[traffic whooshing]
[dial tone hums] [touch tones beeping]
[soft jazz music]
[line trills]
[touch tones beep] [line trills]
[touch tones beeping]
[person laughs]
PERSON: Tony Pellicano was the go-to guy
to take care of life's annoying problems.
PERSON: He made himself in to be kind of a movie detective.
ANTHONY PELLICANO: I'm a private investigator.
I'm located here in Los Angeles.
All I deal is with celebrities and people
in the entertainment business.
PERSON: Pellicano had a lot of gravitas.
He had a great reputation. He was an icon.
ANTHONY: I saved his fucking career.
There was a whole lot of shit with him
and prostitutes and cocaine. I saved him.
This fucking guy loves me.
PERSON: But now, Pellicano himself is being investigated
for the alleged way that he conducted his business.
PERSON: To tell the story of Anthony Pellicano in the '90s
is to tell the story of how powerful people behave
when they don't think that anybody is watching.
ANTHONY: Everything I'm doing is absolutely clandestine,
and you and I are the only ones that know it.
PERSON: Okay.
REPORTER: Pellicano and several others
have been indicted on 112 counts
for racketeering, illegal wiretapping,
and illegally obtaining confidential information.
REPORTER: Yesterday, Pellicano was sentenced
to 15 years in prison for running
a wiretapping operation.
ANTHONY: I'm Sicilian, you understand?
And I'm a man of honor.
I take all the heat.
I'm a sin eater. That's what I do.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Hollywood in the '90s was-- NED ZEMAN:
I think of it sort of as the last golden period.
It was all about personalities,
this sheen about it and it still had
that was about power, money, and beauty, and artifice.
RACHEL ABRAMS: There was so much money sloshing around.
You had so much more of the industry controlled
by actual moguls and people with big personalities.
they got away with behavior In many cases,
they might not be able to get away with today.
[photographers clamoring]
NED: The media didn't hold them to account,
the law didn't hold them to account.
to do whatever they wanted. And they were able
through fear and intimidation. And they controlled it
whoever wins, wins, It was just
and however you get there, get there.
As long as you were making money and winning awards--
but mostly making money--
answer to anyone. um, you didn't
The stakes were incredibly high
because it's remarkable, the speed with which
a chink in the armor could make the whole thing unravel.
Information made and broke careers.
There was a demand for a guy like Anthony Pellicano,
because he had access to information.
And he would acquire it ruthlessly.
- It has been a while that I actually put on TV makeup.
PRODUCER: Yeah, right?
NARRATOR: Tonight, Hard Copy's Diane Dimond
reveals the exclusive details
behind the child abuse allegation.
the Michael Jackson - Ever since
child molestation scandal broke...
I'm Diane Dimond.
I'm probably best known for breaking the story
about the child molestation allegations
against Michael Jackson.
[inquisitive music]
Back in 1993, I was working for the syndicated
television show Hard Copy in Hollywood,
on the Paramount lot.
I was in the newsroom, and my boss called me upstairs.
And she said, "Quick, look at this."
- Channel 4 News has learned, and the LAPD
just a few moments ago confirmed for us,
Michael Jackson is... that entertainer
DIANE: And there was video of police officers
at Michael Jackson's ranch in, uh, Santa Barbara County.
My assignment became to figure out why.
I walked down the stairs, and my producer waved at me
from across the big newsroom,
and he said, "Take this phone call."
It was from a man who wanted to meet with us,
to tell us why the homes were being raided.
♪ ♪
We got to this little Italian restaurant in Santa Monica,
and this source put a manila envelope on the table.
And he locked eyes with me, and he said,
"I'll give you this if you promise not
to let him get away with it again."
NARRATOR: Tonight on Hard Copy,
explosive new charges against Michael Jackson.
that I've seen include a very - The official documents
detailed account of just what this 13-year-old boy
says happened to him.
REPORTER: The biggest superstar in the world.
