Michael Thevis, Jr.

Michael George Thevis (February 25, 1932 – November 20, 2013) was an American millionaire businessman, pornographer and convicted murderer. After escaping from prison on April 28, 1978, he was put on the FBI Most Wanted List. In the early seventies, Michael Thevis had a problem. He discovered that he was under investigation from the FBI. Not wanting to follow in the footsteps of Al Capone and Dutch Schultz, who were brought down by federal investigations, Michael Thevis began looking for legitimate enterprises. Casting around looking for a legitimate business, Michael Thevis hit upon the idea of forming not one, but three record labels. This included GRC, Aware and Hotlanta. These labels would become part of A Michael Thevis Enterprise. Soon, there was a new addition to Michael Thevis’ musical empire, the The Sound Pit in Atlanta. GRC and the rest of Michael Thevis’ musical empire all came crashing down in late 1975. Michael Thevis’ attempt to build a legitimate business empire had failed. Soon, it emerged that Michael Thevis’ musical empire was always doomed to failure. It had been for three years, ever since the FBI starting investigating his business activities. Prior to entering prison, Thevis and attorney Joel Katz (3) (one of the nation's most powerful entertainment lawyers) sold GRC to Thevis' secretary Laverne Bowden. The label's copyrights and publishing, since 1981, have been owned by Atlanta publishing firm Ginn Music Group.