a ruptured aorta.
Which if you don't know is the main artery
which channels blood out of the heart.
Kind of neat, it's important.
He ruptured his aorta jumping.
Jumping over the fountains.
That's a hard collision.
Yep, they said it will be touch and go
for the next 72 hours, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Jesus Christ, man. They said it was a little slow, 90 90 mile an hour takeoff speed was about 10 miles an hour too slow
And he had the wrong angle Wells is a Phoenix guy by the way is that right absolutely
He is so they said his motorcycle flew 30 feet over the fountains past the tape that marked 180 feet
But the bike hit the right side of the down ramp and he lost control smashing into a retaining wall
Wow, that is fucked up
That's crazy a crowd of six thousand people watched the jump which another stunt man evil Knievel tried on sex
Unsuccessfully 13 years ago about a dozen people suffered minor injuries when they toppled over a wall because of the crush of the crowd
The crowd was pressing against a low cement wall to see the result of the jump when the wall suddenly gave way. A dozen
people fell about 10 feet to the concrete walkway. Jesus Christ. Here is October 20th,
1980. This is from the Vancouver Sun. James Lawton, who is the Sun Sports columnist, said, Earlier this year
Evil Knievel was telling me that Vegas was inhabited entirely by thieves and their victims.
Quote, It's a sewer.
On the one side there are the suckers and on the other side the thieves.
I much preferred Butte, Montana, where I grew up.
It probably had more pimps and whores per head of population than any place in the world,
but the thieves were not so greedy as those in Vegas.
Wow.
So he's going to make his comeback January 14th, 1981.
Evil Can Evil to begin comeback at Sunshine Speedway.
In St. Petersburg, apparently.
He's going to stay there.
That's where he is now.
He's now Florida man.
He's got that house that gotta stay there. That's where he is now. He's now a Florida man. That's where he is.
He's got that house that's down there.
They said the first show of his series will come January 31st and February 1st at Sunshine
and will also feature other motorcycle daredevils as well.
So there he is.
He's gonna do that.
They said the show will feature his son, but Knievel said he definitely will jump in this
one too. So
right after that show February 2nd because that took place 31st and the
1st February 2nd the Tampa Times Knievel show wasn't all he promised you can't
believe all you read or hear is the headline. Oh boy. Evil Knievel may be a
daredevil but he's no dummy that's why he didn't do the jump that he said he
would.
Which jump?
You know, the one he talked about Thursday but forgot about Sunday.
He said, they quote him, I want to put on a great show.
Wheels, roller skates, skateboards, mini bikes, motorcycles and bicycles and put on a real
fantastic show of entertainment like the ice capades and ice follies, he said.
Wow.
Knievel was just getting started.
There was, of course, a danger element, too.
The key phrase here is crisscross,
not to be confused with double jump.
He said, there's a lot of danger involved
in jumping these trucks.
He said, Robbie's jumping 10 Coca-Cola trucks,
and I don't really know what I'll make on the other end
coming toward him.
Not more than any, they're doing the crisscross jump is was the plan
he said we do the really side by side together kinda like the blue angels do
in their air shows and we make the jump and crisscross each other in the air
that's better than the jump that i did by myself
yeah well formation
yeah he said though they said in this article a funny thing happened on evil's
way to the midair meeting with the sun he never got there in fact he never even tried
the crisscross jump why not well quote I never said I was gonna make a
crisscross jump even though he absolutely he said this is amazing all I
said was I was going to jump in one direction and Robbie was gonna jump in the other. What the fuck does that mean?
Not at the same time necessarily.
For god's sake. Yeah. I wonder why no one wants to buy tickets for your bullshit anymore.
So yeah they said it seemed like a bargain at ten dollars a head for adults
and five for kids.
Now you know you can't always believe what you read in the newspaper. For those
of you who missed it,
whether you're at the Speedway or not, here is what the Evel Knievel 2 spectacular was all about. First, Evel and Robbie
came out. Evel talked to the audience for a few minutes, then hopped on his Triumph T120 and did
a few wheelies with his son. Then the world's fastest motorcycle was brought onto the track.
It made one run of about 40 yards and disappeared from the track. Next, Mike, a bald midget from Argentina,
came out and humored the crowd with his jump on a miniature cycle.
You know, evil's always thought that was entertainment.
He loves a little guy.
He loved that. After that, Bob Gill,
a former daredevil who is now confined to a wheelchair after being paralyzed from
the waist down
in an unsuccessful jump.
Remember that happened?
We talked about that, I think, episode eight.
Now there's a tiny, tiny guy in a wheelchair.
No, different guy.
This is a different guy.
Yeah, no, that's not, the midget's a different person.
Bob Gill is another person.
He went after that.
He came out, he's paralyzed from the waist down.
Oh, that was the guy that was gonna do shit
that evil couldn't do.
He was jumping things.
That's Gary Wells. This is yeah
He was another guy. Yeah, Bob Gill and they became friends and shit. Yeah, I think Bob Gill is one of the guys
He originally had threatened or beat up to
Number because he was saying yeah, he was going to break his records
so this guy
Apparently been an unsuccessful jump attempt came out and did side wheelies
in his special made cycle.
Then Evil jumped some 20 or 30 yards, followed by Robbie's jump over 7 coke vans and 3 coke
trucks.
The whole show lasted 25 minutes.
Imagine you got all the car, you got your kids in there, you drive all the way out there,
you buy a fucking hot dog and a thing and a t-shirt and then it's over in less than
a half hour.
It's a fucking sitcom.
You'd be like, what?
Shorter than a sitcom without commercials.
Fuck man.
They said nobody booed.
Apparently the 2500 who showed up Saturday and the 1250 or so at attendance on Sunday
were satisfied
with the show, which was preceded by races involving open wheel sprint cars and street
stocks.
So they came there for both.
Evil said, quote, I thought it was a great show.
It's one of the best shows I've ever had a chance to put on as a matter of fact.
And he said that he was surprised to find out it was only 25 minutes.
He said, I thought it lasted about an hour 45
Huh seemed so long to me thought it was a feature-length film wasn't even a sitcom turns out weird
So he said he he never would even said he intended to perform the crisscross
He said I have stopped him from making the practice run or I'd have to stop him from making the practice run.
Who wants to stop him from making a practice run?
I don't want to kill him.
I don't want the public to put him in a situation where they'll want him to jump further.
He jumped 10 in Detroit.
Soon they'll be asking for 11.
Yeah, that's this business.
That's fucking funny.
You can't do a big thing and then jump smaller.
Like, nobody cares anymore if you jump smaller. It's fucking stupid. And they talk about articles about him criticizing him for not doing the
crisscross and he said, I feel sad about that. I wish the guy hadn't have done that. It's
a shame when you come into an area and put on a show for kids and try to make a contribution
to young people in society and then have people come in and try to knock you. I never told
anybody I was coming here to destroy the world.
He said, if you can look at yourself and smile knowing you did the right things and that's
all you need as long as you can please yourself.
That's all he's ever done is please himself.
So please 1981 still jumping.
They said, why are you still doing this?
I thought you were retired.
And he said, I'm busted, disgusted and can't be trusted.
He's making t-shirts all day long. retired and he said I'm busted disgusted and can't be trusted.
He's making t-shirts all day long.
He's making Muhammad Ali quotes. Yeah. Busted disgusted. I got to write this down because this is definitely trusted. I want that t-shirt.
No shit. It sounds like something that they'd sell in Nashville.
That's definitely going to be the name of this episode though.
they'd sell in Nashville. That's definitely gonna be the name of this episode. With his red white and blue stars all over it. Yeah totally. He said
but I'm not gone yet. He says that he is playing second fiddle to Robbie and he
said that you know that's what he's got to do. Old bones don't heal so well. He
said that he's flaunting all his stuff but he said that he's broke and working
for his son for a thousand dollars a month. He said that quote's flaunting all his stuff, but he said that he's broke and working for his son for a thousand dollars a month
He said that quote I own nothing and
He said if he ever is gonna risk his neck again on a major stunt
He said I'll do it in Japan or somewhere where those IRS bleeps in the newspaper
Can't get at me my dream is to become pick. I was just gonna say
pick it pick
fucking whichever one you want. So they said yeah he doesn't want that my my
dream is to become the most hated man on the IRS hit list. Righty? He said Robbie
says he has inherited the Knievel skills and cockiness. He said I'll probably be
never I'll never be as good as dad as far as the business end goes
But the actual writing well, I was better than him when I was 14
Yeah, we have no charisma. You have no charisma though. So it doesn't fucking matter
It's ridiculous
Yeah more all sorts of
These different fucking articles about exactly how broke he is and all that.
He said he's trying to pay enough, raise enough money to pay his income taxes.
He's earned as much as $1.8 million for one show in England.
His toy products gross $300 million in the US alone.
Pinball games bearing his name earned $40 million and $20 million worth of Evil Can
Evil motocross bikes were sold
40 million dollars in fucking pinball
Generates that's insane. I don't know if that's every quarter that's been made off a pinball or selling
I'm not sure so many pinball machines. Oh my god. He said they said the IRS says he owes 2 million dollars
He says he paid a million and is trying to raise the other million he said they make it impossible for a guy to earn a much of a living I'm in the 10% tax bracket now how can you
believe that I risked my life for that money I'm in the 110% tax bracket now
sorry so yeah now he wants to be a golfer. Yeah.
That's his new thing.
He's gonna be a golfer.
He's not very good at it, but he'd like to be a golfer
and maybe people will come paid to watch him play golf.
I'd love to be able to put a ball where I wanted to.
That'd be fun.
But that's just not a thing, man.
Man, he says, quote,
I must have 100 to 150 sets of clubs. My van is full of them. I have really come to love golf
Oh, I forgot to tell you by the way because I don't remember if this comes up. I forget the golf the paintings
Remember the ferritor guy he talked about okay that guy
They say he was accused of that guy painting the paintings for him.
No fucking way.
Fucking ridiculous.
That's bullshit.
I painted them myself because they said art people are like, his style is exactly like
that guy.
Like, exactly.
And he's like, well, I learned from that guy.
So yeah, you know, and they were like, it's exactly like it and people aren't like that.
Then they talked to, press talked to some of his friends
that were in his studio and they didn't know
that it was like a not a thing,
that everyone knew that he didn't really do it.
So they were like, yeah, we were in there
and he was in there with Ferritor
and what happens is, you know, Ferritor,
he finishes the whole painting and then Evil comes in
and puts a couple of brush strokes on it
and then signs his name to it
And he said there was one painting where he put a couple on and the guy said hey stop that you're fucking it up
And evil said I want to do this he goes you're fucking my painting up stop
It just sign your fucking name and be done with it
So he wasn't painting those things at all that guy. It was just a big scam for him. Yeah, he did it for him
I'm sure he's gonna get paid a cut of whatever the fuck up that he never got paid for probably
Fucking so stupid man. So yeah, that's what they're talking about and
he's
They're talking about how
The his wife. Hey, yeah, they're talking about his wife here and
His wife says he's gotten afraid to try the big things now
Although he's regained some of his old confidence after watching Robbie do some stunts
But I don't know about the thing he told you he was going to do in New York to see about he hasn't told me about
That he was saying he's gonna jump some crazy thing in New York at Yankee Stadium
Yeah, or he was gonna jump building to building from the World Trade
That's the other thing he had a couple of different ones here. So Robbie's trying to follow in evil's footsteps evil doesn't appear too elated about it
Linda says he encourages Robbie when he's there to watch out for him
But he worries about him now Robbie's about to go out on his own
Because him and Robbie are gonna have a very contentious on-and-off relationship for years here
Linda wishes evil could find a way to make a living at golf.
You have to be good enough at it to beat other people.
That's how you make a living.
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
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In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan.
This assailant starts firing at him.
And the suspect
He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione
became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history was meant to so terror
is walking the people to a true issue listen to law and crimes
Luigi exclusively on one degree plus enjoying one degree plus
the 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 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 in Minnesota
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.
Welcome the people to a true issue.
Finally 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.
She said he's obsessed with it, she points out, but she feels he'll have a difficult
time refusing offers to do big stunts.
She said it's so much money so quote so so quick
so
Man Knievel has made over here is an article here talking about again
There's so many articles just talking about his fucking money and lack of it at this point
Yeah, and he says that what I did is more dangerous than anyone. They have rules that protect prize fighters in boxing matches.
But, you know, he said, I never had that.
Yeah, because you made up a sport. That's why.
Christ, September or December 22nd, 1981,
a civil court awards
Shelly Saltman, the victim of the baseball bat assault.
Yeah. Twelve point seven five million dollars in damages oh
Dear Christ so if what he's ruined if he ever pays the IRS back
It's still fucked. He's you know twelve thirteen million dollars. He owes this guy now. He is ruined. He's fucked
It's almost like he shouldn't went into court and bragged about about it and then went to every newspaper and bragged about it.
Oh my god. That is fucking insane.
He declared that he had no remorse and he also said that that bloodsucker Saltman would quote, never get a dime.