REPORTER: Michael Jackson. REPORTER: Michael Jackson.
REPORTER: Criminal investigation.
REPORTER: Said he molested a 13-year-old boy.
REPORTER: Allegations that he sexually molested young boys.
[indistinct chatter]
DIANE: Days had gone by, and then the Jackson camp
called a news conference.
A big one.
♪ ♪
Their claim was that this was all an extortion plot.
And when they didn't pay up, the family
released the allegation that their child had been molested.
And it was with attorney Howard Weitzman
and the private eye Anthony Pellicano.
- Thank you.
- Pellicano was the Mr. Fix-It to the stars.
Whatever was going wrong, he was there
to figure out a way, find a strategy to make it go away.
And that became very clear that that's exactly
what he was doing for Michael Jackson.
I tried to sit as close up front as I could
and tried to get in questions.
- It's our belief that that tape confirms what
Mr. Pellicano has told you before, with respect
to the demands that were made.
DIANE: It became pretty clear pretty fast that they weren't
there to answer any questions.
- Totaling $20 million demands.
I think it's all confirmed on the tape.
DIANE: They were there to tell you that these allegations
were completely false.
And then they played the tape.
ANTHONY: This tape recording is a conversation
between myself and Barry K. Rothman.
The tape speaks for itself.
DIANE: They thought it was clear proof
that extortion was going on, and here's our proof.
Was this legally taped, Mr. Pellicano?
That's me in the background saying,
"Was this legally taped, Mr. Pellicano?"
And Pellicano leaves the room.
PERSON: A lot of people knew that Anthony Pellicano
was doing things he shouldn't have done.
PERSON: That supposedly he's got all the dirt on everybody.
REPORTER: He says Pellicano's high-tech operation
was hardly a secret.
- In 2002, there were rumors and a lot of talk starting
that Anthony Pellicano had been wiretapping people,
and that the FBI was investigating.
REPORTER: Investigators found computers
with thousands of hours of illegal recordings.
REPORTER: Pellicano wiretapped or illegally accessed
confidential information about stars.
DOUGLAS JOHNSON: I think it was such an earthquake in town
because the names that were hiring
this private investigator were sophisticated,
celebrity, or very wealthy people.
- He represented just about everybody--
Chris Rock, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett.
Some of the biggest lawyer names,
Bert Fields, Howard Weitzman,
Marty Singer, Terry Christensen.
Studio heads like Ron Meyer or Brad Grey.
- If there was a high-profile scandal in the 1990s,
there was a decent chance that Pellicano was involved.
Pellicano bragged that he did work
on the Monica Lewinsky scandal,
the Gennifer Flowers scandal.
to the OJ Simpson case. He was linked
The plot swirls around REPORTER:
how he knows what he knows, and how much of that
will become public.
♪ ♪
ALLISON HOPE WEINER: While I was reporting on the story,
I managed to get this big, giant amount
of recordings and documents.
I got them from a source, or sources,
who really wanted to show how many people
were involved in this mess.
[touch tones dialing] [line trills]
He recorded all of his phone conversations,
and you'd hear him talking to all these people.
This film is the first time a lot of these recordings
are going to be heard.
ALLISON: It is a portrait of power in Hollywood,
and it's a gritty portrait of power in Hollywood.
ALLISON: Anthony was hired, a lot of the times,
to shut people down.
And he used intimidation to do it.
- It also showed that the Los Angeles legal system,
that a lot of these lawyers were cheating
to win cases.
- The first one that comes to mind
is the Chris Rock recording.
ANTHONY: Hey, buddy. CHRIS ROCK: Hey.
ANTHONY: How are you doing? CHRIS: I'm all right.
he was married at the time, ALLISON: Chris Rock,
Four Seasons with a friend, and he was at the
and they ended up picking up two women,
and he ended up sleeping with one of them.
This woman is now claiming to have Chris Rock's baby.
She's also alleging that he forced himself on her.
