Famous Hackers
Justin Tanner Peterson 
Kevin Poulsen 
Kevin Mitnick 
Jerry Neal Schneider 

Justin Tanner Peterson, aka Agent Steal, began his career alledgedly 'helping out' the FBI track down outlaw hackers. His work included locating criminel evidence which used in persecuting Kevin Poulsen. In 1991, he was arrested for posessing a stolen vehicle. The investigation led to an 8-count federal indictment. The case was later sealed by the government in California because Peterson was working with the government in an undercover role. 
Peterson later pleaded guilty to 6 counts, which faced him with 40 years in prison and a $1.5 million dollar fine. The sentence was delayed, and Peterson was released on bail, presumably still undercover for the government. After that things went downhill when Peterson began hacking investigative bureaus and credit card information bureaus. He spent a year free, and was apprehended in late 1994 when he was spotted getting out of a BMW two blocks down from an FBI office. 
On March 27, 1995 peterson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to charges of conspiring to cause an illegal $150,000 wire-transfer. He is being held without bail and faces up to 60 years in prison and $2,000,000 in fines. 

Kevin Poulsen, aka Dark Dante, began his hacking career as a teenager. During his mid-twenties, he tested Pentagon security and other defense systems as a security cleared consultant. His job gave him access to other high-security systems, and in 1989 he was indicted on 19 counts of computer fraud. His penalty was to serve 37 years of jail time. Poulsen chose to flee the FBI. 
During Poulsen's escape, he pulled off one of the most infamous incidents in hacker history. A local radio station was having a call in contest to win a Porsche. Poulsen seized every phone line the station had, and won the Porsche. 17 months later he was caught by the FBI. 
During his indictment, Poulsen tried to destroy the evidence against him. He ended up pleading guilty in 1994 to 7 criminal charges. He was sentenced on April 10th, 1995 to 51 months in prison, and $56 000 for the Porsche 

Kevin Mitnick has probably performed more hacking-related incidents that anyone else, and has gotten off with one of the lightest sentences immaginable. He was first caught hacking his high school at the age of 16. In university, he was caught stealing telephone manuals, and was put on probation. He later hacked his university, and was sentenced to 6 months in jail. In 1988, Mitnick was arrested for stealing programs and tapping the Digital Equipments Computer Network. This hack attempt cost the company more than $4 000 000, and over $1 000 000 in stolen equipment. In 1989 Mitnick was convicted, and got off with another 6 months. 
Kevin fled in 1992 when the FBI tried to question him about recent break-ins at Pacific Bell. He spent the next 2 years on the run, hacking countless security companies with a cell phone and laptop. He was finally arrested in 1995, after the FBI traced him from an attack on the computer system of Tsutomu Shimomura, (a well-known security expert). 
In 1995 Kevin was arrested, and he pleaded guilty to 23 counts of crimial activity, all hacking related. Each count had a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Kevin got off with 8 months. 

In highschool, Jerry Neal Shneider took telephone manuals and discarded equipment from local telephone companies. In his university years, and an engineer in UCLA, he found a system which enabled him to purchase expensive equipment that would be charged to Pacific Bell, and then sell it for profit. 
Schneider made the unauthorized calls by piecing together the information needed on codes and procedures to make the calls. He formed a company called the Los Angeles Telephone and Telegraph Company, which sold the stolen equipment to private suppliers. Schneider had a staff of 10 people working in a warehouse for him. 
Schneider was arrested in January 1992, when he was turned in by a staff member who was refused a raise. He was charged with stealing roughly $1 000 000 in stolen equipment, and was sentenced to 40 days on a prison farm