4. MVP Born Alvin Burke Jr., the wrestler who would come to be known as Montell Vontavious Porter was the son of a Florida corrections officer but also was a member of a vicious street gang called the Kings Only Posse. Burke joined the gang when he was only 12 years old and described it as a "graffiti gang". Burke had been getting jumped at school and looked to the gang for protection but also for a sense of belonging. He began to fight on an almost daily basis and his mother was forced to drag him home on more than one occasion. At only 16 years old, Burke and two other accomplices boarded a cruise ship in Florida armed with shotguns and and a semiautomatic handgun. They waited until the ship's crew were counting the money from the day and robbed them, making off with over $80,000 when the ship returned to port. His two cohorts were almost immediately caught but Burke went on the run, evading police until his father called him and convinced him to surrender. Burke pleaded guilty to ten counts of armed robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Burke realized he could be stuck in prison until he was almost middle aged and immediately tried to clear up his act. He converted to Islam and met a prison guard who moonlighted as a wrestler on the weekends. Burke was released after serving 9 and a half years of his sentence and immediately entered the world of professional wrestling, making his debut after training with Norman Smiley. While MVP's turnaround should be admired, the violence and seriousness of his past crimes should not be forgotten.
