For He's a Jolly Good Felon... Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Nick Nolte went to Arizona State University on a football scholarship and then began his show biz career as a model. His first film appearance was as John Healy in the courtroom drama/thriller, "Death Sentence" (1972). In the early 1960's the youthful Nolte was arrested for a felony. What did he do to get pinched?

Answer: He sold counterfeit draft cards.

Nolte, who very much wanted to do his duty and fight in the Vietnam War was denied doing so because of his felony conviction. Other than a few scuffles with drunk driving arrests, Nick has pretty much stayed on the straight and narrow. Over the course of more than 40 years he has appeared in over four dozen movies including "48 Hours" (1982) with Eddie Murphy, and "The Prince of Tides" (1991) for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor in a Drama. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for his role of boxer Tom Jordache in the TV mini-series, "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1972). His arrest photo from a DWI incident was voted numero uno on VH-1's "40 Most Shocking Celebrity Mugshots". If you've seen it, you know why! On the positive side, Nick Nolte was voted "People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive" in 1992.

Interesting fact: Harrison Ford owes Nolte a big thanks for turning down the role of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981).

2. Plaxico Burress made a lot of N.Y. Giants football fans delirious with joy on February 5, 2012, when he caught the Super Bowl XLVI game-winning pass with just 35 ticks left on the clock, as N.Y. beat the New England Patriots 21-17. He had been a guest of the state for the prior two years as the result of an incident in a N.Y.C. nightclub, when he shot someone in the leg with an unlicensed gun. Who took the bullet fired from Burress' glock?

Answer: Himself

Oops, the gun for which he held an expired out-of-state carry permit somehow discharged and Burress took the bullet in the thigh. He and teammate, linebacker Antonio Pierce, were out clubbing when it happened. Burress got and served a two-year sentence, and was released from an upstate N.Y. prison on June 6, 2011.
A graduate of Michigan State, Burress began his pro football career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the highlight of his playing days was when that 13 yard pass from quarterback Eli Manning nestled in his hands to capture the Vince Lombardi Trophy, symbolizing The Giants fourth Super Bowl win.
Burress played for the N.Y. Jets in 2011 and returned to Pittsburgh for the 2012 season.

3. There are felons who think nothing of murdering anyone they feel like, and then there is William Francis (Willie) Sutton. A pretty decent guy, he just happened to enjoy knocking over banks for a living. In over 30 years of heisting he is reputed to have stolen over $40 million bucks, robbed more than 100 banks and spent decades behind bars. In 1952 the coppers got a tip from a young salesman named Arnold Shuster, and Willie was nabbed. What was the result of Shuster's good citizenship?

Answer: He was murdered.

Proving the old adage that there is "honor among thieves", one of N.Y.'s most feared mobsters, Albert Anastasia thought Shuster was a rat for leading the cops to Willie, so on March 9, 1952, he had him exterminated. Willie, the old romantic that he was, financed his first marriage by cleaning out the cash of his father-in-law to be's business just before eloping.

He acquired a couple of sobriquets along the way, one of which was "Slick Willie". He got this moniker for having escaped prison on three occasions.

He was also known as "Willie the Actor", for his penchant of donning a messenger's, policeman's or mailman's outfit to help gain entry into his target of the day. But Willie was by all accounts a gentle soul, who when knocking over banks had people cowering in fear, as he brandished a nasty looking arsenal of weapons. What they didn't know was that none of them were ever loaded, because Willie was afraid someone would get hurt if they were. What a guy! He was paroled from his last prison stay on Christmas Eve, 1969, for good behavior and bad health. His autobiography titled "Where the Money Was: Memoirs of a Bank Robber" was published in 1976.

4. Although Al Capone may be the most famous tax evader and notorious mobster in the history of the United States he did brighten the lives of many folks by supplying them with illegal hootch during the prohibition era. "Scarface" ruled Chicago with an iron fist, killing anyone who got in his way including seven rivals who were rubbed out on February 14, 1929, in what has become known as "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre". In what city was this mobster of the midwest born?

Answer: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Al Capone was born in Brooklyn on January 17, 1899. Ironically, after all the bloodshed he ordered, he literally got away with murder when after being hounded by Federal Agent Eliot Ness and his "Untouchables", he was finally tossed in the slammer for, of all things, tax evasion in 1931. Part of his time in prison was spent on "The Rock", Alcatraz (1934-1939).