ALLISON: Anthony starts off by telling him that he
has gotten the police report.
- Chris Rock might not have broken any laws
by listening to this or responding to this
or using it in his defense,
but certainly, what the tape shows is that
he raised no objection to being told,
"I'm not supposed to have this.
Let's change your story."
ANTHONY: [stammering] Did you come on her thighs?
CHRIS: Um, I don't--
ANTHONY: You said you had a rubber on, brother.
CHRIS: I had a rubber on, I probably took it off
right when I was getting ready to come.
Probably came on her ass. It's--you know.
ALLISON: We have somebody with means and power
who's able to employ somebody like Anthony Pellicano,
playing the system to their own benefit.
It's a total imbalance of power.
♪ ♪
ALLISON: For any kind of Pellicano conversation,
this is kind of a typical response, where he is assuring
his client that whoever is making trouble
is going to be taken care of.
I had no idea how far his tentacles went,
and this was only a small portion of what he was up to.
Everybody thought it was just sort of
a showbiz-y story about some movie stars
and producers and everybody.
And it really-- it's about so much more.
ALEC BALDWIN: Longtime Hollywood private eye
and his term, "problem solver" Anthony Pellicano
lives by a unique code of honor.
ANTHONY: To me, the most important thing in my life
was honor and my word.
[upbeat jazz music]
♪ ♪
This is--goes back to my-- you know, to my early days
where, you know, that type of attitude
was the attitude I wanted to keep.
I mean, I'm Sicilian, and all of the attitudes
that I attained, I guess, or cherished,
came from that life
that you develop when you're very young.
My father was a very tough guy with his hands.
[solemn music]
And he was an alcoholic for the majority of my life.
Being a young kid on the streets taught me a lot.
Being around people who were manly allowed me to be a man.
Instead of having a father figure,
I had lots of father figures.
If I had it to do all over again,
I would take that choice, rather than
the choice of having a father.
In the army, I was taught to be a cryptographer,
those who code and decode top-secret messages.
When I came out of the service, there was no jobs.
By getting an investigative license,
I was able to do audio surveillance,
audio surveillance countermeasures.
I devised, you know, programs to analyze tape recordings.
I did the 18-Minute Gap.
I did the Shah of Iran tape.
I became really, really good at locating missing people.
And I wiped out all my competition in Chicago.
[upbeat jazz music]
♪ ♪
I moved to California in 1982.
ALLISON: It's the early '80s, and Anthony Pellicano
is an audio recording expert.
Pellicano gets a call from a criminal defense attorney,
and his name is Howard Weitzman.
He is a really well-known criminal defense attorney here
in Los Angeles, but he's about to become
one of the best-known lawyers in the world.
[car whooshing]
John DeLorean, for those of you who don't remember,
he's the guy that invented the car
from the Back to the Future movie series.
- Are you telling me that you built a time machine...
out of a DeLorean?
ALLISON: He had a company where he was making DeLoreans,
and it started to go under,
so he had tried to get financing.
REPORTER: And on October 19th
in a hotel room in Los Angeles,
the trap was sprung on John DeLorean.
ALLISON: The government had tons of recordings
of John DeLorean with drug traffickers,
with investors.
REPORTER: A suitcase full of cocaine was put before him,
and he called it better than gold.
REPORTER: A few minutes later the FBI arrived,
and John DeLorean was put under arrest.
ALLISON: Howard Weitzman had called Pellicano
because he knew that Anthony was very competent
and well-regarded as an audio recording specialist.
Howard suspected that the tapes had been altered,
and that Anthony Pellicano would be somebody
who'd be able to tell.
John DeLorean was like a fixture in the tabloids.
He dated Ursula Andress.
He was friends with Johnny Carson.
Because of the high-profile nature of the DeLorean case,
Anthony Pellicano got a chance to meet
a lot of the biggest stars and behind-the-scenes people
in Hollywood.
REPORTER: DeLorean arrived at the federal district
courthouse shortly after noon to hear the result.
