He was known for his prosthetic hands and a line of children's action figures based on his image.
[3] At the age of eleven, he and his friend Dick Caples, seven years his senior, broke into a Texas & Pacific Railroad section house and stole railway torpedoes.
Armes was taken to Hotel Dieu Hospital in El Paso, where his hands were amputated two inches above both wrists.
[3][7] Armes said he earned degrees in criminology and psychology from New York University through correspondence courses, but no evidence could be found to support his claims.
[12] Armes ran for office as Justice of Peace in Precinct 2 in El Paso in 1970, but did not make it past the primaries.
[17] Armes' rescue of Marlon Brando's son was described on a season 7 episode of the Travel Channel show Mysteries at the Museum.
[9] Later permits allowed him to keep the dogs and chimpanzee, own a cheetah, cougar, tapir, and several monkeys.
[20] Armes learned to drive, fly a jet plane and scuba dive.