He had contracted syphilis by the time he was paroled in November, 1939, and died as the result of a heart attack on January 25, 1947. Many Hollywood films have been made about the life and times of Capone. Among the actors who have portrayed him are Rod Steiger in "Capone" (1959), Jason Robards in "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967), and Robert DeNiro in "The Untouchables" (1987).

He was played by Stephen Graham on TV's "Boardwalk Empire" which debuted in 2011.

5. "Iron Mike" Tyson didn't have a lot of good things going on in his young life. His father took a hike when Mike was just two years old. Tyson who grew up in the notoriously tough neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn, was a member of a street gang called "The Jolly Stompers" and had been arrested over 30 times before he hit his mid-teens. For what felony did he serve three years (1992-1995) in prison?

Answer: Rape

He was convicted of the sexual assault of 18 year old Desiree Washington, who was representing Rhode Island in The Miss Black America Beauty Pagent. On November 12, 1986, the 20 year old Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champ in history, when he knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round. He began his career by winning his first 37 fights, 33 of them by K.O. He suffered his first defeat and the loss of his heavyweight crown when a previously unknown underdog named James "Buster" Douglas stunned the boxing world, by scoring a 10th round KO of the champ in a bout held in Tokyo, Japan. Tyson wound up with a record of 50 wins against six losses, with 44 of his victories coming by knockout. He was inducted into The International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 12, 2011.

Interesting fact: Mike Tyson was marrried to actress Robin Givens for one tumultuous year, from February, 1988-February, 1989.

6. Pete Rose was one of baseball's favorite players of the 1960's and 1970's. Nicknamed "Charley Hustle", his win-at-all-costs style of play made him a vital and popular cog in Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine". On April 20, 1990, "Pistol Pete" pled guilty to charges of federal tax evasion as well as failure to report income. He was sentenced to five years in the Marion, IL slammer, but was released after one year. In his 24 year career he played 80% of his games with the Reds. The balance was spent with two other NL teams. The Philadelphia Phillies were one, can you name the other?

Answer: Montreal Expos

Pete played 95 games north of the border before going back to The Queen City to finish out his playing days. Later he managed the Reds and got in dutch for betting on games and was suspended from baseball by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti. Pete Rose's accomplishments were many ... He was the National League (NL) Rookie-of-the-Year in 1963, a three time NL batting champ, the NL's Most Valuable Player in 1973 and was a 17 time All-Star. Oh, yeah, and when he retired after the 1986 season, he had the most hits of anyone ever to play the game (4,256), and was only the second player to attain the 4,000 hit plateau. (Ty Cobb who retired in 1928 had 4,191).

The "bible of baseball", "The Sporting News", ranked Pete Rose number 25 on its List of The 100 Greatest Players.

7. In a classic riches to rags story, Bernard Madoff, once a highly repected member of the Wall Street community pulled off one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. Madoff made off with an estimated $18 billion, playing no favorites as he plundered from (over 20) banks, hospitals, charities, universities, union retirement funds and individual investors alike. The scheme had been going on for decades before somebody smelled a rat. Who was it that tipped of the Feds about Bernie?

Answer: His sons Mark and Andrew Madoff

On December 12, 2008, Mark and Andrew alerted the authorities after confronting their father the previous evening. He pled guilty to 11 felony charges on March 12, 2009, and was given the maximum sentence of 150 years. It is estimated that his victims numbered thousands of institutions and individuals, including Hollocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who saw his life savings of some $15 million disappear. Madoff was born in Queens, N.Y. and attended the University of Alabama as a freshman, transferred to Hofstra U. in N.Y. and then Brooklyn (N.Y.) Law School before hitting Wall Street. He founded and was chairman of his own investment firm from 1960 until the day of his arrest, December 11, 2008.
Among the former NASDAQ chairman's private citizen victims were N.Y. Mets owner Fred Wilpon, actor Kevin Bacon, former Miss America Phyllis George, and Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax. Bernard Madoff's close associates used to call him Bernie, but now they call him inmate #61727-054, as he spends his life in a N.C Federal prison.

