Crime Does Pay: 20 Movie/TV Outlaws Who Cashed in

Punishable offense: Sold classified documents to enemies of the United States
Marketable make-good: Ranked No. 4 on the FBI's Most Wanted list, Red (James Spader) actually turned himself in, promising to help the FBI take down high level criminals from his ''Blacklist.'' Even so, Red's motives are more grey than Black-and-white—he continues his unsavory dealings while combating Berlin (Peter Stormare), a mysterious man determined to dismantle Red's empire piece by piece. —Natalie Abrams

Punishable offense: Forgery, check fraud, mail fraud, counterfeiting, impersonating a federal agent
Marketable make-good: Based on the real-life con artist, Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) impersonates a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and lawyer, all the while cashing in on millions of dollars from numerous forgery schemes. After being slammed with a 12-year prison sentence, Abagnale uses his adeptness at forgery to act as a consultant for the FBI, becoming an authority on check and money fraud for the government and his own defrauding consultancy firm, Abagnale & Associates. —Teresa Jue

Punishable offense: Hacking
Marketable make-good: ''Hacktivist'' Skye (Chloe Bennet) landed herself on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar after she found her way into the top-secret government organization's database. Thanks to her background, the agency took her in and gave her free rein to unleash her computer skills in executing their missions. —Samantha Highfill

Punishable offense: Smuggling
Marketable make-good: Debt-riddled Han (Harrison Ford) agrees to transport Luke (Mark Hamill), Obi Wan (Alec Guinness), and their trusty droids for a large sum. Little does he know that asking no questions will get him involved in the rebels' fight against Darth Vader. Though he only decides to help rescue Leia (Carrie Fisher) because of money, he ultimately stops acting purely out of financial self interest by the end of A New Hope—becoming a hero any universe could appreciate. —Esther Zuckerman

Punishable offenses: Murder, accessory to murder (via vengeance-demon curses), casting a spell to make boils appear on one target's penis
Marketable make-good: After being trapped in human form—thanks a lot, magic necklace!—the wicked Anyanka (Emma Caulfield) goes by Anya and proves an invaluable resource for Buffy's Scooby Gang, thanks to her wealth of knowledge about the supernatural world. She also quite literally cashes in as the manager of the Magic Box, where her selfishness goes hand in hand with savvy capitalism. —Hillary Busis

Punishable offense: Armed robbery, assault and battery, drug dealing
Marketable make-good: It's a story straight out of the movies, only this one happened in real life: A young Trejo was arrested for the first time at the tender age of 10. He spent the next 15 years in and out of prison. But after being released for the last time, Trejo got his big break when he was hired to teach Eric Roberts how to box for the 1985 movie Runaway Train. Soon enough, he began appearing onscreen himself—usually as a big, scary criminal, much like the one he'd been in his youth, in TV (Breaking Bad, shown), film (Predators), and even videogames (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories). —Hillary Busis

Punishable offenses: Hacking, theft, building illegal weaponry
Marketable make-good: No thanks to genius-level computer skills, Toshiko (Naoko Mori) found herself reluctantly entangled with a terrorist cell before Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) recruited her to be part of his Torchwood Institute. Gallivanting around with a handsome, immortal alien hunter sure beats prison food. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offenses: Collusion, drug trafficking, gambling, sports fixing
Marketable make-good: The real-life mobster played on screen by Ray Liotta was an unsavory sort who sent 50 of his associates to the slammer to reduce his own sentences for convictions for various crimes. Though trouble—particularly drug-related charges—followed him to witness protection, from which he was ultimately expelled, the notoriety from Martin Scorsese's 1990 Oscar winner afforded the smooth talker license to do everything from selling his art on eBay to appearing on The Howard Stern Show and opening up a restaurant. No coincidence, the Italian joint shared a name with Nicholas Pileggi's book that inspired GoodFellas: Wiseguys. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offense: Poaching
Marketable make-good: The survival skills that Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) learned out of necessity—if you don't hunt meat outside district lines, you might not get to eat in District 12—serve her well when she takes her sister's place in the 74th Annual Hunger Games—especially after she gets her hands on a bow and quiver of arrows. —Hillary Busis