Bloodsucker.
Bloodsucker. Yep.
Christmas Eve, 1981. He's laughing at the judgment.
Oh boy.
That's what he says.
Knievel said he was angry about the whole thing.
And he says, all I can say is when I die, they'll put on my tombstone
that I still owe that guy 12 million and I took it with me.
Oh boy.
He says, hell, I don't even want to contest it.
He says, I'm contesting a lawsuit with the government for 1.3 million.
He'll have to get in line behind Uncle Sam.
He goes to that.
He also says that the trial lasted less than a day.
He didn't hire a lawyer, by the way, for this.
He defended himself like an idiot.
Of course he did, yeah.
And Knievel said, that does not shock me.
I know a guy that killed a guy in LA and had to do a year in San Quentin.
It was on parole.
Here, I hit a guy and I was in jail for six months in the Los Angeles County Jail. I could have hired somebody to
go kick the hell out of the guy but I just thought somebody ought to stand up and bust
one of these jerks. Well it cost you 13 million dollars. Yeah and he says he can still do
stunts too. He said I could do it I could do it, but you know it would hurt me so He the I don't know why but for whatever reason there was a new thing on
there's something went viral about the the thing on his back to the the
Contraption that they used to make his back not
Oh, yeah, yeah, all the metal thing with this yeah, it looked like drywall screws in that fucking guy's back
No, it looked like you were gonna fucking like
Look like you were gonna build some sort of separation in a room and like have that beer
Yeah, your wall of it. Yeah
Joyce together there you go Joyce. That's the word I'm looking It welds a Joyce together and then you can drywall over it.
That's what it looks like.
You can't jump with that in your back.
You're going to paralyze yourself if that thing hits nerves.
No shit.
That is fucking crazy.
So he keeps telling everybody Saltman can get in line behind the government.
Here is March 19th, 1982.
The owners of a mansion that once belonged
to Evil Knievel have listed the property in a classified advertisement in the Wall Street
Journal. The ad placed by Sheila Realty of Butte says that the newspaper called the mansion
an ideal retreat. It's called it. Evil Knievel owned this Montana home, six plus acres located
off a golf course in the historical town
of Butte, Montana, natural rock home, stables,
guest house, riding area, ski, fish, hunt.
They said they hoped to interest a corporation
in buying the home as a retreat for executives.
That kind of joint.
She declined to state an asking price
or the name of the current owners,
but they got it cheap as fuck.
That is extremely cheap here. Or name the current owners, but they got it cheap as fuck. Yeah, but is
extremely cheap here
So May 21st 1982 here comes Robbie Knievel
Yeah, and Robbie said I do what I call a no-handed jump. It's a technique
I perfected this past summer after about 2,000 practice jumps
What happens in the air and take your hands off the bars?
That's it. You do that. He says he lets go of the handlebars once he's airborne grabbing
them just before touchdown on the landing ramp. It's what I call a no-handed jump. Yeah,
that's it. No one else ever did that back then though. This is what it's called a no handed jump as opposed to a two handed jump.
One handed jump. Um,
Knievel here in 1982 in June of 82 he's talking about how, uh,
he said, uh, quote, I was a terror and a heartache.
I was a terror and a heartache that grew and grew and grew from the day I
started and I just couldn't handle it anymore. He said,
what good is life to gain?
What good is it to gain the world if you lose your life? I created the sport of jumping
motorcycles and I've outlived most of them that have tried it. I have a lot of friends
who've been killed in the sport. Yeah, but you had them beat up half of them. So maybe
that's why. So his kid, by the way, is a complete idiot also.
He said, I do want to show people that the jumps Dad missed can be made and made a whole lot better.
So yeah, he said that.
On a bike that's for jumping.
On a bike that's for actual jumping,
not a street bike.
He said that before, like his father,
before he goes out there, he has a little talk with God., he said I don't ask him to help me make it. I just ask him to watch
Hey, I know you're busy, but
I'm gonna cuck you with my dirt bike. What do you think of that?
It's gonna be to watch get hard too while you're doing it because it's
So evil here is released from a hospital on julyth, 1982, where he was just had a fractured rib.
He fractured a rib while popping wheelies standing on his bike on its rear wheel.
I was just standing.
Yeah, you're standing.
You're 43. Don't make don't do wheelies anymore. Too old for wheelies, my friend.
Don't do wheelies anymore. Too old for wheelies, my friend.
Then August 26th, 82, older Knievel relegated to wheelie challenges is the headline in a
newspaper.
That's all he's going to be doing now is like wheelie shit, basically.
So it's not a lot.
Knievel now challenges young men to race him down a quarter mile track on the rear wheels
of their motorcycles. If they beat him, uh,
Knievel or more likely the sponsoring corporation pays them $2,500.
So he's doing like a challenge thing. That's, he said,
Knievel said when he's rides,
it's like Wyatt Earp strolling down main street at high noon.
You always got to be ready for a shootout. Now my'm a cowboy. What the fuck? So yeah, he said,
this is what he could do without killing himself. He said, um, you know,
talking about fucking crashing and all that, he goes,
I have no fucking interest in crashing anymore. By the way,
he also made sure to make it clear that the wild Turkey he always drank was the
101 proof, not the 80 proof.
Oh, I drink the big stuff.
I drink, yeah, there is two wild turkeys
and that's, he drinks the strong one.
Okay.
Yeah, it talks about how much time he spent in hospitals,
saying that he's, you know, he said,
I spent five years in hospitals.
And he continues to say, oh, I made 32 million,
spent 34 million. Okay, is that all it was? Then he said, quote, I made 32 million, spent 34 million.
Then he said, quote, I'm just a copper miner who didn't know whether to be a pimp or a thief.
I'm just what I am. Oh, OK.
He has a lawsuit here in December of 82 and a district judge rules against him.
Here. Yeah. The judge denied Evil's claims against Foremost Insurance
Company saying the stunt artist had not appeared for a scheduled deposition and attorneys had not
provided sufficient explanation for his absence. The case was part of a series of litigation that
followed Knievel's rocket motorcycle jump across the Twin Falls Canyon. It's been eight years.
Holy shit. Knievel then sued security personnel,
named the suit as Stanley Associates and the estate of Dudley C. Dane. Knievel later reached
a settlement with the Stanley Associates and pursued a claim against the insurance company
instead. However, the agents of the firm claimed the policy it sold to Evil excluded any claims for damages caused by riots, which is what happened.
1983.
Here's the thing about, okay, this is, we'll get this. I'll read it right from the book. They'll have a better recitation of it as I did here.
He began his career as an artist in 83.
in 83. They said his long-time Butte friend Jack Ferreter was a successful painter and Knievel
had taken some lessons from Ferreter and done some paintings that he would sell.
A licensing agreement with the Legends Corporation of North Royalton, Ohio was signed and Knievel
bought a big motorhome and trailer to bring his artwork around the country.
He would sell to galleries and to individuals, sign autographs and tell stories.
People in Butte noticed that Knievel's artistic style looked almost exactly like
Ferriter's style.
Hmm.
But Ferriter only said that he gave Knievel tips on what to do.
A friend said he was in the studio when Ferriter delivered a tip.
Knievel was adding a few brush strokes to his signature and a signature to a work that
Ferriter had done.
Knievel seemed to be adding too many brush strokes.
Quote, hey don't fuck it up, the artist said.
Knievel made a documentary video to chronicle this time of his life called The Last of the
Gladiators, Evil Knievel.
He said in the video that he had given up alcohol and the nightlife and found strength
in God and family.
That was his new life, God and family and art.
He traveled in the motor home with Linda and Alicia,
the older kids out in the world on their own.
This was his second chance.
He said quote, there's more to life
than just wasting yourself on alcohol.
That's what drunks do.
They're just soaking up alcohol.
They're really hemorrhoids in the ass of progress.
He's a great quote, you gotta give him that.
I'll tell you what. Ten parts here.
Isn't he a drunk?
Oh, forever, that's all he ever was and will be again in a week after this interview.
So in 83 he's trying to sell his art, that's what he keeps doing.
Snyder's Potato Chips and WGNT Radio will present the Evil Knievel Spectacular on Friday,
April 1st and April 2nd at the Huntington Civic Center.
Rex Phelps, the only backflip motorcycle jumper in the world, will appear and Knievel will
present a multimedia presentation of the Snake River Canyon Jump.
In addition to shows at the Civic Center, Knievel the artist will display his works at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland on March 30th and the Convention Center in Huntington
on March 31st.
Holy shit.
Lots of articles.
Evil Knievel quietly paints pictures in Ohio.
He said, painting and being withdrawn from life as I am makes me happy.
He said, he's not even outed as a fraud.
That's no, not till later.
So that's what they're talking about.
It's so fucking funny, man.
So yeah.
Talking about how much he paints and how much he loves it.
And he keeps talking over and over about, you know, I just don't heal up these types
of days and you know, all that kind of bullshit and they don't really care here.
They said legends.
He said, now I'm now in the art business full time, he says, sipping
from a bottle of Michelob beer in his office.
Hemorrhoid of society.
I may not be the best painter in the world, but in the next five years, Evil Knievel will
be the best known painter in the world.
No, you won't, Evil.
No.
I didn't even know he did paintings.
I just found out.
Just today.
Legends has 40 paintings by Knievel
and is putting together a brochure
to send the art to art galleries
throughout the United States.
Legends is having a $300,000 motor coach
built for Knievel's anticipated promotional tour.
Oh.
Buying, I don't understand,
who is gonna clamor to buy Evil Knievel
like nature pictures?
I don't understand that. These are like motel.
Ross one is only because we watched him on TV. That makes it so much more fun. You can
watch him. This is stupid. This is that he did it.
We know he didn't. As a matter of fact, one guy here says, quote, I don't know if we'll
make any money if he does one tenth with the artwork as he did with motorcycles
We'll do real well
Jesus Christ, that's fucking funny
He says quote paintings are nothing but ideas and dreams you can put on canvas. He says taking a swig of beer
I just don't want to paint things that don't say anything. I like to do life and death confrontations. It helps
to paint things that don't say anything. I like to do life and death confrontations.
It helps."
So instead of painting an eagle gliding over a mountain peak, he paints the bird with a
bloody rabbit clutched in his talons.
Back at the motel where he stays with his wife of 24 years, Linda, his 4 year old daughter
Alicia leaps into his arms, her blonde ringlets bouncing, they pose for pictures.
Knievel says he's never enjoyed anything more in his life than having his daughter
with him. Quote, she traveled on the road with me last year. Every day I
had to fix her hair. I cut her bangs so they wouldn't be in her face. She's really my
little pal. I took her to see ET and Annie. I didn't do that with the other kids. I was
too busy trying to conquer the world. And they'll probably be better off than she is
because you're a bad influence. Yeah. Uh, Robbie said about the stunts. I'm glad he stopped. I'd hate to see him take another chance and
Robbie was living in Phoenix at that time to sure was he said I'm doing it for both of us
But mostly for me and to keep the name Knievel number one
He also Robbie appeared as a motorcycle stuntman in an episode of Chips that year.
No kidding.
He definitely did.
Eric Estrada.
That's right.
Knievel said he didn't want Robbie
to go into the daredevil business.
He said, I'm very concerned about my son getting hurt
and I think there are repercussions that I might have.
I don't like to see any child get hurt
because they were enticed by me.
Especially the dead ones.
You know, one that died is like, yikes, that's a tough one.
He said, I sure as hell thought I'd die in the rocket or on the motorcycle.
I got hurt so bad every time.
Anyway, 1983, the Hawaii, July of 1983, Hawaii Tribune Herald, Knievel's broke is the headline.
Hell yeah. And it's just a matter of, they go on to
just completely categorize everything he'd fucking,
he's lost and everything he made.
But now he says he hopes for career as an artist
and says quote, I'd like to see Picasso or Da Vinci
paint Indians like I do.
Well, aren't they dead, sir?
That's, well Picasso, Picasso died in the 70s, so I guess, yeah. paint Indians like I do. Aren't they dead, sir?
Well, Picasso, Picasso died in the 70s, so I guess so, yeah.
I wanna see them paint Indians like I don't.
Like I don't, and you, what are you talking about?
You paint shit that goes, like I said, in a motel lobby.
That's the stuff you paint, it's not art.
A friend of yours paints them, and then you sign them. And then you sign them.
Stop it.
What you're doing isn't art at all.
What the guy did originally is art.
It's nature art, whatever, landscapes, I don't know.
Anyway, September 1st, 1983.
He's angry now.
He has repudiated his Montana citizenship, he says.
Oh, denouncing Montana citizens.
I denounce Montana now and forevermore
Okay, I am NOT a citizen of the great state of Montana
Why is he so angry at them why cuz they're trying to collect back taxes from him that he owes he owes the money
That's all he owes the money
He said I came here to support the Jerry Lewis telethon and the state of Montana gave me a tax bill for
$390,000. No, that's not why.
It's because you haven't paid them probably ever.
Haven't paid them.
