Oct 6, 2008 9:10 am US/Eastern
FBI Investigated Evel Knievel For Mob Connections
The Legendary Daredevil Died Last Year In Clearwater
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Legendary daredevil Evel Knievel was once the object of an FBI investigation after the government suspected his involvement in a number of beatings which may have been connected to a crime syndicate.
Recently released documents show the federal government came close to charging Knievel but stopped short when he threatened to sue.
Knievel, who died last November in Clearwater, repeatedly denied his involvement to both investigators and victims according to the documents obtained by the Associated Press.
"Knievel stated that he was not responsible for what just happened to (name redacted) and that he had no control over the 'thing"' according to one phone conversation recounted in an FBI interview.
The investigation bounced between field offices in Miami, Chicago and California.
According the documents, investigators believed Knievel was involved with making threats in Phoenix, an attack in a Kansas City hotel room and a vicious beating in San Francisco. All were allegedly carried out by Knievel associates, according to subjects quoted in the file.
In the Phoenix incident, according to the documents, the victim told agents he received a threatening phone call, and shortly after was beaten by a Knievel associate who left him hospitalized. The man was interviewed by the FBI, but all he could remember his assailant's black loafers.
"They gave me mug shots at one point in time and I couldn't pick him out," he said. "It was a dark room, he had dark glasses on him. All I know is he was big. I could describe his shoes better than anything."
Knievel was no stranger to the law however.
In 1977 he attacked movie studio executive Shelly Saltman with a baseball bat in the parking lot of 20th Century Fox. Saltman promoted Knievel's infamous attempt to jump Idaho's Snake River Canyon and then wrote a book about the experience, angering Knievel by portraying him as "an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite and an immoral person." Knievel was sentenced to six months in jail and Saltman won a $12.75 million judgment, but never collected.
Bob Gill, a competitor of Knievel's during the 1970s, said he was part of a confrontation associated with Knievel, but the daredevil later apologized and denied his involvement and the two became friends.
"I was really, really mad at Evel over the whole thing, but he apologized at least 10 times, and said it was out of his control and I believed him," Gill said.
Gill, who was paralyzed after a failed stunt, said Knievel tried to help him set up a meeting with a doctor who Gill thought would help him walk again. He said Knievel also devised a plan to help pay for the expenses.
"Evel's never done any wrong besides that one little incident," Gill said. "And he's made up for it 1,000 times."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