He walked out a free man, sobbing, "Praise the Lord."
ALLISON: John DeLorean is acquitted,
and everybody on the team that acquitted him
become really famous.
And Anthony was part of that story.
He's the one that showed that the government
had acted in bad faith.
I mean, you couldn't have a better calling card.
ANTHONY: You know, after DeLorean, I was a hot ticket.
Through agents, through, you know,
personal managers, et cetera.
Once I got known, then it just spiraled up.
ALLISON: There were a lot of legitimate reasons
to hire Pellicano.
He did a lot of legitimate things,
especially in this community--
one where you need to keep it private.
Anthony would charge about $25,000 just to begin with.
ALLISON: There are all kinds of private detectives in town
that try to keep things quiet to try to help you manage
that celebrity and all the negative
and bad stuff that comes with it.
[line trills]
- If you are rich and famous, and you have the power
to have someone like Anthony Pellicano
help fight off what you believe is a very unfair allegation,
would you?
And I think a lot of people are seduced
by that possibility and the services that he provided.
[inquisitive music]
♪ ♪
ALLISON: In the late '80s, early '90s,
Anthony Pellicano is going to come into contact
with most of the high-profile entertainment attorneys
in Los Angeles.
One of them was Bert Fields.
CHARLIE ROSE: There is one name that strikes fear
in the hearts of most powerful people in Hollywood.
He is Bert Fields, one of the most successful
entertainment lawyers in the country.
BERT FIELDS: I believe in the law.
I think if we don't have the rule of the law,
we're in deep trouble.
- Bert Fields was one of the most powerful
bare-knuckles Hollywood lawyers ever.
And you know, if you hired Bert Fields,
sometimes that meant along came Anthony Pellicano.
- Through Bert Fields, he had access to the most
powerful people in town.
I guess I should say they had access to him.
[laughs]
[upbeat music]
Welcome to Larry King Live. NARRATOR:
from Washington. - Good evening
Michael Jackson has been through endless
press, uh, speculation.
Anthony, if you'll get us up to date on this, what's happened?
What's your end of the story?
- Like I've stated, that I have been
active investigation involved in an
for the last 2 and 1/2 months.
- You have told the police that two people were trying
to extort money from Michael Jackson in return
for kind of a blackmail thing, right?
- I haven't had the--the opportunity
to talk to the police yet.
I really can't comment about my clients.
I just can say that this phenomena exists.
- All right, in other words, the--the asking for money
in return for not revealing something
is not new in your field?
- Not at all.
ALLISON: We see Pellicano pretty much employing
the same tactics he did in a lot of other cases,
which is to accuse the person who is claiming
that they have been assaulted of trying
to extort Michael Jackson.
So everyone that goes up against power
is just trying to get money.
- A demand for $20 million was made and presented.
It was flatly and consistently refused.
DIANE: Michael Jackson's lawyers
were known as pitbulls.
Especially Bert Fields, but Howard Weitzman too.
- A decision will not be made until January.
- He knew how to take a nugget and turn it to his--
his client's advantage.
Now, there was a grain of truth
to what they were saying, because the boy's father
was negotiating with Anthony Pellicano
for a multimillion dollar settlement in walk away money.
Every good reporter had to stop and think,
"Whoa, wait a minute.
"Maybe this was extortion.
Maybe this is fake."
But I had seen the documents from the LAPD
and the child welfare report.
They were very straightforward.
They were very graphic.
They were very detailed about what
this young boy was alleging.
You know, I guess it can be explained that this is--
we're up against a superstar and all of his lawyers
and all of his millions.
I'll spare my son the trauma of going to trial
and being a witness.
I'll spare my family all the angst
of the media on my front door.
Just give me a little bit of money,
and I'll get the heck out of here.
REPORTER: Meanwhile, a second family claiming to be friends
with the entertainer was introduced
to CNN late Thursday by an associate of Jackson's.