They've been waiting for you to come back to the state
so they could serve you with it, stupid.
He said, so I immediately moved all of my gallery
and my studio and everything to Nevada
because there's no state tax there.
I really don't think it's fair for a state to tax a person
who doesn't make any money in the state
a huge amount of taxes.
So he's traveling in a custom bus and art gallery
valued at $450,000.
He said, in the state of Montana,
the people are wondering why the state isn't growing
and why there isn't a lot of work here.
It's because of the tax structure here.
It's because it's the middle of fucking nowhere.
That's why.
There's nothing to do with taxes
or no taxes or anything else.
You could pay people to go there. Yeah, and it's freezing. of fucking nowhere. That's why. There's nothing to do with taxes or no taxes or anything else.
You could pay people to go there.
Yeah, and it's freezing.
If you paid people to go there, you paid the tax, they still wouldn't fucking come there
because it's freezing.
It's freezing.
Holy shit.
Well, look at pictures of it.
It's beautiful, but it's fucking cold.
It's in the fucking mountains, man.
God damn cold.
So 1983 in October here, Knievel and Benedict appear in People.
Actor Dirk Benedict and Daredevil Evil Knievel here are featured in the October 10th issue
of People Magazine.
Oh my god, they call him a, they say his days as a bone breaking biker are behind him and
he keeps rolling as a painter and pitch man.
Yikes.
It relates how Knievel now tours the country selling
his prints from his watercolor or acrylic paintings of Indians, moose, deer, and sundry
other woodsy and frontier subjects at $100 to $500 each. Get the fuck out of here with
that. I don't even know what to say that That's fucking crazy
The article also says Knievel spent three months at home in Montana each year to work on the paintings he sells
Bullshit he doesn't work on them. Oh, it's my it's my painting season
I got to get my back to Montana and just sit out on the range and watch shit
How an earlier story carried by the Montana standard?
and watch it. An earlier story carried by the Montana Standard
indicated that Knievel and his wife Linda
had reconciled and are now living in Cleveland.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
My God.
That's too bad.
December 24th, 1983, Christmas Eve,
Merry Christmas, Evil, IRS sues Evil Knievel and his wife.
Now it's $1.6 million it says they owe. Yep, Evil Knievel and his wife. Now it's $1.6 million it says they owe.
Yep, Evil Knievel and his wife.
According to the documents,
the Knievels of North Royalton, Ohio
offered the government a compromise settlement,
but it was rejected in November.
Yep, that's 72 to 76 taxes basically, which is amazing.
And the article. Four years.
This is how stupid people are
ten years after the jump they're still saying Knievel once made six million
dollars in a single day in a successful no never he did they that was a fake
check it was a joke yeah it was a promotional stunt and this they didn't
even do that that's fucking wild Knie evil hints at last jump but can always fall back on art
from August of 84. Yeah. If you keep it as long as that ferret guy doesn't die you'll
be in perfect shape for that. As long as I can fall back on some shit someone else does
and they keep doing that for me. He said during the last 10 days we sold 35,000 of my limited edition prints to a company
in San Francisco each one will be signed and I will go to Los Angeles to do the signing
so one of these just like they do now and I think the legends company I think that's
the company that does the shit now still yeah yeah they still do that shit so yeah that's
what he says he says I use oils acrylic and water cover now
He says well at watercolor now oil now I use even though I'm allergic to turpity full of shit
Full of fucking shit, I think that's why he was saying he never used oils before cuz ferrator only used oils
Hilarious, so I think that's why he was saying
like don't ever even think we're the same thing. He said I just sold an original in San Diego for
$70,000. An original. Yeah. It was of an eagle and a doctor bought it. Also I just sold an Indian for
$35,000. I've been getting some pretty good money for the originals. I don't believe that for a fucking
Instant maybe thirty five hundred dollars. Yeah, maybe you know what I mean cuz he's a good salesman. I could see that
Then he says this quote
He's going to do his last jump this fall. I'm going to jump 15 buses for my finale and break my own record
Okay, oh my god, then he says Robbie will jump 16. Oh
After that to break his record, so that's how they're gonna do it here
He also says that he's the site of his last jump maybe Florida
Possibly, maybe we'll do that. He says I'll be visiting Florida soon. I might make that last jump in Fort Lauderdale
He says I don't want to miss this one. I don't want I don't heal up like I used to so yeah
That's what's going around. He also says he just got straightened around with the government on his taxes
Oh, and he says if a guy can make a contribution to society
He's a hell of a lot better off
I can set an example for my kids that they can see what can be done at 45 if they don't
fool around with drugs and alcohol.
Then he took a big swig from a bottle of 101 proof fucking wild turkey.
So September 84, he's talking about his comeback.
Here it is.
Yep.
He signed a $1.6 million TV deal with a company called Mexicola.
Mexicola.
Mexican Cola.
Mexican Cola to stage a nationally televised attempt to do this.
Because now a few years have gone by, people are like, hey maybe we'll watch Evel Knievel
kill himself.
That could be fun.
How old is he?
So that's pretty interesting. Anyway he goes to Atlantic City with his stupid painting and they said, they said, finally
Lads found something to their liking.
People are perusing his paintings.
And lingered.
It was a Knievel self-portrait.
Him standing on the back of a motorcycle, its front wheel tilted high in the air.
Knievel joined them, walking with a limp that has specially made shoes cannot eliminate.
One leg is two inches shorter than the other.
The boys were awed.
You like that one, Knievel said?
Yeah, one of them replied.
I painted that one from a photograph.
Eight seconds after the photograph was taken,
I fell off going 80 miles an hour.
I only got a broken wrist at that time.
And they said, gee, you must be
really rich. And he said, quote, you're a lot richer than I am. You have your health
and youth. Money can't buy that. I don't have that or money. So yeah, if you have like a
home and you know, health and youth and you don't owe anybody $13 million.
Right.
You're pretty good probably, more than that.
So yeah, that's what's going on.
Now there's different numbers being thrown around.
He says that this has been his steady job for the last five and a half years.
He said the top cash price for a Knievel original was $37,500.
So that eagle was totally made up, that doctor's
$70,000. He said a print of that painting can be had at exhibition for $40. Other prints
are going for $19.95 and $29.95. And they say, no, evil's not losing money on this,
as longtime friends said. Resorts is underwriting the whole thing so he said I know what I'm
up against no matter what I do as an artist people are going to remember me
for the stunts that's the way it is and people are gonna say evil Knievel's
using his name to sell art in that respect the name works against me well
not really because if you were just some jerk-off paint and fucking moose nobody
would buy your shit for a cent. How many assholes in the West
sit there painting fucking moose?
Like how many you think that are better than you at this?
Thousands.
Or native, native people, native things.
Yeah, whatever.
So 1986, April 30th, Evil Knievel takes back seat to son.
So there he is, he's gonna do it.
He says that he's the best motorcycle performer
in the world by far because he's the only one who's dared to top me. He says, that's
right. October 17th, 1987. Here's a great title of a headline here. Pony up $5 million.
Feds tell evil can evil Jesus Christ it's so much money he now
owes them five million dollars in taxes and penalties holy fucking shit just
taxes that is ridiculous they owe four million eight hundred fifteen thousand
and forty dollars in arrears in, interest and penalties for the years 72 to 76.
Still.
That four year stretch is kicking the shit out of him.
Holy shit.
December 20th, 1987.
Knievel Museum construction to start soon.
Uh huh.
Yeah, that's right.
This is, it's going to happen.
Knievel said the extra costs include replacing the roof on the Webster Garfield School where the museum is to be located, removing asbestos, installing sprinklers and
building a ramp to provide access for the handicap. He said just those four things come
to $470,000 from the lowest bidder. But I'm going to do it anyway. It makes no difference.
We're going to do it and we're going to do it right." He said that his aim is to feature a different aspect
of his life in each of the 25 rooms. He also said he's going to build a theme park with
rides. Why not? What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, go ahead. Why not? Get sued for
that safety too. Also going to start a restaurant chain. Yeah. I'm going to fucking, I'm going
to start my own car company. I'm gonna do it all
Holy shit the Butte school trustees approved a 30 year lease with the corporation that will run the museum
Evil Knievel and Friends Museum, Inc
The lease requires the group to pay thirty thousand dollars for three years rent obtain one million dollars in liability insurance and post
Ten-thousand-dollar performance bond once it obtains the building permits.
Okay, here we go.
Let's talk about this.
This is from a story from the book here.
Lou Mack, the resident of the next cell when Knievel checked into the Los Angeles County
jail, had taken the daredevil's inspirational advice, the positive mental attitude speech,
and made a new life when he was paroled.
He became a showman of himself, a dog trainer, the head of Cool Dog Productions on the road
to amusement parks and state fairs with dogs that caught frisbees, jumped through hoops,
and did spectacular feats.
Traveling dog stunt shop. He was forever grateful for Knievel's encouragement and whenever he ran into him, he was quick
to say hello.
One of those meetings was in the lobby of the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas.
Mack asked Knievel what he was doing there.
Quote, I'm a guest at the AVN awards, he says.
Jesus Christ. Knie. At the porn awards.
His dick would just be out the entire time.
Mack didn't know what the awards were.
He saw a sign, adult video news when he was leaving.
There was an abundance of pretty women in the lobby.
I bet there was.
Yes of course, the women were all porn stars.
The AVN awards were the Oscars of the porn industry.
Knievel was a-
Best new anal scene, 1987.
So Knievel was a guest at the porn Oscars.
That was where his life had landed.
He made the headlines now and again,
arrested in Kansas City for soliciting a prostitute.
He did, he got arrested in Kansas City for soliciting a prostitute. He did, he got arrested in Kansas City for soliciting a prostitute. Sued a man in Spokane, a man
in Spokane for beating him up in a hotel room because he was sleeping with the
man's girlfriend. Arrested in Helena, Montana on a concealed weapons charge.
This is all true by the way, this all happened during this period. He did
commercials for a bail bond firm in San Diego.
He had assorted jams that did not make the news.
He played golf, bet as much money as he could, then bet more.
He hung out, he hung out a lot.
Writer Mike Edison, a self-described wild man, recounted a chance meeting and excursion
with Knievel in the Las Vegas book, quote, I have fun everywhere I go.
That's the book.
Knievel said he had sold his Sky Cycle
to the newly opened Vegas edition of the Hard Rock Cafe
for, quote, a million dollars.
He said he now had a check for $20,000 first payment
that no bars would cash.
He alternately grumbled and boasted.
Edison, who'd been a fan of Knievel since he was young,
was embarrassed for him now.
He said after a few drinks, he was visibly drunk.
He was still waving his check around asking the bartender if he would cash it and trying to pick up every cocktail waitress that was in the place.
His basic technique was to holler, hey, do you want to sleep with me tonight?
Hey, do you want to sleep with me tonight?
The girls failed to rally around for a touch of evil and it quickly became
Obvious that he'd been hanging around the hotel for a while now working the same material and everyone was getting a little tired of this You're done
That's what he's fucking doing man
Jesus he's the old guy at the at the hotel bar gone
He's the old guy at the at the hotel bar gone
All the waitresses would we used to want to fuck me what happened
When I was 25 and at millions of dollars god damn it. That's depressing. That's so depressing. It's so sad
1988 last of the gladiators comes out
Yeah, that is the the documentary he was putting on. It says, world renowned daredevil, Evil Knievel,
tells the story of his exploits and philosophy,
intercut with his stunts and comments
of various observers and friends.
And it has 8.0 out of 10 stars on IMDB.
So it's probably not bad.
It's a lot of like archival footage and shit like that.
I mean, it's an obvious money grab.
He sat down and then they pieced archival fucking footage together and made a documentary
so
1989
There's an article here from the Fort Worth Star Telegram that says evil Knievel alive well
Okay, and well, I guess no, uh, well is what he says live. Uh well
So a guy called the other day and said he was passing through town with a client named evil Knievel evil Knievel
I tried to pull an obituary out of my mental file. You mean the late evil Knievel?
I figured can evil Knievel's bones would be in a bleached pile under a rusted motorcycle somewhere in all those years
He spent trying to kill himself in creative ways.
Surely he must have succeeded.
Knievel who rode motorcycles where they weren't intended to be ridden splattered himself on
a British double-decker busses, Mack trucks, Roman fountains and a tank full of sharks,
of course on the rocky floor of the Snake Canyon.
You are running around this country with an imposter or a dead man, I told the guy.
How will I recognize him?
Should I look for someone who looks like a blood clot?
Wow.
Knievel identified himself by pulling up his pant legs and yanking down his socks.
Look at those ankles, he said, grimacing at the pair of hinges that ought to be in formaldehyde
jar in medical school.
Broke both of them at the same time. Didn't heal right,
because I didn't have enough red blood cells left.
Plum out of red blood cells, wow.
He owed the IRS most of his red blood cells
is the problem, he didn't have enough to complete it.
So they say, then he introduces his 26 year old son,
Robbie, who's followed his pops exhaust
into the jumping business.
