from the Washington Post
Hollywood’s Bugged Over Wiretaps
LOS ANGELES, March 6 — “It’s the star-studded list Hollywood‘s been waiting for,” gushed the trade paper Variety as opening arguments began Thursday in the criminal wiretapping and racketeering trial against Anthony Pellicano, the fallen Gumshoe to the Stars.
The list of 127 potential witnesses includes stars Sylvester Stallone, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling, Paramount head honcho Brad Grey, chief of Universal Studios Ron Meyer, former super-agent Michael Ovitz and the celebrity lawyer Bert Fields.
The government charges that Pellicano, 63, used his listening devices to gain an edge for his rich clients as they faced ugly child-custody battles, messy divorces and lawsuits. His fees began with a non-refundable $25,000 retainer. According to court documents, hedge fund manager Adam Sender paid Pellicano $500,000 during his legal struggles with movie producer and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Russo. “And what did he get for that?” the prosecutor asked. “Wiretaps.”
The Pellicano case has been hyped for years, ever since the FBI busted into the private detective’s Sunset Boulevard offices in November 2002 and seized a trove of evidence, including $200,000 in cash and two hand grenades.
Pellicano has long been described as the ultimate fixer, the shamus with a whiff of wiseguy connections who did the dirty work of getting his clients out of jams (and out of the press), who had the reputation of getting what other dicks could not — what prosecutors called “the gold standard” for confidential, inside information that could only be gotten with illegal wiretaps.
Regardless, Pellicano appeared in court looking less like Robert Mitchum and more like Wilford Brimley in tennis shoes and a green windbreaker as he served as his own attorney, a role that required him, when addressing the jury during his opening statement, to speak of himself in the third person: “Mr. Pellicano was a very demanding boss and very secretive about what he did and why he did it.” As Pellicano himself put it, “His clients loved him when they needed him.” And then, he suggested, they turned on him.