John Olson (forger)

Last updated

John Olson is a forger associated with the FBI's Operation Bullpen investigation. He pled guilty to forging thousands of Muhammad Ali and various other autographs. The FBI gathered information on the ring during a previous sting known as operation FOUL BALL. They launched the investigation that would ultimately culminate with a bust on October 13, 1999. They took down the biggest forgery ring in sports memorabilia history. [1] Chuck Wepner, a former opponent of Ali and tough man boxer from Bayonne, New Jersey, would vouch for the autographs and John Olson and others would sign the items. [2] [3]

In 2013 John Olson resurfaced selling more forgeries to a local New Jersey man under the guise of being a sick and dying man selling memorabilia. He perpetrated the scam by showing a photo album that had him up close and personal with many of the boxers and athletes that he did the forgeries of. [4]

Related Research Articles

Muhammad Ali American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer, poet, and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century, and is frequently ranked as the best heavyweight boxer of all time.

Rocky Marciano American boxer

Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the only heavyweight champion to have finished his career undefeated. His six title defenses were against Jersey Joe Walcott, Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell and Archie Moore.

Chuck Wepner American boxer

Charles Wepner is an American former professional boxer who fought as a heavyweight. As a world-ranked contender, he fell just seconds short of a full fifteen rounds with world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a 1975 title fight. Wepner also scored notable wins over Randy Neumann and former World Heavyweight Champion Ernie Terrell. He was also the last man to fight undisputed world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston.

Autograph collecting

Autograph collecting is the practice of collecting autographs of famous persons. Some of the most popular categories of autograph subjects are presidents, military soldiers, athletes, movie stars, artists, social and religious leaders, scientists, astronauts, and authors.

Abscam was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others. The two-year investigation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prominent businessmen, but later evolved into a public corruption investigation. The FBI was aided by the Justice Department and a convicted con-man, Mel Weinberg in videotaping politicians accepting bribes from a fictitious Arabian company in return for various political favors.

Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali Boxing competition

Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as the Fight of the Century or The Fight, was a heavyweight championship boxing match between WBC/WBA heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and The Ring/lineal heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, on Monday, March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Jersey Joe Walcott American boxer

Arnold Raymond Cream, best known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1930 to 1953. He held the world heavyweight title from 1951 to 1952, and broke the record for the oldest man to win the title, at the age of 37. That record would eventually be broken in 1994 by 45-year-old George Foreman. Despite holding the world heavyweight title for a relatively short period of time, Walcott was regarded among the best heavyweights in the world during the 1940s and 1950s. BoxRec ranked him among top 10 heavyweights from 1944 to 1953, placing him among five best at the conclusion of each year besides the debut one.

Sports memorabilia Souvenir, memento, keepsake or token of remembrance that is directly connected to a famous athlete, sporting event or personality

Sports memorabilia refers to collectables associated with sports. Types include equipment, trophies, sports cards, autographs, photographs, etc.

Non-sports trading card

Non-sport trading cards are a particular kind of collectible card designated as such because trading cards have historically prominently featured athletes from the world of sports as subjects. Non-sports cards are trading cards whose subjects can be virtually anything other than sports-themed.

Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston Boxing competition

The two fights between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston for boxing's World Heavyweight Championship were among the most anticipated, watched and controversial fights in the sport's history. Sports Illustrated magazine named their first meeting, the Liston–Clay fight, as the fourth greatest sports moment of the twentieth century.

Latin Kings (gang) Hispanic and Latino street gang

The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is one of the largest Hispanic and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide. The gang was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1954.

Upper Deck Company

The Upper Deck Company, LLC, founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United States.

The Shop at Home Network was a television network in the United States. Before its acquisition by Jewelry Television in 2006, Shop at Home was a public company which sold its broadcast network in 2002 to the E. W. Scripps Company which owned and operated the network from 2002 until 2006, when the network temporarily ceased operations on June 21. In 2006, competitor Jewelry Television bought Shop at Home from owner The E. W. Scripps Company along with all of Shop at Home's assets. The network primarily focused on home shopping programming, as indicated by the name. During Scripps' ownership, some of its programming was done in conjunction with other Scripps channels.

Heritage Auctions American fine art and collectibles auction house

Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in the 1970s and 1980s from a partnership between two rival collectors, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, music, history, and sports.

Daniel Pagano is a New York mobster and a caporegime in the Genovese crime family who was involved in a famous gasoline bootlegging racket of the 1980s.

An insert card is a card that is randomly inserted into packs of a sports card offering. These insert cards are not part of the regular numbering system of a set of sports cards and they tend to have a unique design. Another term for insert cards is chase cards. Insert cards either have their own numbering system. Insert cards are found less frequently than base cards. Autographed cards, memorabilia cards and parallel cards are also classified as insert cards. Insert cards are randomly inserted into packs at a specific ratio. A 1:24 ratio specifies that on average one of every 24 packs will contain a card from that insert set.

Brandon Steiner is a sports marketer. He was the founder and former CEO of Steiner Sports now owned by Fanatics. He is currently the founder and CEO of CollectibleXchange and The Steiner Agency. He and his family live in Scarsdale, New York.

Leonore Carol "Lee" Israel was an American author known for committing literary forgery. Her 2008 confessional autobiography Can You Ever Forgive Me? was adapted into the 2018 film of the same name starring Melissa McCarthy as Israel.

Profiles in History is an auction house in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1985 by Joseph Maddalena and is one of the world's leading auctioneers and dealers of authentic and original collectibles, including Hollywood memorabilia, historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed autographs and manuscripts. Maddalena is the company's president and CEO.

The Major League Baseball Authentication Program, or MLB Authentication Program, is a program run by Major League Baseball Properties, the product licensing arm of Major League Baseball, to guarantee the authenticity of baseball merchandise and memorabilia. The centerpiece of the system is a tamper-resistant security tape (sticker) with an embedded hologram. Each sticker carries a unique alphanumeric code. The sticker is affixed to all game-used merchandise and memorabilia, while information about the item is entered into a computer database. Between 500,000 and 600,000 items are authenticated each season.

References