Robbie Evil and publicity escort,ue Irv Brodsky
are touring the country trying to drum up excitement
for the kids attempted motorized leap
over the Caesar's Palace fountains on April 14th.
Jesus Christ.
He said, they talked about Robbie jumping here,
an ambulance was streaking away from a thrill show
years ago loaded with the pieces of evil
that had been scraped off a ramp and a couple of his kids.
One was Robbie.
I said to them, look at these bones sticking out
and all this blood.
I made them promise to never get into this business.
Of which Robbie is obviously right there.
He said, well, I kept telling him to get a real job,
but if I had to do it, but if he had to do it,
I figured we'd make a pretty good team.
Maybe he wouldn't make the same mistakes I made.
Holy shit, so by the way,
that's an interesting point that they make.
When I was a kid, when we were kids,
this time period, I thought Evil Knievel was dead.
I mean, I knew he wasn't doing anything,
but I don't know if I knew he was dead.
I knew Robbie was the Rider now.
I remember hearing about Robbie,
but Evil Knievel felt like he was from 30 years ago
and long dead, didn't he, when we were kids?
Yeah, I mean, it felt like he probably died doing this.
Yeah, that's what I mean
Just like this guy said because when we were kids like in the 80s he he was selling art and doing like he was doing
Nothing that we would have seen you know what I mean like he wasn't doing anything
So I just thought he was like this dead guy that old people talked about
You know who say like if you had like your friend and a brother was like eight years older than him
He'd be talking about evil Knievel was cool, and you're like, fuck you, I don't know who that is,
you weirdo.
It was a big deal in Arizona, to Arizona Hillbilly.
Sure, yeah, I guess maybe in New York
it wasn't as big of a fucking deal for evil,
I'm not sure.
It's a Southwest thing.
I think it was though.
I think it was though,
because he sold all those toys.
I just think he was the type of guy,
when he went out of the public eye,
he was fucking gone, period.
He was like a fad, you know what I mean?
So a long fad, but still a fad.
Because by the time we were kids, yeah, no, I didn't know.
I thought he was dead.
I really did.
And probably in the 60s, 70s, and 80s,
people on the East Coast probably just imagined
the Southwest was just a bunch of dust with a man
in red, white, and blue leather jumping over things.
We just figured that's how people got around.
You just jumped your motorcycle places,
you know what I mean?
I gotta go to the grocery store.
That's like three jumps, the grocery store from here.
You get a couple of good ramps and then you're there.
That's what I thought, who knows?
He's gone off to the job.
What do you know, what do we know?
So April 14th, 1989, from the book,
when Robbie attempted to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace on April 14th, 1989, from the book, when Robbie attempted to jump the fountains
at Caesar's Palace on April 14th, 1989,
to avenge the family honor on pay-per-view television,
that I remember actually.
I watched it, yeah.
I didn't watch it, but I remember it,
wanting to watch it probably.
His father became a necessary part of the production.
Disagreements had to be put on hold.
After a week of dealing with the Knievels,
the television crew became more worried about the father's role on the
day of the jump than the son's role. Father was supposed to ride out to the ramp on a
motorcycle to talk with son and broadcasters before the big moment. This
quietly became an exciting event. Father was inside the bar at Caesars until the
very last moment. Oh no. The ABC executive who was producing
this event said he was drunk. I was trying to figure out what we could do. We
were worried that he was gonna fall off the motorcycle. He was so drunk but he
came out, rode right up there, did it all. The jump was perfect. Robbie had practiced
for a week at a duplicate ramp set up at an airport. He knew exactly what to expect. The American public mostly didn't pay attention. Yeah,
nobody cared. Yeah. Nobody gave a shit. Um, then here, uh, quote, the inevitable happened.
The art business soon fell apart. Oh, gee. Shocking. Lawsuits were filed by the legends
corporation. Again, not shocking. Family life fell apart. Linda and Alicia
went back to Butte. Knievel went back to drinking, back to gambling, back to chasing all women.
He spent a lot of time in Vegas. The hemorrhoids on the ass of progress won again. Oh man.
He has won again, god damn. That is fucking funny as shit. So yeah, they're talking about the last gladiators
and talking about his son.
A lot about Robbie here saying that he said,
"'Robbie and I don't get along very well.
"'Robbie's on the wrong track,' Knievel says."
What does that even mean?
Why are you saying that in public?
You're a scumbag.
Yeah.
Then they asked him about,
because this is what, 1990 I think this is we're talking
now. What is the date now? October 1990. They're asking about the fucking Gulf war. What the
potential first Iraq war. They asked him about president George Bush and the potential first
George Bush, first Iraq war, potential for war with Iraq. Knievel said, quote, let that
son of a bitch go to war.
Get him and his buddies off the golf course.
Quit sending these young kids to die.
So ironically, Knievel spoke these words during a recent interview at the 19th hole lounge
at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.
Get them off the golf course.
Sipping a light beer in a plastic cup, Knievel was waiting for a Grey Montana afternoon to
clear so he and some golfing chums could play a few holes.
It was one of those damp, cold days that Knievel dreads and the kind that cause offbroken
bones to ache.
Although the day was overcast, Knievel was clear headed, sharper and more focused than
he was during two recent encounters.
He appeared rested and at ease and was Natalie attired in a navy blue v-neck sweater with
a maroon trim.
His gray-white hair was brushed back from his tanned face.
Perhaps Knievel, a master promoter who never hired a press agent and never needed one,
felt the stirrings of the days when evil was a household word and death-defying jumps
were front-page news.
Whatever the reason, Knievel, about his disputes with Robbie, had the ring of promotion sounding
like Muhammad Ali baiting George Frazier on the eve of a bout.
But there was also this, just enough pain in Knievel's face when he described concern
for his youngest son to lend those laments a certain credibility.
He said, quote, Robbie wants to go and risk his life.
I knew when to quit, but he didn't listen to me.
It's harder to see your son do it.
He said, Robbie doesn't realize that, but will he?
But he will if he ever has a little boy of his own.
Yeah, you don't want to see your kid do dumb shit like that.
Well, maybe if you wouldn't have blown all your money, you wouldn't have to do this shit.
You're fucked up.
He then says about the Caesar's Palace jump,
this is, he's the one he did.
Yeah.
We know what happened.
He got hurt, broke his pelvis,
acted like he was real hurt.
It was a big PR stunt.
Everybody laughed.
The promoter was like, oh yeah, he's half dead in there. And he was fine. He says now 20 years later, quote, I
had a serious brain concussion. I was unconscious for 31 days. 31 days. No, you were not in
a coma for a month. I lost Jesus. He's still saying that rather than laughing going, that's
what everybody thought. Haha. I broke my feet feet my left femur crushed my pelvis broke my left foot in right hand after I fractured one of my collar bones
I can't remember which one
So yeah, he said he never had a dime of insurance. I couldn't get any you know that's not true
He says that one time he owed hospitals across the country a total of more than half a million dollars
He said now I only owe two hospitals one in Atlanta and one in San Jose.
He said that his hospital bets are down to about $20,000.
They say, well, what about the IRS?
And he says, they say I owe about $7.5 million now, but I don't.
But I don't.
But I don't.
OK, I think you do.
They're never getting it. I don't.
I'm forgetting it.
Oh my god.
Then they talk about him jumping and he says, I think I've got the guts to pull the trigger
one more time.
What are you, out of your mind?
You're 50.
What?
Are you fucking nuts?
He said, if I get hurt, there really wouldn't be any future for me.
After you've been operated on so many times and I've had major surgery 14 times, you begin
to lose red blood cells.
I wouldn't have any life left.
Oh my God.
He said I lived a real wildlife when I lived around Butte.
I kind of got off the wrong track.
I traveled a lot and burglarized a lot of places.
The guys I was traveling with were all on heroin.
That's a new one.
Really?
But when I was about 23 or 24, I had a breakdown.
I went to pieces.
I thought if you don't quit this I'm going to lose my wife and kids and everything.
I used to drink a lot of whiskey but I quit that.
Did he?
Did he?
I think he drinks beer now.
That's all.
Yeah.
I don't know.
That's all it is now.
They said they have four children here.
Kelly who's 30 and lives in Las Vegas and works in sales and telemarketing.
We got Robbie, we know what he does. Tracy, 26, director of the Christian Asian Pacific
University in Honolulu. What a weird job. Wow. And Alicia, who's 11 at the time. He
says, Knievel says he hopes he lives another 50 years. You know, that way he can go out with a 105
with a broad under him or whatever he said there.
He said, as someone who was a good person
and tried to keep his word, someone who cared for people.
That's what he said.
Holy shit.
That's how it went.
Wow.
Okay, more women here. He's still married at this. OK, more women here.
He's still married at this point,
but he and Linda are going to separate at some time
in the early 90s here.
OK, here's from the book.
Jennifer Flowers.
That name sound familiar, Jimmy?
Is it the same lady?
Yep.
LinkedIn scandal to Bill Clinton said in a tell-all memoir
that she had danced a slow dance with the famous daredevil.
Jessica Hahn, the mistress of evangelist Jim Baker, in a tell-all memoir that she had danced a slow dance with the famous daredevil, Jessica
Hahn, the mistress of evangelist Jim Baker, told Howard Stern she had done likewise.
Yeah, Knievel explained to anyone who would listen his old idea that women were like buses.
If one leaves, another one will be along in five minutes.
At a charity golf tournament in Clearwater, Florida in 1992. He met a 22 year old golfer from Florida State named Crystal Kennedy
22 he was 53. That's gross
Whoa
They became an item. They became a live-in couple in Clearwater. What the fuck is going on evil?
No What the fuck is going on evil? No Listen I'm of the opinion that if you are old enough to be somebody's father like physically
You probably shouldn't fuck with them. But if you're old enough to be their grandfather, you really should stay away from them
Although he's she's too young to have seen anything. He's done. He hasn't done anything since she was born. Yeah
They became an item
living couple they became golf hustlers traveling around the country yeah she's
a fucking a goddamn college golfer she's killing people. Crystal was a secret
weapon supposed to play badly until the proper moment to win a big bet. She's
just a girl and then all of a sudden she's fucking, don't know. I'm pretty birdie in every hole from then on
They became a headline Knievel arrested for
suspicion of inflicting harm over a co-inhabitant in an incident in a motel room in Sunnyvale, California in October of
1994 crystal refused to press charges. They stayed an item. They stayed a couple.
Jesus. And October 11th, 1994, Knievel arrested and woman's beating.
He's beating her up.
Yep. Arrested after a female companion said he beat her. He was arrested. He's 55. Saturday
night, Sunday night after police were called to a motel and found a 25 year old Florida
woman with redness and swelling on her face and neck.
She said the retired stuntman had hit her during an argument.
Police arrested Knievel at a nearby bar without incident.
Shocking.
Jesus Christ, that's surprising.
The woman refused medical attention and asked police not to disclose her name.
Well, we know it.
Knievel, who lives in Las Vegas, retired from his death-defying stunts in in the early 80s The battery charge was dropped because she declined to cooperate. So they had nothing if she didn't cooperate
So October 26 1994. He's going to plead innocent
to violating gun laws and
His lawyers charged that Knievel was being unfairly singled out because he's a celebrity
Barely, that's that's, that's a barely right there.
That would be like saying that they're pointing. They're just,
they're singling me out because I'm the other guy from chips,
cause I'm a celebrity. That's, that's how much of a celebrity you are.
I'm Larry Wilcox and they all need me. Like, no, you're not doing that.
Prosecutors in Santa Clara County charged Knievel
with breaking a law barring convicted felons
from carrying guns.
You know, that's pretty normal law.
Police officers found two handguns in his car
when they arrested him on October 9th
for suspicion of beating a companion.
Jesus, prosecutors later said they decided
not to file domestic charges against Knievel
because of a lack of evidence.
Knievel, whose real name is Robert Craig Knievel,
was sentenced to six months in Los Canos, we all know that.
Okay, October 26th, 1994.
This is from the same day.
Former motorcycle daredevil, evil Knievel,
legal troubles are lined up like buses
in some stunt of yesteryear. He pleaded not guilty to being a felon in possession of guns, then
a process server handed him papers summoning him to court with his financial records for
questioning about his assets. Los Angeles lawyer Steve Weinberger is trying to collect
$23 million, he says says is owed a man can evil
beat with a baseball bat. I think that interest is growing. It's going up every
day it sounds like. Yeah Weinberger said I'm going to take away his fancy car for
starters. Wow that is fucking wild. So yeah this started with 12.75 it was 2.75
million in general damages,
10 million in punitive damages,
and now with interest, the amount exceeds $23 million.
Wow.
Jesus Christ.
That's insane.
So Knievel appeared in court in his stuntman persona
wearing a red and blue star-spangled shirt
accompanied by his girlfriend, Crystal Kennedy.
Both have admitted they argued and had a quote,
tussle the other night.
That must have been, that's what OJ always called,
beating up Nicole, was tussle.
Put tussle, yeah.
He said we'd be tussling a lot, we'd be tussling.
He said it in like seven different places.
