Vincent “Don Vito” Margera is dead, which makes for another lousy day for Jackass fans. We know that Bam’s uncle was really more an auxiliary member, but it was downright heartwarming watching the old guy keep up with his nephew in pulling off pranks. That was followed by some sexual assault charges, of course, which made things less fun. [photo by Evan Agostini/Getty]
Yeah, you can say that we’re kind of concentrating on the bright side with this whole “RIP” thing. Don Vito passed away at the age of 59 early this morning, and had been struggling with kidney and liver failure for years–which probably also made him like plenty of the younger Jackass personalities. He’d been in a coma for a while, so it’s not that big of a shock.
And just so we’re not whitewashing anything: Vincent Margera’s fame went sour after he was arrested for groping two 12-year-old girls at an autograph signing in a Colorado mall. He was arrested on August 19, 2006, and found guilty of two counts of sexual assault on a minor on Halloween. He was acquitted on another count, but that didn’t keep Don Vito from collapsing on the courthouse floor and shouting, “Just kill me now!”
Apparently, nobody did, and he ended up serving 10 years of probation–which included prohibiting Vincent from being “Don Vito” for a decade. The registered sex offender never got to make his comeback, which might not be that great of a loss. But here are some highlights of his earlier Jackass-ery…