The Evel File
08. Oct, 2008 
5 Comments
It has come to light that the FBI had an extensive file motorcycle jumper/daredevil “Evel” Knieval. Now Evel never denied having had some scrapes with the law. In fact it seemed to enhance his free spirited image. It’s been said that Evel thought up his nickname while in jail when a guard made a rhyme out of a fellow inmates name. He also did six months in jail in 1977 for beating a movie studio executive with a baseball bat but wound up never paying the 12 million dollar award to the executive.
But it seems the bureau had been investigating Evel for possible ties to organized crime figures and a series of assaults by alleged Knieval associates. These assaults happened in several different states thereby the FBIs involvement. No charges in the assaults were ever filed against Evel.
The nearly three hundred page file (highly edited) became available to the public after Evel’s death. I didn’t know the FBI did that. I know you could, for a fee of course, see your own file. If you didn’t have a file before you did afterward. I learned I had a file when I enlisted in the Navy. The recruiter asked me what had been in the letter I had sent to President Nixon while I was in college. He laughed when I told him I had just asked what gave Nixon the right to name Texas the number one college football team in the country ahead of Penn State. I did get a nice return letter from the White House and also an FBI file. I got another letter later that said “Greetings from the President” which induced my enlistment.
Sankebit,
Ahhhhhh. Little green men, as far as the eye could see. I remember those days; but it was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Ride easy bud,
Sam
Long live Evel!!!!!
Sad to see Robbie trading in Dad’s Harleys for metric bikes.
I’m sure if I asked to see my file, if I didn’t already have one they’d get one going pretty quick… Don’t ask!!!
I don’t doubt that these days we all have a file.
Tricky Dick and J. Edgar Hoover started my file. Thanks to some of my friends and their associates I’m sure there are some extra pages in there.