Is that the old man word for beating your wife is tussling?
We were having a tussle?
Knocking the shit out of her.
You know, a tussle.
Like that's funny, you don't have any marks on you.
Yeah.
A tussle would be both of you, wouldn't it?
So they said they've denied violence
and said they deeply love each other.
That's good. Hate to see it if they didn't.
It'd be terrible.
He will be convicted of the charge of the guns
and ordered to perform, you sir may fuck off,
200 hours of community
service.
That's what he gets.
So 1995, Jesus Christ, I had no idea he was alive when I was a teenager.
That's crazy.
Retired evil Knievel, a retired daredevil, Evil Knievel's taking his risks in court
these days.
He's suing a hotel, contending his privacy was invaded
in September 11th, 1989, when a desk clerk gave a spare key
to his room to Clarence Kip Paulson III.
Paulson unlocked his door, saw his ex-girlfriend
in Knievel's bed, and began throwing punches,
according to the lawsuit, which named the Riddpath Hotel
and its parent
chain West Coast Hotels Inc. as defendants.
You can't be giving angry ex-boyfriends keys to rooms.
Knievel contends he suffered a bloody nose and numerous bruises as well as public humiliation,
psychological trauma and insomnia.
Wow, that is crazy.
Paulson says there was no fight.
He says he had been drinking with Knievel and
the woman earlier that night and left the hotel when he unlocked the door to Knievel's
room and saw them together. He said, I thought we were all hanging out and then they were
together and so I took off.
They're just in there banging.
Yeah. So, but February 3rd, 1995 jury awards damages to Evil Knievel. He wins $51,000 against the judgment, against the hotel.
He's like, now I only need $22,949,000.
Shitloads of money.
And I'll be square.
I mean, I'm ready to start my comeback then.
And then I can have a sandwich.
Jesus.
Then I'll be fucking flush for coffee.
So I'm ready to start my comeback then. And then I can have a sandwich. Jesus.
Then I'll be fucking
flush for coffee.
So after three days of deliberation
and six days of testimony,
they said that, I guess, he beat
him up and Paulson testified there was no fight.
But apparently
he was believed by the jury.
So
they said, this, his lawyer said,
we are pleased to prevail.
I felt the verdict certainly was not as much
as we had hoped for, but nobody knows what a jury'll do.
The jury awarded him $72,500,
but reduced the sum by 30% on grounds
that Knievel and Paulson, an acquaintance,
were partly at fault.
Like yeah, you guys were drinking and knew each other,
so partly.
Paulson said Knievel asked him to come to the room
to wake him up from a nap.
He testified that he left the room after seeing Knievel
and his ex-girlfriend in bed.
Knievel characterized Paulson,
heir to mining and real estate fortune,
as a celebrity stalker who followed him
during his occasional visits to Spokane.
That's why he was suing him. He's like, I know a rich guy, I can sue him. fortune as a celebrity stalker who followed him during his occasional visits to Spokane.
That's why he was suing him.
He's like, I know a rich guy.
I can sue him.
Interesting.
Knievel said Paulson was given the key.
His lawsuit accused the whatever the fuck.
He sought $130,000 in damages but didn't get it.
March 31st, 1995.
Here we go. Las Vegas businessman Kelly Knievel, son of Evil Knievel, said allegations
that he defrauded residents in seven states through tricky telephone sales pitches are
baloney.
This Knievel family really knows how to try to put a whole spell on a whole country. State prosecutors in Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington
filed charges against Knievel, president of Western Express Service Company Inc., allegedly
bilking senior citizens out of thousands of dollars by delivering trinkets after promising
prizes.
Oh my Christ.
Holy shit.
The states want a court order forbidding Knievel and his company from continuing the alleged
deceptive merchandising and to pay restitution to its customers.
How could you?
What the fuck?
It runs in the family.
It's like genetic.
Just standard people.
Genetic bullshit artists. It's amazing.
Wow.
Wow.
They, Knievel said, they're so used to swimming in all in this distorted cesspool of illegitimate
telemarketers that they've run out of.
They've run them out of business.
He said, now they have to turn to legitimate companies to keep them running their departments.
Meaning, you know, they ran out here.
So these charges from other states alone will not prompt any action, the deputy attorney
general said.
Apparently here what would happen is they'd make telephone calls to senior citizens, tell
them that they had won valuable prizes such as new cars or $10,000 in cash or gold bars. To obtain the prizes
consumers had to send money to authorize a credit card charge to buy. Yeah, so basically
Nigerian Prince. A telemarketer Nigerian Prince. The company would ship the products along with a catalog of prizes for the consumer
to choose from, but allegedly none of the prizes, including a new car or $10,000 in
cash or gold bars, ever materialized. So, July 22nd, 1995, Evil Knievel wants to tackle
another challenge, opening a daredevil cafe in Ybor City.
Oh God, Jesus Christ.
You know what?
Just open, you don't even have to have food or anything.
If you made it here, you're a daredevil.
You walk through Ybor City.
You avoid getting stabbed four times, you avoid getting pecked by fucking vagrant roosters.
It's all right there for you.
You made it. Yeah
We're kidnapped by a large black man on a Harley Davidson with a crazy stereo
Speakers blaring like country music from the 70s, even though he's a 24 year old black guy. It's really weird shits weird
Weird town the motorcycle stuntman wants to lend his name and memorabilia to a $3 million restaurant venue
to be announced next month.
It's basically Planet Hollywood is what he's trying to do.
Hard rock.
$3 million for Evil Knievel, I don't know.
Restaurant.
In the meantime, I'm having all my equipment
and memorabilia sent down here from its storage in Vegas,
he said.
He has spent winters playing golf in Tampa
for the last 20 years.
He picked Ebor City, Tampa's Latin Quarter
for his leap into the restaurant and club businesses,
I guess, because it's growing and it's a historic district,
he said.
God, it was growing back then?
Oh, boy.
I don't know about that, was it?
Jesus Christ, it must have been.
Knievel went before the Tampa City Council on Thursday and got a green light to sell alcoholic beverages
With him was lawyers and everything else here we go
So Knievel's most publicized and daring feats came in the 70s and now he's gonna try to do this they're going to say basically
March 11th 1997
Evil's grandma dies.
Oh no.
I can't believe she's still fucking alive.
You know how old she was?
90s.
103.
Holy shit.
So he said, do you remember his quote, by the way?
I want to, when do you want to, how do you want to die?
When I'm 103 in bed with a couple of broads.
Right.
His grandma made it to 103, that's incredible.
She in bed with a couple of broads? They found made it to 103. That's incredible. Was she in bed with a couple of broads?
They found her in bed with two young underwear model men. They just got done Eiffel Towering
her and apparently her old body couldn't take it.
In bed with Johnny Depp and George Clooney.
Just poundin' with Brad Pitt whacking it on the sides. That's what happened there.
Hammering away at her old bones.
He's like, I like the cuck stuff. You know what I mean?
So he raised, Evil says she raised me
and all that kind of thing.
And he's very, very sad about that.
He said all my life, she was the epitome
of what today's modern women are.
Modern women, she's 103 years old.
She was born in the 1800s.
What the fuck are you talking about?
She's modern as fuck, James.
She was strong and smart and spoke her piece. She was well in the 1800s. What the fuck are you talking about? She was strong
and smart and spoke her piece. She was well read. She spoke with authority and you never
had that sense that she would let people down. She was 20 when the Titanic went down. Yeah,
that's what I mean. She was out like clubbing and heard about the Titanic going down. Think about that shit. So anyway, finally 1997, he and Linda
finally get a divorce.
Oh, really?
He was still married while all that other shit
was going on.
What, with the 22 year old?
All the whole thing.
They'd been married for 38 years, interesting.
One of Knievel's friends, Jim Blankenship, said, I ran into Linda on the street after
the divorce.
I asked her how she was doing and told her that she should have gotten the divorce years
ago.
I said this was when OJ Simpson was in the news that the OJ thing made me think about
her and evil.
She said, oh yes, there was a lot of OJ and evil.
Jesus.
Yes, they're the same guy if you think about it.
It's all about them.
It's all a woman's heads off. Yeah. Yes. They're the same guy. If you think about it, it's all about them. Yeah.
But center of attention. If you hear OJ's friends talk about how he was, he was not,
he's not a real friend. Yeah. You were, you were just reflecting his greatness back to
him and that's all he saw everybody as was just a bunch of moons reflecting the sun's
light to him. That's it. So never saw anybody any other way. July 12th, 1988.
One last jump is the headline here in the Montana Standard.
In need of a liver transplant, Evel Knievel is still living life by defying death.
In 1988, he needed a liver transplant.
1998.
98.
He needed a liver transplant.
Never heard about any of this.
And he's going to jump.
Yep.
They said all the booze he's consumed, half a fifth of wild turkey a day with beer chasers
He says all the women he slept with usually one or two a day some with very jealous husbands
He says and hepatitis C from a tainted blood transfusion threatens to kill him
18 years ago. He gave up trying to be what was expected of him because we always expected more.
He wasn't going to kill himself leaping after illusions.
Movie magic he said. People expect you to do things you just can't do.
Yet he remains an American icon. A living Elvis. Larger than life.
He said I created the character called Evil Knievel and he sort of got away from me.
There you go there finally
He's like one of those wrestlers that lives their gimmick too much. You know what I mean? You're like, bro, you're a regular guy That's not your name. You're not a Viking. None of this shit is real. You know what I'm saying? This is crazy
He said when I was performing I thought I'd get killed but shit. I'm not ready to die today
They said he's not dying right now
if he was he'd be in intensive care in the hospital says the director of the
liver transplantation and lifelink for lifelink and Tampa General Hospital but
he definitely needs a liver transplant I'm not sure if he'll last a year six
months I don't know definitely he'll last a month at least I hope so that is
the worst I'm me repeat that.
They're saying that?
They're reading that to the press?
This is a doctor talking, saying this quote.
I'll say it one more time.
I'm not sure if it'll last a year.
Six months?
I don't know.
Definitely he'll last a month.
At least I hope so.
It'll take more than that to get a liver.
Okay.
We have anywhere from 15 to 25% of our patients die waiting for organs.
There will be one there for him when he needs it, Knievel says.
I've got to think positive.
I mean, I never went into a jump thinking what if.
I knew if I knew I could draw a big crowd.
November 4th, 1998, slight motorcycle miscue injures Evil Knievel.
Your liver's falling out. Stop doing things. A miscue injures evil Knievel your livers falling out stop doing things a miscue
Miscue holy shit. He was getting ready to lock up the motorcycle for the night at Feather Sound condominium
When it fell and pinned him down
He's over and
This is a man who shot over fucking fountains and did all this crazy shit now
He can't put the kickstand down without it falling and trapping him still where he needs to be helped up
He's ruined if it falls down. Oh, this is not good at all, man
He said he was sitting on the motorcycle without the kickstand at the time of the incident
Neighbors heard him yelling for help and they freed him and called for help paramedics soon arrived
But he refused to be taken to the hospital
man
Guy showed up and said I he said quote. I said are you okay? He said yeah
Okay, well then he's okay. There you go
Anyway, they said that he's he said he was shocked cuz the guy who found him his neighbor was a big fan of his
And he was a kid and all that shit, and he said it was so weird He said I didn't even know evil Knievel lived here. Like he was like
I hear yelling I run over there. It's fucking evil Knievel trapped under a motorcycle probably the last thing you'd expect to see
That's crazy
February
1999 he's given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die in his home
In route to his home. He received a phone call from the hospital saying a young man just died and
Could be a liver donor for him. Do you know how the man died? No fucking motorcycle accident
Hilarious, dude. The serendipity in this guy's life is ridiculous. It's fucking ridiculous.
So evil Knievel, February 10th, 1999, he has gotten his liver transplant.
He literally went home to die.
He was dead in two days and they were like, Oh, guy just crashed his motorcycle.
Imagine if he did it trying to do an evil Knievel move.
If like as he did it, he was like evil Knievel and then he crashed and died.
That would have been amazing.
Did the sign of the cross and jumped him? It's a beachy. Yeah, let me show you evil now, too. He looks scary
Oh boy, he looks like he looks like a Doc Brown smoked crack for 15 years
That's what he would look like jigsaw in the saw movies. It kind of looks like what's his name?
Wallace fucking from white lotus and all that shit. Yes. He looks. It kind of looks like, what's his name? Wallace fucking from White Lotus and all that shit.
Yes, he looks like him kind of.
Because he looks like a,
I don't even know what he looks like.
He looks like a, he's a weird looking cat, man.
He was in Major League Three, back to the minors.
He was the asshole kid who Scott Bakula was trying to teach.
That was him, yes. Yeah, absolutely. That's when I saw who Scott Bakula was trying to teach. That was him. Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's when I saw him later.
I was like, major league three.
And people were like, what?
He's in like all these big movies.
I'm like, no, no, he's in these Scott Bakula's pal.
He's created a whole subculture of women
lusting after hideous men.
There's a lot, man.
Good for him.
