Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Celebrity private eye Anthony Pellicano, whose clients once included Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison Friday for possessing firearms and explosives. Pellicano, who was also fined $6,000, remains the subject of a grand jury investigation into whether he may have conducted illegal wiretaps of celebrities. Federal officials have declined to provide details of the investigation, and Pellicano has said he is refusing to cooperate. His career collapsed last year after investigators raided his office, seeking evidence to link him to threats made against a Los Angeles Times reporter....

There are probably two private detectives who are considered the leading private eyes for the stars: Former NYPD detective Bo Dietl on the east coast, and Anthony Pellicano on the west coast. Of the two only one -- Tony Pellicano -- is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation into illegal wiretapping by a high-profile private detective in Hollywood known as The Pelican. Two witnesses -- his ex-girlfriend, and the other police officer -- on Tuesday pleaded guilty to having lied to a grand jury about the detective's use of wiretaps and other illegal tactics. These pleas, one coming from...

LOS ANGELES - Former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and his entertainment lawyer co-defendant were convicted Friday of charges linked to the wiretapping of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s former wife in a child support battle. Pellicano and attorney Terry Christensen were each convicted of conspiracy to commit wiretapping. Pellicano was also convicted of wiretapping and Christensen was convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap. “We are disappointed, think the jury is wrong, and we will be appealing,” said Patricia Glaser, Christensen’s attorney and law partner.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Seventeen alleged members and associates of the Gambino crime family, including John Gotti's brother, were arrested on racketeering and other charges, authorities announced Tuesday. Prosecutors said at a Brooklyn news conference that convictions in the case would deal a crushing blow to the mob infiltration of unions and businesses along New York City's waterfront. ``When it comes to the waterfront, the greedy grip of organized crime knows no bounds,'' said Alan Vinegrad, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office will prosecute the case. The 68-count federal indictment includes charges of extortion, money...

HILLARY'S SECRET WAR The Shadow Team Posted: July 12, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: The following is an eye-opening look into New York Times best-selling author Richard Poe's revealing book, "Hillary's Secret War." Whereas Edward Klein's book on the New York senator reveals previously unknown aspects of her personal life, Poe's expose focuses on how Hillary Clinton and the left's "shadow government" have labored to put her and her far-left agenda in the White House by controlling the still-uncensored flow of real news to Americans – via the Internet.If that sounds too fantastic to be true, read on. By Richard...

MIDI - THAT'S AMORE (fairly long intro) hired him to shut up Bill's women, Pellicano Were there threats, oh, you bet...'cause you should never test Pellicano He would break Sally Perdue's legs even if she begged Only fools don't believe it If you had Clinton evidence he would hop your fence He'd go in and retrieve it hired him to shut up Bill's women, Pellicano When you mess with the Clintons, there is not a rule that applies If you're posing a threat, you'll be facing him mano a ma-ano He had worked for the mob and did 's job,...

Nov 17, 2003 Celebrity Private Eye About to Go to Prison Vows Not to Cooperate With Wiretap Investigation The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - Anthony Pellicano, the private eye to the stars who is going to prison for possessing illegal explosives, says he won't cooperate with authorities investigating whether he secretly taped conversations of celebrities and their lawyers. Pellicano, who was to report to the Federal Detention Center in Los Angeles on Monday, also said the lawyers and celebrities he worked for over the years are innocent. "They did nothing wrong," he was quoted as saying in Monday's Los...

NEW YORK - A former business partner of Steven Seagal's admitted Wednesday that he plotted to have the mob shake down the action-film star. Julius Nasso, a producer of early Seagal films that grossed millions of dollars, pleaded guilty in federal court to extortion conspiracy. Under a plea deal, he will serve one year in prison and pay a $75,000 fine; no sentencing date was set. Nasso, 50, told a federal magistrate that he had an "understanding" that a reputed capo in the Gambino crime family, Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, would confront Seagal about a debt in a way "that would...

Steven Seagal is being threatened with a lawsuit over his part in a police raid that was taped for his A&E reality show, TMZ reported. The actor, who has served as a reserve deputy sheriff since the mid-'80s, was part of a team that arrived at Jesus Sanchez Llovera's Arizona house in March with a tank and armed in full riot gear, Llovera alleges in his legal documents. VIDEO: Steven Seagal Arrives for Police Bust in Tank Llovera claims that the raid, carried out by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department, was "unfounded" because they believed Llovera was raising roosters for...

SNIPPET: "His movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. He is an expert martial artist with a 7th-degree black belt in Aikido. He's considered to be in the same class of action hero as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, Steven Seagal isn't just an action hero in the movies. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. In addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and...

