FBI file details allegations against Evel Knievel

updated 2:26 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2008

MIAMI - Evel Knievel never denied his scrapes with the law — the late motorcycle daredevil often reveled in them. But even he objected to a 1970s FBI investigation of whether he was involved in a string of beatings.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the federal government came close to charging Knievel, who in turn threatened to sue the FBI for alleging he was connected to a crime syndicate. Neither followed through.

Knievel, who died last November in Clearwater, Fla., repeatedly denied his involvement to both investigators and victims, according to the documents.

"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.

Knievel, immortalized in the Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," donned red, white and blue for his death-defying stunts. He had a knack for outrageous yarns and claimed to have been a swindler, a card thief, a safe cracker and a holdup man.

Jailed for baseball bat beating
His most well-known run-in with the law was a 1977 attack on movie studio executive Shelly Saltman, whom the daredevil beat 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. Saltman did not return a phone message recently to discuss the FBI file.

Archival video   Remembering Evel Knievel Nov. 30, 2007: NBC's Bruce Hall looks back at the motorcycle daredevil's life. MSNBC

Knievel's file shows investigators believed he was involved with other violent acts — 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. Authorities also looked into an alleged threat made in Phoenix, but could find no information for the case.

The investigation bounced between field offices in Miami, Chicago and California. Knievel's business associates were interviewed, his phone records examined.

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, though some details of their experiences were.

Anonymity preferred by one man
One man 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 could remember his assailant's black loafers better than his facial features.

He told the AP he wants to remain anonymous because he had moved on from the attack and into a career not associated with stunt jumping. He said the FBI wanted to know if he could identify his attacker.

"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."

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