Evil wants to personally thank the family of the man who gave
Well didn't give her a rival, but how's he gonna do that the family of the man? Yeah, we can't thank him
He said I don't I know now I now have a new best friend, and I don't even know him he gave me life
That's he said all he knows is he was from the South and he was in his 20s.
That's it.
So five and a half hour transplant.
He says he feels good.
And yeah, they said that I don't know, even know him,
but I do love him and I hope to find more information
about his family and hopefully maybe become a part
of their family and let them know how wonderful
I feel toward his son.
That's a big deal in transplant shit.
Like people, it's a weird thing.
And people definitely wanna like know each other
and like, oh, you have my kidney or I have your this.
It's a big deal.
So-
It's very interesting that he loves the guy.
Yeah, yeah, he said I love him.
He said that he's always been able to fight back
from adversity.
He said, I've always been in rough waters
being the captain of my own ship.
I've always managed to get to shore when I sunk to grab a life raft and to hang on.
Knievel presented a $1,000 check to Sabrina Wilkins a registered nurse and transplant
who found Knievel's expensive jewelry and returned it to the hospital security and he
got it returned to him.
So there you go.
No doesn't he has hep C just because he gets a new liver.
Doesn't doesn't make the hep C go away.
No, but now you got a lot more time for that liver to rot out.
Who knows how long he's had hep C rotting his liver out. You know what I mean?
1999 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at the twin
Twin Falls Mall. They hold the celebration.
jump at the twin Twin Falls mall. They hold the celebration.
Way different. His memorabilia was then stored at Kent. Uh,
whoa. Gotta be care.
K N I G G E S's farm.
At Kent's farm in filer Idaho.
So that is a fucking landmine of a last name.
Seven miles. No matter how you say it, it's fucked.
It's not hard R, but still, yeah.
Even could, even if you go like Knievel,
it doesn't matter.
It's all fucked out.
During the same year, Knievel was inducted
into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
He said he once dreamed of housing all his career
memorabilia in an evil Knievel museum.
Those dreams were unfulfilled and the artifacts are spread throughout transportation museums
and private collections around the world.
They say Knievel's original blueprints and handwritten notes about his desired museum
are currently displayed at the Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in downtown Miami,
Oklahoma. Fantastic. Holy shit. It's a lovely place. downtown Miami, Oklahoma.
Fantastic.
Holy shit.
It's the only place.
South Beach, Oklahoma.
There it is everybody.
Old Miami, Oklahoma, the bikinis.
Yeah.
The nightlife, there it is.
Spring break, goddamn.
A few public museums are open in his honor,
including the Evil Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas,
which has the official approval of the Knievel estate.
Now November 19, 1999, Knievel and Crystal Kennedy get married.
What?
The 22 year old?
The 22 year old.
He's got a new liver and he's ready to roll.
The site was Caesar's Palace, obviously.
The altar was constructed on top of the fountains.
Wow. Yep, that's interesting. Knievel drove up on a Harley. The altar was constructed on top of the fountains.
Wow.
Yep, that's interesting.
Knievel drove up on a Harley.
Crystal was escorted by a fake Caesar and a fake Cleopatra.
She looked lovely.
He looked ancient.
That's what the book says.
The hair he had left was a gray turning in a hurry to white.
He wore red-tinted sunglasses.
He was 61 years old. not so bad in the numbers,
but 61 hard years old. She was, she was 30. Um, Engelbert Humperdinck sent a recorded
tribute to the couple. That's a real person. Engelbert Humperdinck is a music guy. Oh my
God. Yeah. Uh, what, uh, what was Knievelvel doing now he was right there at Caesar's Palace married again to a pretty blonde woman
The wily old son of a bitch there were possibilities all kinds of possibilities
He boasted that he was back to making 300 grand a year from signing autographs doing endorsements and making deals
And that's true though because that's everybody's life cycle if you're a major
thing you are going to be around for the nostalgia yeah you're going to be radioactive for 10 years
no one will touch you go near you'll be a piece of shit and then after that all of the sudden the
nostalgia comes around it's crazy yeah look at neil patrick harris okay he was doogie hauser
and then he was fucking done he was a a joke. Everybody laughed at Doogie Howser.
Oh, that's, where is that Doogie Howser guy now?
For 10 years, you didn't hear or see,
hide nor hear of him and then all of the fucking sudden,
he shows up in Harold and Kumar
in that fucking role of being that Neil Patrick.
There he is, he's there being all weird
and doing coke off of people and shit.
And people were like, hi brother, he is, look at that guy, great. doing coke off of people and shit and people were like I'm there
He's look at that guy great next thing. You know, he's on every fucking show
He's in every movie and the guy made way more money than he ever made in his first run. Yeah, it's crazy
McCauley Culkin's having it right now. He doesn't want it though
He could have it if he wanted fighting it if he wanted to go back and do acting he could be a big star again
Right now, but he's fresh. He pushed it right down.
He's like, I make enough money.
I don't need that bullshit again.
I give him so much credit that he's like,
I don't need the accolades.
I don't need the fucking extra money.
But he's having it right now where anytime people see him,
they're jacked about it.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
It happens all the time.
Haley Joel Osmond's pissing it away too.
Yeah, oh well, he's getting arrested and shit.
Culkin's just playing the same venues as us. Yeah, that, well he's getting arrested and shit. Yeah, Hulkins just playing the same venues as us
Yeah, we did Medford in December that he was the next night
It was it was an evening with Macaulay Culkin. Yeah where you watch
Home Alone and then he talks about it for an hour or some shit that was going on the next night and somehow
I felt like that was probably way cooler than us, you know
Yeah, cool Culkins coming here damn. I'd like to was probably way cooler than us. You know? Probably, yeah. Cool.
Culkin's coming here?
Damn, I'd like to meet him.
For like 1,500 people?
That's a, was it, is it that much?
Yeah, 1,600 I think.
So it might be.
Oh no, it's 1,900 in Medford.
It's huge, yeah.
Yeah, that was one of our, thank you for selling that out,
by the way.
You guys crushed that shit.
That was awesome.
Made us look cool as fuck.
Yeah.
So 2001, Evil and Crystal get a divorce.
Yeah, already over two years.
That's right, Canevil, Crystal gets a restraining order
against him, however they would work out their differences
and then continue to live together.
He's a charming motherfucker.
Divorced and staying together.
Man, so this is from the book, Quote, he was never really healthy again.
He was better sometimes, still alive, making jokes and pronouncements and steely ideals,
but never healthy.
The drugs from the transplant, he said, gave him mood swings.
The mood swings killed his marriage less than two years after it began.
He still wanted to be married, left flowers and notes on Crystal's car, romantic stuff,
then became angry when she refused to come back mood swings
She got an injunction against him two months after the divorce. He was angry on the steps of the courthouse quote
She's lucky. I didn't hit her. I never want to see her again
But he did because then they got back together
2003 Knievel signs over exclusive rights to Los Angeles composer Jeff, not Jeff Beck,
the guitar player, Jeff Beck, authorizing the production of a rock opera based on Knievel's
life.
A rock opera.
Yes.
It opened in Los Angeles in September 2007
to positive reviews, actually.
Right.
2005, he's diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
What is that?
An incurable lung disease that required him
to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day.
What is that from?
Donuts, like, sounds like asbestos shit like that's like what?
Mesothelioma or something sounds like long or some shit. Yeah, he's it well between the mines and everything else
That was maybe he's fucking with too much asbestos, too
Then he had two strokes after 2005, but neither of them were severely debilitating, but they'll put a take a toll on you
So from the book he had the lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis an advancing problem without
a cure.
He had diabetes.
He had all the other stuff.
He had the mood swings.
His mortality which he put on the line as a young man challenged in the most direct
ways.
Challenged and whipped.
Now look back at him from the mirror every morning.
Winked and smirked.
Round two.
The irony was that the man who had seemed destined to die in a flash, everyone
wondering what he was all about, now took the long way home.
He had time to explain before he walked out the door.
He even had time to change.
An example, he made a public confession to his hometown, speaking at the annual
meeting of the Butte Press Club
at the nights at Columbus Hall,
usually a raucous gathering, a drink fest for reporters.
He apologized for the illegal acts
he perpetrated as a young man.
He was sorry he robbed Fran Johnson's sports shop.
He was sorry he robbed Star Lanes.
He was sorry he tried to rob the Prudential Bank,
but was unsuccessful.
He said he was not sorry he robbed the Treasurer's office in the courthouse because he didn't
do that robbery but he did know who did.
I know who did do it though.
I just want to live.
He said he had tried through the years to pay back most of his debts from his illegal
acts.
He read letters from various government agencies saying that he had paid certain bills.
He said he thought he would finish paying off the last $60,000 adjusted payment for his debt
to the IRS by the end of this year.
He said if he had missed anyone, he was sorry,
but he was probably drunk at the time and could not remember.
It was, on the whole, a public deathbed confession.
Somber.
He tried to pick up the pieces he had knocked over
in haste to get where he was going.
He said, I was a young man whose mind had not caught up with his body.
Crystal came back as a friend and a companion, caretaker, and that was good.
They spent time in Las Vegas, in Florida, in Butte every summer living in the motor
home, spending more time in Florida as traveling became more difficult.
He began to need oxygen every day for the lung problem.
He had neuro-
neuropathy which made his feet and hands burn. He sucked on lollipops loaded with fentanyl.
Oh. They gave him fentanyl lollipops. Is that right? Yeah as a painkiller. Wow. My Christ.
He would take as many as 50 pills a day. He needed more and more rest. Yeah he's got so
many different problems. He said the price I've paid for notoriety and fame,
it's just not worth it.
He told the Montana Standard,
I would give anything for just one day of health, anything.
He said he would wake up, feel great,
walk 50 feet to the front door of his motor home
and be exhausted.
And he wanted to turn around and go back to bed.
That's brutal, man.
He said, people think I've been through something in my life from what they've seen on national television. My accident at Caesar's palace, for instance. He said, look at what the hell I'm going through now. How much can the human body endure? The telephone became his best companion. He called everyone he called without concern for clocks or time zones. He called the way he always had three o'clock in the morning had to be that damn Knievel. He called with great regularity. Ray Gunn said he'd
call me three times a week, always at one o'clock in the morning, which had to be
four o'clock in the morning for him. He'd drive me crazy. He called out from the
past, he said, out of the long ago blue. I was really surprised Gary Frey from
Moses Lake said. Remember that guy, Gary Fry for Moses Lake. This guy,
he is like part two for Christ sake.
He's running through his Rolodex. Yeah. And just anybody that'll answer,
answer. Cause I'm dying. Yeah. He said, we hadn't talked for a long time.
I didn't know what it was about. Then I sort of figured it out.
He was apologizing. He's just not an apology tour
He's trying to trying to make amends here. He knew he was an asshole when I knew him
I think he was saying he was sorry in his own way
He said he'd tell me he made love to all four of my ex-wives ex-wives Jim Blankenship
Married five times said I don't know. maybe he had. We'd make bets on football games. Mostly. He had everything figured out.
The teams, the lines, everything.
He made the football season a whole lot more exciting.
October 9th, 2005,
Knievel promotes his last public motorcycle ride.
Not a jump, obviously at the Milwaukee Harley Davidson dealership.
The ride is to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims.
It's so weird to say Hurricane Katrina and Evel Knievel, because those seem like the
most separate times in the world, right?
It'd be like talking about Napoleon and JFK in the same sentence.
You'd be like, they don't go together.
They're from different places and times.
So he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee
He never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild stroke before the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session
2006 he had an internal morphine pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his
deteriorated lower back.
Imagine how fucked up his back is.
July 2006 here, he appeared on the Adam Carolla show.
Six degrees of separation, we are right there.
We have appeared on the Adam Carolla show.
How the fuck is it that we were on the same show Evil Knievel was on?
That's unbelievable.
That's unbelievable.
Now that might be his radio show
because the way he did it,
and I gotta give Carolla credit,
whatever you think of him now, doesn't matter.
Back then, he's the first podcast I knew existed.
And it was like 2008.
And he had just gotten shit can from his radio gig,
not Love Line, the morning show he did.
And he didn't know what to do.
And I remember the first episode, he's sitting there, he goes, I don't know what I'm doing.
He's like, I don't even understand what this is.
Donnie, what the fuck are we doing?
Donnie's the one guy that was like, what the fuck are we doing?
He goes, Donnie said people are doing this.
They're like recording themselves in their houses and like putting it on the internet.
He goes, no one's gonna fucking listen to this.
What are we doing?
He's saying, I don't know.
He's calling it a podcast. He was saying, I don't know, he's calling it a podcast,
he was saying, I don't even know what that is,
and it's hilarious, because that was the first I heard of it,
and here we are.
That's really weird that we have that close of a degree
to Evil Knievel.
What year did he, did he interview him on his show?
2006.
So it could have been podcast,
it could have been the show itself, though.