Punishable offenses: Too many to name
Marketable make-good: With the exception of their leader Nate (Timothy Hutton, center), these guys are like The Breakfast Club of criminals—a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist. Working for private clients who've been wronged by the wealthy and powerful, they swindle and scheme until justice is served?and to a very nice profit. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offenses: Drug dealing, robbery
Marketable make-good: Not-so-loosely based on the rapper's own upbringing in Queens, Get Rich or Die Tryin' follows the journey of Marcus (50 Cent) from gang leader to rapper. His experiences in the street—the death of his mother in a drug deal gone wrong, the absence of his father, and being gunned down by drug kingpins after he too begins dealing—make his lyrics biting and raw. —Emily Blake

Punishable offenses: Securities fraud, money laundering, drug possession, driving under the influence, breach of cooperation agreement with the FBI
Marketable make-good: In reality, things didn't turn out so badly for Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) after being convicted and sentenced to 48 months in prison. When he finished a sentence in a cushy white-collar facility, the former stockbroker reinvented himself as a motivational speaker and bestselling author—gradually earning back some of the money he lost and, oh yeah, inspiring Martin Scorsese to make a movie about him. —Hillary Busis

Punishable offense: Hacking
Marketable make-good: The gamer and former Goth gal (Kirsten Vangsness) caught the attention of the FBI and the CIA for her illicit hacking skills (it was once joked that she was trying to scam Prince William's phone number), but she's parlayed all those hours logged against the blue glow of a computer screen as a core member of the Bureau's Behavioral Analysis Unit—even if she does sometimes let her emotions and her strong will compromise her job. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offense: Murder
Marketable make-good: Prior to joining ranks with The Basterds , Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) was known for one thing and one thing only—killing German soldiers. His name was synonymous with brutality. Alongside the ragtag Nazi hunting outfit, he uses his skills to take down as many of World War II's villains as possible before dying in a gunfight. —Samantha Highfill

Punishable offense: Robbery
Marketable make-good: During his initial heist, Logan (Martin Lawrence) hid a diamond worth $17 million in the vent of a nearby construction site. But once he's out of prison, he learns that the building is now a police station, so he lies about being a detective to gain access. He ends up helping the LAPD solve a drug smuggling case that takes him over the border (and beyond the confines of the PD's jurisdiction), where he's allowed to leave with the diamond. —Natalie Abrams

Punishable offenses: Insider trading, securities fraud
Marketable make-good: After serving eight years for his Wall Street crimes, Gordon (Michael Douglas) is capitalizing on them with a book, Is Greed Good?, predicting America's possible economic collapse. The real question, Is Gekko Good? Not so fast! At one point, the former Master of the Universe pulls a fast one on his daughter to the tune of $100 million. Despite eventually using the money to help his son-in-law Jacob (Shia LaBeouf), Gordon proves that the cold-blooded can never truly change. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offenses: Petty theft, manslaughter
Marketable make-good: Petty thief Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) might just be better at solving crimes than committing them. After stumbling into a casting call while fleeing the police, then delivering an Oscar-worthy meltdown ''audition,'' would-be actor Harry ends up aiding private eye Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer) in solving a murder. A star is born? Or at least another private dick. —Emily Blake

Punishable offense: Hacking
Marketable make-good: Like a computerized Robin Hood, Martin (Robert Redford) uses university networks to redistribute wealth. After his buddy is caught, Martin adopts a new identity and uses his skills to assemble a security team comprised of oddball geniuses. (Keep in mind Sneakers was released in 1992 when that idea didn't sound so hackneyed.) —Lanford Beard

Punishable offenses: Armed robbery, drug dealing
Marketable make-good: Thanks to a checkered past with on-the-lam partner Albert Ganz (James Remar), Reggie (Eddie Murphy) uses his on-the-ground knowledge of Ganz's movements to help Detective Sergeant Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) track down Reggie's murderous former partner. Reggie's skill as a detective—and a smooth talker—prove useful time and again as he and Cates find themselves in the sights of San Francisco's most vengeful drug dealers. High risk? Sure. But the reward ($500,000 Reggie secreted away before going to jail) is higher. —Lanford Beard

Punishable offense: Euthanasia
Marketable make-good: As a doctor, Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) knows how to save lives and how to end them. But, after becoming a vampire, he used his powers for good by mercy-killing his family and then using his nocturnal nature to study up and save even more poor souls. All that, and he doesn't feed on humans. —Samantha Highfill