Interesting fact: One additional, tragic victim of Madoff's was his oldest son. Mark Madoff's body was dicovered on December 11, 2010, hanging in his apartment with a dog leash around his neck, after kiling himself at age 46.

8. American actor and Black Belt martial artist Wesley Snipes was released from the hoosegow after serving just under two and a half years of a three year sentence for tax evasion. He was also sentenced to house arrest for another 90 days. Between 1986-2013 he has made over 40 Hollywood movies. His first flick, "Wildcats" (1986) starred Goldie Hawn. "Wildcats" also marked the debut of another actor. Can you name him?

Answer: Woody Harrelson

Snipes played "Trumaine" in this comedy in which Goldie Hawn played the coach of a high school football team. The feds, however, found nothing funny about Snipes failure to pay any taxes from 1999-2004, during which he amassed earnings of $37 million. He belonged to the American Rights Litigation Group, which didn't believe the government had the right to demand that individual citizens ante up tax money. Nice try. He wound up being found guilty and sentenced to three years in a federal prison in Lewis Run, PA. Among his more popular films/roles were as "Willie Mays" Hayes in "Major League" (1989) Syd Deane in "White Men Can't Jump (1992) "Blade" in the series of Blade films , and he was security expert John Cutter, aka "Passenger 57" (1992).

Interesting fact: Snipes N.Y. apartment was demolished in the World Trade Center carnage of September 11, 2001.

9. Jack Ruby was an ex-U.S. Air Force mechanic during WWII and was honorably discharged after serving his country on February 21, 1946. Back in civilian life, for a number of years Ruby was a pretty popular, regular guy as he greeted guests who were coming to be entertained in one of his night clubs, dance halls and strip clubs. He got along just fine with the local coppers, whose bar tabs often wound up "on-the-house". Then one day, it all changed when he decided to take the law in his own hands, murdering a man who had killed a prominent American leader just two days earlier. Which assassin did he assassinate?

Answer: Lee Harvey Oswald

Ruby gunned down Oswald on November 24, 1963 as he was being taken from Dallas police headquarters to a county jail for assassinating the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963. There was no way he could deny the deed as it was witnessed live by millions of TV viewers. His famed attorney, Melvin Belli tried to get him declared insane and not responsible for his actions, but that didn't fly and Ruby was sentenced to death.
James Earl Ray assassinated the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.

Sirhan Sirhan murdered Robert F. Kennedy (JFK's brother) on June 15, 1968.
Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley whom he shot September 6, 1901. The President died of his wounds eight days later.

Interesting fact: When Jack Ruby died on January 3, 1967, it was at Dallas' Parkland Hospital, the same hospital where JFK was pronounced dead, and where Lee Harvey Oswald died of the wounds Ruby had inflicted.

10. Tim Allen wasn't always Tim Allen. Back in Detroit, MI, his name was Tim Allen Dick. When he was 25, he got hoodwinked and arrested for trying to peddle over a pound of cocaine to an undercover copper. That felony charge carried a maximum sentence of life behind bars. He decided to rat out about 20 other members of the drug community in exchange for a lighter sentence. He was given five years and served about half of that. From 1991-1999 he starred minus his original surname, on the TV show, "Home Improvement". What was the name of the character he portrayed in 203 episodes of that popular sitcom?

Answer: Tim Taylor

Tim Allen won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his portrayal of tool-handyman and race car buff, Tim Taylor in 1995. After his father died, his mom remarried and moved from Colorado to Michigan. Allen began his career as a stand-up comic in the Detroit area, after graduating from Western Michigan University. Tim Allen has appeared in more than 25 movies, best know perhaps as the voice of "Buzz Lightyear", in the "Toy Story series. He began playing Mike Baxter in another TV comedy show, "Last Man Standing" which made its debut October 11, 2011. He has been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Interesting fact: Tim Allen was nabbed for drunk driving in 1997. When Tim was just 11, ironically his father, Gerald Dick, was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

Source: Author paulmallon

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

People can be labelled felons for a variety of crimes. Some men who landed in the hoosegow weren't all bad. In fact they were thought to be jolly old boys by many at one time. Here are ten such folks. Enjoy the quiz but no cheating!

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>