I think it was, I don't think he started the podcast
till 07, I to say the following day
He appeared on stage with Robbie at Evil Knievel days in Butte now that he's got days Wow
Marking the last performance in which the two appeared together Robbie jumped
196 feet and a tribute to his father on a much lighter motorcycle with far superior suspension. Yes, 2006
It's a jumping bike now.
It's made for that shit.
It's a fucking dirt bike.
Yeah, April 20th, 2007.
So 18 years ago yesterday here, Evil Knievel baptized
at Crystal Cathedral.
Where the hell is that?
Now he's getting fucking religious.
Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, I think it's Florida.
California?
I think it's Florida.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
68 year old Knievel was baptized during Reverend Robert Shuler, oh no, not that guy, during
his hour of power service at the Crystal, he's doing televangelist bullshit.
He spoke for about 20 minutes to more than 4,000 people who gathered inside. Yeah, it's one of those mega church dumb shit fucking things.
Shuler said Knievel had called him a couple weeks earlier telling him, Dr. Shuler, I've
accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Do you think he really called you doctor?
Do you think you want people to believe that?
Also, I'm dying at a rapid pace.
Please save me.
Help.
He said, you that church guy?
That's what he really said. Dr. Schuller
I'm sure he knew who the fuck you were
He doesn't care Schuller says he'd long admired Knievel for what the minister called his possible
Possibility thinking and attempting motorcycle jumps that seemed him seemed impossible
But he had kept his distance because Knievel's private life was non-christian. So he didn't want to be involved with him Schuller flew to
Tampa, Florida to verify Knievel's conversion. To verify it?
Are you dying rapid?
Are you dying fast and you think this will somehow get you into an imaginary nirvana?
Yeah, okay.
He said Knievel stood at the baggage claim without a cane despite all his physical ailments,
including a liver transplant, diabetes and hepatitis.
And to those who think Knievel found Jesus only because he's afraid to die, Knievel said,
let them say what they want.
I'm a long ways from dying.
He told them on very, he told them on Tana Standard, I don't know what happened to me.
I didn't see it on a TV show or see it in the newspaper or hear it on the phone or read it in the Bible something
happened to me just so seriously that I all of a sudden woke up I rose up in bed
I was by myself I said devil devil get away from me you bastard you yeah I
cast you out of my life I went to the balcony of my hotel room and I said I
will take you and throw you on the beach.
You will be gone.
I don't want you around anymore.
When we get together at the Nassau Coliseum
this Saturday night, devil, you're going down.
The figure four leg lock will take you to the ground
and take me to victory, baby.
I'll see you in Pontiac, Michigan.
He's cutting fucking promos on the devil
from his hotel room.
That's called desperate and realizing mortality.
Mortality is-
No shit.
It's ever present in your life now.
Fuck.
He said, I did everything I could do.
I put my knees on the ground.
I prayed that God would put his arm around me
and never ever let me go
Cuz I'm dying cuz I'm dying that was yeah, 2008 2006. No that was April 20th 2007
November 30th
2007 evil Knievel is dead
Long way from it long way from it dead as a doornail at 69. Yup, there he is. He is dead.
His death was confirmed. This is fucking hilarious.
His death was confirmed. Oh, no, Kristen is his grand.
I was crystal.
They said his death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Kristen Knievel.
I'm like, that's his ex wife. That's not his granddaughter, but that's his granddaughter.
Hold on. Crystal Knievel Kennedy.
Geez, that's a lot. Yeah.
I hope she does not hyphenate. Caneval Kennedy? Jesus. That's a lot. Yeah. Don't like that.
I hope she does not hyphenate.
Let's just hope her middle name isn't Kathy
and she doesn't hyphenate.
So he'd been in failing health for years, obviously.
Long time friend and promoter, Billy Rundle said
Caneval had had some trouble breathing
in his Clearwater condominium
and died before an ambulance could get him to the hospital.
He said, it's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it Superman just doesn't die, right?
His son Kelly said I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have I think he willed himself into an extra five or
six years
Yep, he said
He said he enjoyed that Knievel said I always wanted to live to about 70
I thought that'd be a good age.
That was earlier in the month he ran.
He did a Vanity Fair story.
He said, I have my tombstone already.
A tombstone company in the East gave it to me when I jumped the Snake Canyon.
My plot is in Montana.
All my life people have been waiting around to watch me die, but I'm still here.
I really think there is a hereafter and this is just a testing ground years ago
I was just helter-skelter I defied death and I'm still doing it only from a bed instead of a bike
There's just no quitting me. There's just no stopping me. I went through big
I went through life by big bad about bang, but a boom
He says I went through life big bang Bada boom Bada
That is not a boom Bada. That's not how you say that. Oh then boom another boom bang Bada boom Bada boom
Now it's just Bing, but I'm still evil Knievel
Okay, I am there's nothing you could do to stop me his death came two days after it was announced that he and
Kanye West had settled a federal Knievel's trademarked image in a Kanye West video. Video. He fucking sued him and won.
Oh, they're so litigious.
Well, yeah, you can't use this shit.
Kanye's a big star.
He could fucking clear it.
He could have cleared it and paid 10 grand, but he didn't want to.
So that's what you get, asshole.
I'm sure it would have been more.
Yeah, who knows.
So the phrase one of a kind is often used, but it probably best applies to Bobby Knievel is what the US representative
Pat Williams from Montana and Knievel's cousin said
Said he was an amazing athlete. He was sharp as a tack one of the smartest people I've ever known and finally as the world knows
No one had more guts than Bobby. He was simply afraid of nothing
then simply afraid of nothing. Except death, he was terrified. Except right at the end, the devil he was scared of.
One of his high school classmates,
who was a former Montana State football star and coach,
said he was no dummy, I'll never forget a poem
that he made up when we were seniors
about his friends and the people he hung out with.
It was incredible, everybody was just astounded
when he recited it in front of the whole school.
He probably forced a girl to write it
at like the threat under the threat of rape.
Yeah, Knievel lived with his longtime partner,
splitting time between Clearwater and Butte.
Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great grandchild as well.
He's buried at the Mountain View Cemetery
in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 12, 2007, following a funeral at the 7500-seat Butte Civic Center,
presided over by that Robert H. Schuller idiot and actor Matthew McConaughey, of course, of course, giving the eulogy.
McConaughey eulogized Evil Knievel.
What the fuck.
Before the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte sky as Paul Bearers carried Knievel's
casket into the center.
Wow.
He left his entire estate, whatever was left, to Crystal.
No shit.
I mean she took care of him when he was six. I guess that's what it is December 4th 2007
Victim of evil Knievel's bad attack in 1977 intends to collect money from his estate. Oh
Crystal 30 years ago. Give it up already. You know what I mean? You made your point who cares? He's dead
Make crystal pay it still yeah, I'm on his side till now here
million dollars make Crystal pay it still. Yeah I'm on his side till now here. They said with interest the still uncollected sum it's still collecting
interest as of that point had grown to more than 100 million dollars he owes.
Come on. You might as well you say you owe me 35, 40, gajillion,
quadrillion dollars like it doesn't matter you owe me Uruguay yeah you owe
me the gross national product of Belgium please like fuck out of here so they said
he said we are going hot and heavy after his estate what he tried to do to me and how it hurt
my family i'm owed that they should just wait this guy out he's gonna die too soon I'm sure so whether Knievel's estate has that kind of money
is unclear no it's not he doesn't have a hundred million dollars tell you that
right now living in a condo in Clearwater no he said wow that is fucking
wild Knievel's son Kelly would not discuss the size of the estate or
comment on the dispute he's like I don't know It's not my fucking money gas crystal
Although little remember today the instant made headlines worldwide when it happened
So anyway, he said I've always felt pity for him because of this foolish act
He ruined his career his career was down going down. Anyway, he just that just helped so
Yeah, that's how it goes
He said that I wrote a book about a man
who at the time I greatly admired,
and this is what happens.
So he said, Saltman, he said there was offers of,
he said, Knievel, they never spoke,
but Saltman said that evil had approached him
over the years through third parties,
expressing remorse and offering to settle with something,
give you something for it.
Saltman said that the offers were a pittance and he turned them all down.
Well, you got nothing then.
So he's dead now.
What do you got?
You know what I mean?
Like if you're healed up and you're not like destitute and needing the money, why don't
you just buy guns, be fucking buy guns.
70s were a crazy time.
A lot of people did.
Roman Polanski fucking raped children
and we're fine with it now.
Everyone's like, oh no, let him make movies,
give him Oscars.
Like, what are we talking about?
Woody Allen kidnapped his stepdaughter.
Yeah, and you're like, I want my $100 million.
Get the fuck out of here.
You know what I mean?
Offer you 50 grand, take it, shake hands.
Yeah, and then write a book together.
That's what you should have done about the whole thing.
That would have been smart.
You both could have made some fucking money,
but instead, you're idiots.
So anyway, by the way, Saltman was the guy
behind the scenes at the Muhammad Ali, Antonio Anoki
match, wrestling, boxing match back in 76.
Yeah.
So anyway, that's how that goes goes and my first thought was that I do
hope the poor man is finally at peace he actually said after learning of his
death but I'm going hard after his family June 2008 Six Flags has an evil
Knievel roller coaster oh Knievel partners yeah with Six Flags st. Louis
to name a new wooden coaster after this
America's legendary daredevil. It's in Eureka, Missouri
Jesus that sounds bleak it opened for through the evil Knievel roller coaster operated for three seasons before being renamed
American Thunder in 2011
To that I'm for it probably
Oh
To that I'm paying for it probably I can't apparently not October 6 2008 If how could we have more show well we do FBI file details allegations against evil
You can look these up now and look up all the FBI files on people are crazy
So they call the celebrities yeah all the celebrities yeah, they have files basically if you were
Any anything they would just follow you around,
especially if you said bad things about the government.
Then that went away after we all found out
about all that shit happening.
And so, Evil never denied his scrapes with the law,
obviously here.
They said, according to documents obtained
by the Associated Press,
the federal government came close to charging Knievel
who threatened to sue the FBI for alleging he was connected to a crime syndicate
Sue the FBI
Okay, that's an interesting I don't know you could do that can you I guess you can it's a something
So Knievel here repeatedly denied his involvement to both investigators and victims
They said according to one phone conversation recounted at an FBI interview, Knievel stated
that he was not responsible for what happened
to Name Redacted and that he had no control over the thing.
This is the beatings that he put out in the 70s.
Remember all the rivals?
So they talk about that.
And also obviously they're talking about
how he owes $100 million to this other guy.
They said the file shows investigators
Believed he was involved in other violent acts the Kansas City hotel room thing the vicious beating in San Francisco all carried out by his associates
Authorities also looked into an alleged threat made in Phoenix, but couldn't find any more information
the investigation bounced between all the field offices all around.
Of the 202 pages of Knievel's 290-page file released
to the AP, some were heavily redacted,
with identities, interviews, and contact information excluded.
The names of victims were not released,
although some of their experiences were.
One man told agents of getting a threatening phone call
and shortly after was beaten by a Knievel associate
We thought we talked about that like part four probably
yeah, so that's how that goes and FBI files are available to the public after these deaths a lot of times and
Now the Bob Gill guys the guy he beat like we told you about before and then he later almost died
He said I was really really, really mad at Evil
over the whole thing, but he apologized
at least 10 times and said it was out of his control,
and I believed him.
Yeah, right.
Wow.
Anyway, he said, Evil's never done anything wrong
beside that one incident, you know,
besides having me beaten for no reason in a hotel room.
It's all good.
Amongst so many other things.
Yeah, he said, and he's made up for it a thousand times.
I think he probably felt bad and whatever.
So July 10th, 2010, a special temporary exhibit
entitled True Evil, the Amazing Story of Evil Knievel,
was opened at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.
Now they want to be associated with him, but he's dead.
He can't tarnish his name anymore, so we could do it. We were worried about it before. I don't know. They said in
2010 a traveling version of the exhibit began a one year tour of the United Kingdom in Europe.
In 2017, this is probably why, the Evil Knievel Museum, a 13,000 square foot museum honoring
Knievel was opened in Topeka
Kansas so I think that's probably where you're finding all that shit now they
said during his career he may have suffered more than 433 bone fractures
probably wow earning an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as the
survivor of the most broken bones in
a lifetime.
However, this number could be exaggerated.
Son Robbie told a reporter in 2014 his father had actually broken 40-50 bones and Knievel
himself claimed he broke 35.
So it ain't 433.
Why would they do that?
Multiply it by 10.
No problem.
Don't worry about it. He is buried at the Butte Mountain View Cemetery
in Silver Bow County, Montana.
So you can go see evil.
Here is his stone.
It's the rocket cycle of Knievel right on the side.
Robert Evil Knievel, explorer, motorcyclist,
and daredevil, a mile long leap of the Snake River Canyon
from this point on September 8th, 1974 employing a unique sky cycle. A man can fall many times
in life but he's never a failure if he tries to get up and then an American flag under
that. Oh boy. That's evil right there boy. That's through and through fucking evil.
It's like a cartoon too. It's not like the the the font is goofy the whole thing is goofy.
Yeah.
