Posted on 11/12/2003 2:30:03 AM PST by Liz
Reporter Found Dead Fish, Rose, 'Stop' Sign On Car
LOS ANGELES -- A bumbling attempt to scare a newspaper reporter off a story last year has led to a mushrooming federal investigation that has left some of Hollywood's most prominent celebrities along with their lawyers and agents wondering if their phones were tapped.
The affair began June 20, 2002, with a scene that could have been scripted for a B-movie: Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch found a dead fish and a rose on the hood of her car, along with a cardboard sign with the word "Stop" taped to her windshield.
Seventeen months later, an ex-convict is awaiting trial in connection with the threats, while the man he says hired him to make them, celebrity private eye Anthony Pellicano, is about to begin a prison sentence for illegally possessing military-style explosives and hand grenades.
But the tale that has Hollywood talking is that the FBI is investigating whether some of the entertainment capital's most prominent people and their lawyers and agents were wiretapped by Pellicano.
Among those who has confirmed being approached by authorities is comedian Gary Shandling, who told The New York Times on Friday that the FBI confirmed some of his conversations were taped. His representatives did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Monday.
One of Hollywood's most prominent celebrity attorneys, Bert Fields, also confirmed that the FBI questioned him about possible wiretapping allegations involving Pellicano. Fields, whose clients over the years have included Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson and Kevin Costner, issued a statement Monday saying that, like many Hollywood attorneys, he often hired Pellicano as an investigator.
"I have absolutely no information involving Mr. Pellicano and illegal wiretapping, and any suggestion that I do is complete baloney," Fields said.
One of Fields' partners, attorney Norman Levine, added that federal investigators "apparently have spoken to a number of prominent people in the entertainment community."
He declined to elaborate. FBI officials did not immediately return a call for comment Monday. U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek declined to comment.
At the center of the intrigue is Pellicano, 59, who has provided detective work, security and sometimes acted as spokesman for such stars as Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Sylvester Stallone.
The private eye, who is to begin serving a 27-month prison sentence next Monday in the explosives case, declined Monday to discuss the investigation.
A one-time "skip tracer" from Chicago who made a living tracking down people who didn't pay their Spiegel catalog bills, Pellicano gained national attention in 1977 when he found the remains of Taylor's third husband, movie producer Michael Todd, after they were stolen from an Illinois cemetery. His success was said to have won the admiration of Taylor and helped facilitate his transition to celebrity private eye.
His next big success came in 1983, when the self-taught expert in analyzing audio recordings and enhancing the quality of surveillance tapes helped former auto maker John DeLorean win acquittal on cocaine trafficking charges. DeLorean was arrested after authorities said he was caught on videotape trying to sell undercover agents drugs to raise millions of dollars to bail out his struggling car company.
As his star rose, the tough-talking Pellicano cultivated an image akin to novelist Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled, swaggering detective Philip Marlowe. He claimed to carry a baseball bat, not a gun, as his weapon of choice and once told the Los Angeles Times: "I only use intimidation and fear when I absolutely have to."
He also boasted of digging into the past of his clients' enemies.
"So they gotta take the same heat that they dish out," he once said.
Hollywood publicist Michael Sands said Monday he suspected Pellicano of tapping his phones in 1990 when he was investigating one of Sands' celebrity clients. Sands acknowledged he could never prove his suspicion.
"Anthony Pellicano was one of the detectives all the lawyers in Hollywood liked and they gave him their business," Sands said. "They wanted his old-style muscle. There wasn't much of that around anymore."
Busch was looking into a connection between actor Steven Seagal -- known for his martial-arts moves in films like "Under Siege" and "Exit Wounds" -- and reputed Mafia associate Julius Nasso when she was threatened.
The two were business partners until a falling out, and Seagal has testified that mobsters threatened his life after he ended the relationship. Nasso has sued the actor for breach of contract.
Both Seagal and Pellicano have denied any involvement in threatening Busch.
Alexander Proctor, an ex-convict and one-time drug dealer, was charged with threatening the reporter and is awaiting trial. Authorities have said Proctor implicated Pellicano in the scheme, which prompted them to search his office. It was there they found the explosives and transcripts of the purported wiretapped conversations.
The search also led the Los Angeles Police Department to suspend with pay a veteran officer, Sgt. Mark Arneson, after authorities said they found documents in Pellicano's office linking the detective to Arneson.
Police officials said a subsequent review of LAPD computer records connected Arneson to people Pellicano was investigating and showed he had accessed Busch's driver's license and car registration information.
Officer Lucy Diaz, a police spokeswoman, said Monday that case was still under investigation.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Might be, might just be.
I could mention the Foster "suicide" and the Ron Brown "accident" or the Willey stalking harassment....but I won't...... :-))
FBI Files can be terrifying don't you think Liz?
Looks that way. Better than an "enemies list."
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