A little lesson in Etymology:
"The suffix -nik has one origin and another popularizer.
-nik is a suffix used to form nouns that refer, usually derisively, to a person who espouses a cause, represents an attitude, or is an ardent enthusiast of the thing indicated by the initial element. A typical example is the late-1950s neatnik 'a person who is overly neat'.
The suffix -nik is derived from Yiddish, where it is used to form personal nouns; it is ultimately from Slavic languages that were in contact with Yiddish. There are various words using the -nik suffix that are much earlier than Sputnik. To choose three examples, all-rightnik, meaning 'a smug, nouveau riche person', is first recorded in 1918 and is found a number of times before Sputnik; no-goodnik 'a worthless person; good-for-nothing' dates from the 1930s (and is possibly based on or influenced by Russian negódnik in the same sense); and the nonce word real-estatenik is found in Jewish-English use in the 1920s.
The Russian satellite Sputnik, launched in 1957, has the same last element that is the source of the Yiddish -nik; the word literally means 'traveling companion', from elements meaning 'together' and 'way; route', and the agentive suffix -nik. The launch of Sputnik was a huge news event in the United States, and help spur America's own space efforts and an educational emphasis on math and science. The popularity of the word Sputnik helped establish -nik in American English; the most notable early example was beatnik, coined by the late San Franciso newspaperman Herb Caen early in 1958 from Beat Generation and -nik. Some other, post-Sputnik uses include peacenik, artnik, nuclear-freezenik, (video) arcadenik, and filmnik."
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980601
Therefore, a nogoodnik is simply a person who expending a great deal of effort at being bad.
Heather