It's all cartoon.
No shit and then here is he's got Pappy Ignatius next to him and Mami Emma Brown he's got them
and then right next to him is Robert oh that's him oh no shit Robbie's no, shit, Robbie's dead too.
That's right.
Yeah, Robbie's dead too, yeah.
I forgot about that, Robbie fucking died.
That is fucking sad.
Yeah, he's dead too, shit.
He died at 60 I think, I think he was younger than Evil was.
Well shit, that is too bad.
That's interesting.
Evil Can Evil said quote,
you can't ask a guy like me why I perform.
You know what, fuck that, and in their own words to end evil, I think.
What do you say here?
I think it's only worth it.
Let's see here.
In their own words, quote, you can't ask a guy like me
why I performed.
I really wanted to fly through the air.
I was a daredevil, a performer.
I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing.
All those things that made me evil, Knievel.
Sure, I was scared.
You gotta be an ass not to be scared.
But I beat the hell out of death.
You're in the air for four seconds,
you're part of the machine,
and then you make a mistake midair.
You say to yourself, oh boy, I'm gonna crash,
and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Not at all.
That's evil.
So, can't get enough of evil-knevel?
You should have an ass fall by now
You can get an evil Knievel swagger stick cane
Ideal custom thirty and a half thirty five and a half inches long
It is his fucking cane with the gold top and all that no hundred bucks now
They have they have two available and seven have already been sold
Up for sale custom evil Knievel Swagger
Stick 3D printed. Yeah they just fucking did that but it's pretty cool though. Also here
is a 1970s ideal vintage Evil Knievel action figure and stunt canyon cycle rocket. So
it's the Evil Knievel toy with the stunt canyon, the stunt rocket, 46 bucks on eBay. Not bad.
That's not bad if you're really a fan.
Here's an Evil Knievel stunt stadium set collectible, where I guess it's all the thing.
It's $125 from 1974.
Yeah, we got that.
Vintage toys.
Vintage toys.
1975, ideal Evil Knievel stunt world fold out toy stunt park with figures.
Mm-hmm.
$79.99.
Not bad.
Jesus Christ.
Not bad.
And then also, there is a whole Evil Knievel album here that I'm seeing.
What?
That a guy named Hub Reynolds did, and it's called Evil Knievel.
Amusing. name hub Reynolds did and it's called Evil Knievel and it has on the front of
it it has Evil Knievel flying over the some cars and the ballot of Evil Knievel
is a track for God and Country 2 is another track Knievel a living legend
Snake River Canyon blues color me lucky Lucky, Unlucky 13, Who Will Be Second, The
Last Gladiator, A Crashing Cycle, and the Cow Palace Rumble.
There are his things here.
And then there's another record here.
This is another record released in 1974.
That one was released in 1972, by the way, that first album.
This one's released in 1974 and it has it's like has Evil
Knievel on it. It's got a press conference of his that's 23 minutes long
on an album. See you can listen to the press conference. Then a song called Why with
lyrics by Evil Knievel, music by Carl Setti, then the ballad of Evil Knievel
which is from the last album that is lyrics by Ron Kramer,
music by Dean K, vocals by John, I don't even know,
Evil Talks with the Kids, just Evil Talking up to kids
for 20 minutes.
Tell them, Ravi, tell them what to do.
20 minutes, 20 minutes and 36 seconds,
and then Evil Talks of the Future, two minutes and 17 seconds.
Maybe the worst album that's ever been fuckin' produced
and sold
So there you go everybody after two and a half months. There is evil Knievel
He's dead buried in the ground
We really really hope you've enjoyed this series because we've never deep dive or dove deep
stove deep so far into a subject and
You know our plan our plan is always to get it done in one episode
But then there's a subject like this and if we did this in one episode it would have just left everything out
It would have been awful. You couldn't even get through his craziness in that time period a guy
So yeah, great great story an incredible life. I mean you got to say that about him
No one had a wilder life than this guy
I mean 69 evil years.
He lied a lot, but 69 evil years are like 600 regular person years. You know, he's like
dog years evil. Like it's crazy shit. So there you go. Thank you for listening. Hope you
enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, please get on whatever app you're listening on and give
us five stars. Think about how long that took to compile and put together and do everything.
So it's really thank you so much if you do that.
So we appreciate it.
Head over to shutupandgivememurder.com
and get your tickets for live shows.
You can still make the virtual live show,
by the way, Small Town Murder.
It happened April 19th, but it's available,
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Our costumes are funny, the story's hysterical.
We think you're gonna love it, so do that.
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Then you get new ones every other week. One crime and sports, one small town murder and
this week is no different. What you're going to get this week for crime and sports,. We're gonna talk about a little more about fraternity hazing incidents in the last one. Ben Franklin was involved in setting a man aflame till he died. It's crazy. So we'll talk about more of those. It just wasn't enough one hour and then forced wall town murders. We're gonna talk about the Lori Valo Daybell trial going on in Arizona right now, where she's representing herself,
and it's a bad idea for her to represent herself,
because she is fucking terrible at it, let me tell ya.
It's not gonna look right.
We'll talk all about her bickering with like a woman
that dated her ex, it's crazy.
We'll talk about it, and more,
and green chili fucking enchiladas.
It's a lot, we'll talk all about that and more.
That is patreon.com slash crime in sports and you get a shout out at the end of the
show which I guess is right fucking now.
Jimmy hit me with the names of the most wonderful wonderful people who would never sue us and
want to get a hundred million dollars after we're dead.
Please hit me with them right fucking now.
This week's executive producer Michelle Miller
who got a mortgage in the worst way.
I hope you're doing well, Michelle.
Congratulations on getting your place back.
Congrats, Michelle, I remember you.
Thank you.
Yeah, she got ruined in a storm.
Fuck. That sucks, man.
Jordan Bennett in Jolly Old England.
Her and Simon. Our New English gal.
Yeah, she moved back.
She was complaining that Tim Horton sucks over there,
I saw, and I was like, oh, I'm sorry to hear.
That magic's very good, fuck.
You know, different problem.
Kyle Norwig, dipping his chicken in ketchup, that's gross.
Kyle, knock that shit off.
Oh, Jesus.
Karen Vanden Hendy, Vanden Hendy, I think.
Vanden Hendy.
Latonya Willis and Maddie Huren.
I don't know how to say that.
I hope I got that right.
Well, shit, thank you.
You guys are the best.
Thank you so much for everything you're doing.
Fuck yeah, thank you.
You keep it up, keep it up. Keep living right
Love you too much
Keep keep on this side of the grass
Other producers this week Liz Vasquez Peyton Meadows John Magnato. Oh, I think we lost John. God damn it
Oh, no, yeah, he passed John. God damn it. Oh, no.
Yeah, he passed away.
That's what happened.
Fuck.
Well, I got John.
I'm saying your name.
Speak your name.
I don't know.
I missed you already.
Gary Howard, happy hour checking in at Freer, Texas.
Janice Hill, Catherine Domero.
Domero.
There you go.
Chelsea Ingram, Katie. Nope nope that's Kate, Kate Kennedy.
Janelle Aquistapace, Aquistapace.
Aquistapace.
Thank you.
Wayne Brown, Jordan Webster, Sarah Elbodwee.
Tana, Tana?
Tana Cringle, Alicia Furquar, Farquar, Farquar.
What else do we got? Lana Reed, Jacqueline Tireman. Cringle, Alicia Ferquer, Ferquer, Farquhar.
What else do we got? Lana Reed, Jacqueline Tireman, Ethan Martinez, Renee Taylor, Deborah Spencer,
Chris with no last name, Emily Bolin Bright, Michelle
Milner, Shara Sharrah Brown, Blake Gibb, Aaron Goats,
Samantha Keeler, Allison Bryan, Courtney Eads,
Aaron Goats, Samantha Keeler, Allison Brian Courtney Eads, Ian Ianni, with no last name, Colonial Goat Banger, with no last name.
Old school.
Be-wigged Goat Banger.
I like it.
Yeah.
Christian Back, Michelle Montgomery, Angela McCormick, Ash with no last name, Adam Seal,
Brett Marsh, Ron Davis, Ashley with no last name. Jennifer Heidkamp,
Sherry Zylstra, Walter Butler, Christina would know last name. Vince would know last name.
Jamie Rubio, Allison Wofford, Amber McCarty, Mindy Welch, Sarah Sparks, Linda Oldham, Oldham,
that's gross. Allie would know last name, Shannon Spallin,
Spollin, Jacqueline Lowe, Rebecca Goldsmith,
Stephanie Lodici, Elijah Mullins, David Powell,
Janelle with no last name, Richard McAllister,
Alexa Kessel, Christian Shade, Shoddy perhaps,
Kirk Barnett, Christie Pennington,
Kevin with no last name, Riley Johnston, Christie Pennington, Kevin would know last name, Riley Jones-Johnston,
Johnston obviously, god damn it. You don't pronounce the H. Rachel Sabalos, Tony two
times, Melinda Fidler, Deb would know last name, Karen Fernicola, Yep. Woody with no last name. Anthony Rapacelli. Yep. Brandon DeHaas. Tonya with
no last name. Misty Marshall. Jense. Jensey maybe. Bassett. Bassett. Gary DeNault. David
Sundstrom. Jasmine Villanueva. Matt Christian. Reese H. Colleen Tanaka. Brian Beard. Robert Joyce. Edward with no last name. Jessica Spilly
Ham Ham. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's real. Molly Engel. Michaela M.
Josh Fucking Moon. Kristy, what is this? Mamarello. Cecilia Edwards. Zachary Mangels. Danel R, Aaron Spence, Josh, nope, that's Scott.
What?
Scott Berglund.
Why did I do that?
The different man.
Veronica, Veronica, Botelho, Botelho, Beth in Boston, Jay Briz, Schwabie, Schwabie Schwab,
19.
Jennifer G. Robin DeFranzo, Nikki Corbin, Sam Devine, Russell Payton, Cheryl Burnett, Sherry Patreon,
Swan Alden, Aidan, Swan Aidan,
Kelly with no last name, Katie Nichell,
Nichol probably, Michael Weeks, Dylan Jessup, M and K,
the letters M and K, Maegen or Megan,
Mejen, Megan, Tara Laporte, Arabella with no last name, Nessa, Nessa,
Nessa, Saris with no last name, Melissa Richards, Jason, Connie, Connie, Connie, Connie, Connie,
what Connie's got, I don't know how to do that. Heidi, Heidi, I don't know how to do that. Heidi, I don't know how to do yours either.
Arsuzukla, Arsuzlak.
Those are three completely different names
you just said, son.
Orz, Orzlak.
You guys can pick one that you want and figure it out.
Ashley Canton, Lizzie Pallotta, Pallotta perhaps.
Alicia Clark, Michelle Ortiz, or Ortez, Jenny Thiel, Stacey Frost, Shira Dawkins,
Amanda Diller, Justina Manspeaker, Mary Kate Consenza, Beth Rampley, Christopher Tarjan, Autumn Barrero, Shannon DePatti, Crystal Rucker, Beth Williams, Lynn Mood,
Stephanie Hafferty, Icelander2733, James Jackson, Matthew Lear, Amanda Prince, Darkside Dolls
on Facebook, that's what that is, Kerry Frank, Luke Rogers, Carly Durd, what? Durdzinski, Sandra Rutherford, Robin Chambers,
Marianne Keeswood-Wells, Dalton Durbin, Dalton Durbin.
Okay, that's an interesting name.
Jessica Christ.
Motorcycle jumper like evil.
Yeah, Dalton Durbin.
Christ, I hope that's your last name.
Melissa Thomas, Ned White, Shannon Panagopoulos, Dee Trammell, Marlena Guadrama, Stephanie
Putman, Jacky with no last name, Giraffe, Don Jackson, and all of our patrons.
You guys are the best.
Thank you. Thank you so much, patrons. You guys are the best. Thank you.
Shocking.
Thank you so much, everybody.
You're fantastic, wonderful bastards.
We do appreciate everything that you do for us all the time.
Thank you.
If you want to follow us on social media, head over to the website there.
Shutupandgivemurder.com.
Drop down menus.
It'll take you anywhere you want to go.
And I just would like to say to the some the some people it was very few honestly very very few
but to the people who were
Upset that we did so long on evil can evil yeah, and we're like
Oh, I just call it the evil can evil show and stuff like that
I mean
I know you probably been listening for a long time and you probably you know you like the show
To be one way or whatever so we you know we just want to tell you go fuck yourselves honestly go fuck yourselves
It's our show. We'll do whatever you want with it. I'll do it up your I'll do a 35 part episode on
The guy who cuts my fucking grass
I don't care if you listen go ahead if you don't want to listen so doors that way go fuck your mothers honestly
We don't care. This is not our this is not the show that you know pays our mortgage
This is to show that we literally do for fun and because you want it
So if you don't want it, the door's that way.
Get fucked.
If you do, we'll be back next week with more.
And like we said, live from the Crime and Sports Studios, we'll see you next week hopefully.
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