Official John Rigas Website
Jack-Knives and High-Tops

One of my clearest memories from the first four grades of school
was the high-top shoes I and the other boys wore every day.  
Laced all the way to the knees, they complemented the
knickobocker pants (“knickers”) we also wore, which extended
from the waist to the knees.  Always tucked in a pocket on the
outside of our high-tops was a small jack-knife, with which we
whittled wood, opened packages, and most of all played “mumbly-
pegs” and other games on our way to and from school and during
recess.  more
Should Adelphia's John and Tim Rigas be released from
prison?

December 5, 2013 | By Steve Donohue


I've been thinking about how to tell the story of John Rigas, the cable pioneer who founded
Coudersport, Pa.-based MSO Adelphia Communications ever since I visited Pennsylvania in early
November to attend an event hosted by the nation's largest cable company – Comcast (Nasdaq:
CMCSA).

The 260-mile drive from my home near Syracuse, N.Y., to Comcast's headquarters in Philadelphia
brought me within 70 miles of the Allenwood federal prison complex in White Deer, Pa., which is
currently home to the former Adelphia chairman and his son Tim Rigas, Adelphia's former CFO.
The Rigases, who were convicted on charges of wire and securities fraud in 2004 – a scandal that
rocked the cable industry and pummeled the stocks of public cable MSOs – began serving their
prison terms at a jail in North Carolina in 2007. In November 2011, they were transferred to
Allenwood, which is 100 miles from their homes and families in Coudersport. John Rigas, now 89,
isn't scheduled to be released from Allenwood until January 2018. Tim Rigas is scheduled to be
released in June 2022.

Read more: Should Adelphia's John and Tim Rigas be released from prison?
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