A former employee has sued big screen action star Steven Seagal, claiming he hired her as an assistant, but then used her as a "sex toy." Kayden Nguyen, a 23-year-old former model from Los Angeles, is seeking $1 million from the "Under Siege" actor, according to court papers filed Monday. Nguyen said she responded to a Craigslist ad in February for an executive assistant for Seagal and his production company, Steamroller Productions.

Man Implicates Seagal and Pellicano in Probe Fri Nov 22, 8:34 AM ET LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man charged with threatening a reporter who was investigating an alleged Mafia extortion plot against Steven Seagal told an FBI informant the actor was behind the threat, court documents show. Alexander Proctor allegedly said in secretly recorded conversations that he was hired to carry out the threat by Anthony Pellicano, a private detective to the stars. FBI agents said Proctor told the informant Seagal hired Pellicano to threaten Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch. "He wanted to make it look like the...

The Top Seven Awesome Things You Didn't Know About Steven Seagal Steven Seagal has been a cultural icon representing everything squinty and badass about action films for the past 20 years. A lot of people think they know everything there is to know about this mysterious man of part-time law enforcement and energy drinks, but the truth of the matter goes deeper. Much deeper. Source: A&E TV By Nathan Bloch 7. Steven Seagal speaks fluent Japanese Source: Nathan Shanahan/Getty Images It’s pretty impressive that the man spent ten years in Japan and became a 7th dan black belt aikido master,...

You can be excused for thinking that "Steven Seagal: Lawman" is another in the action movie star's canon of B-movies. You know, the kind of film where breaking bones with martial arts and aiming to kill (and succeeding) are part of the script. But for most people, finding out that Seagal has been a real-life deputy for nearly 20 years in the Jefferson Parish sheriff's office in Louisiana might come as a mind-rattling shock. The beefy tough guy is not just a martial arts expert who has helped train officers while being a member of their force, he's also an...

MOBILE, Ala. -- Action movie star Steven Seagal is best known in these parts for having played the cook who thwarted a terrorist plot in the 1992 thriller "Under Siege," which was filmed here aboard the battleship USS Alabama. But these days he has another assignment. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned reserve deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. His law enforcement work is chronicled in a "Steven Seagal Lawman," an upcoming A&E reality TV show that will premiere on the cable channel at 9 p.m. CST Dec. 2. A&E is...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A new reality television show about the life of actor and martial arts expert Steven Seagal became the subject of a federal lawsuit filed on Monday in a dispute over who thought up the idea for the show. A&E Television Networks sued California-based Genuine Entertainment claiming that Genuine has wrongly asserted the idea for the reality show was stolen from Genuine by A&E after a series of meetings between the two parties. Seagal rose to fame in the 1990s as a star of action movies such as "Under Siege," but in recent years has failed to...

Pellicano did work directly with one president: during Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign Pellicano was hired, reportedly by Hillary Clinton, to discredit Gennifer Flowers, the woman who alleged that she had maintained a 12-year affair with the candidate. Six years later, with Clinton into his second term, the White House, according to the New York Post, hired Pellicano, considered a respected forensic audio specialist, to look into Monica Lewinsky's background. Another report places Pellicano, who was hired by OJ Simpson before the murder of Nicole Simpson, outside her house on the night that she was killed... Anthony Pellicano has worked...

OK...OK...Steven Seagal has made a boat load of $5.95 Wal Mart straight to DVD movies over the last 3 years...but Seagal is making a movie for release in January that is raising some eyebrows in Hollywood on the scenario that might just make the now B-Movie star back to A-list as Red State Americans search for a new hero ala John Rambo. Under Siege 3:Terror Flies High Plot Outline: Casey Ryback is sent on a mission to take out Muslim terrorists who have taken over a flight from Israel to USA.

Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was charged today with conspiracy and making threats against a Los Angeles Times reporter. Anita Busch was researching a story in 2002 about the relationship between actor Steven Seagal and a reputed Mafia figure when someone fired a bullet through the windshield of her unoccupied car. Left on top of the vehicle was a dead fish with a rose in its mouth and a sign reading: "Stop." The charges today were filed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley after a lengthy investigation...

Decades After Brando, Waterfront Still Mobbed Up   BAYONNE, N.J.  — At the headquarters of New Jersey's most notorious union, the ornate front windows are etched with an anchor-and-rope motif. They're opaque, making it impossible to peer inside International Longshoremen's Association (search) Local 1588.That hasn't stopped law enforcement. Local 1588 was historically so corrupt that mob enforcers were unnecessary, according to one veteran investigator. Kickbacks, extortion and fraud became as routine as a Labor Day picnic at the local, long a lucrative outpost for the Genovese (search) crime family. In 1954, when Marlon Brando (search) starred in the Oscar-winning "On The Waterfront," one of 1588's delegates was...