- Then Anthony Pellicano brings these two little boys forward
to talk to a CNN reporter.
REPORTER: As with 11-year-old Brett Barnes interviewed
Wednesday by CNN, Joy Robson and her two children
say they frequently stayed at Jackson's
Santa Barbara County ranch, and that 10-year-old Wade
had slumber parties with Jackson,
sleeping with him in the same bed.
- Yeah, you know, there's been different times where
it'd just be me and Michael.
- And they told the reporter that they slept in bed
with Michael Jackson all the time,
and like two little parrots, said the same thing.
But "nothing ever happens."
- He sleeps on one side. I sleep on the other.
It's a big bed.
And we just go to sleep.
- It came off as if these two children
had been coached on what to say.
REPORTER: From your standpoint, does it seem unusual
for a 34-year-old man to have kids sleeping over?
- Not when you know Michael's background.
Everybody knows he didn't have a childhood.
- Well, Michael's different. He didn't have a childhood.
It's--it's okay. He doesn't mean any harm.
Look at him. He's a gentle, sweet soul.
That really stuck in the--
the lexicon in the public's mind.
And it still sticks to this day.
PERSON: He had to perform every other night,
get up on that stage as if the rage he felt,
the humiliation, the embarrassment, was not there.
- Behind the scenes, Anthony Pellicano
was working to keep employees of Michael Jackson quiet.
INTERVIEWER: What do you remember about Mr. Pellicano?
- Uh, what do I remember?
Just a kind of snakish type of person.
[inquisitive music]
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: Miss Staikos called you and told you
to go to the hideout to collect some items, correct?
- No, no.
Um, I was, uh, called.
I did that.
But uh, the instruction was from, uh,
an Anthony Pellicano.
- After law enforcement raids Michael Jackson's homes,
Anthony Pellicano instructs Jackson's driver
to go to one of his properties and remove items,
including a briefcase and a suitcase.
INTERVIEWER: Where'd you take them to?
- Uh, I took them to, uh, a residence in Agoura--
I believe it was Agoura Hills, somewhere out that way,
uh, which appeared to be the residence
of Anthony Pellicano.
INTERVIEWER: And you read the search warrant
that says child molestation... - Mm-hmm.
And you got these two bags. INTERVIEWER:
You don't know what's in them. - Mm-hmm.
INTERVIEWER: And you're going and taking them to a place
you've never been before. - Mm-hmm.
INTERVIEWER: Did you think that was weird?
LAWYER: Objection, vague. - No.
- Other Jackson employees talked about Pellicano's role,
including a maid who had said that she had seen little boys'
underwear in Jackson's room.
INTERVIEWER: And what did Mr. Pellicano tell you?
- Oh, he told me that Michael Jackson loved me,
that he doesn't want me to say anything to the police.
- When my phone started clicking and popping...
[clicking tongue]
Both at the office and at home,
I thought immediately, Anthony Pellicano,
the wiretap surveillance expert.
- I'm considered to be the highest-priced and the best.
- So I tested that theory.
Diane Dimond.
The next morning, 9:00, I pick up the phone,
and my husband, who does not identify himself,
says, "Hey there.
"I'm just checking to see how your documentary
on Pellicano is doing.
- [laughs] Oh, jeez.
- Oh, it's--it's great. Oh, man.
Is he ever gonna be mad! Wow.
But I gotta go right now. Bye-bye.
And I hang up.
A few minutes later, I get a tap on my shoulder,
and it's one of the Hard Copy lawyers, who says to me,
"Hey, I need to see your script on the Pellicano documentary."
First of all, we don't do documentaries,
but I honestly said, "I'm not working
on a Pellicano documentary. Where did you hear that?"
"From Howard Weitzman's And she said, office.
They just called me."
Boom! Now I know.
I'm not being paranoid.
I'm being wiretapped.
stopped in 1993 when Pellicano The harassment, for me, left.
REPORTER: Okay, what is the status with you
and the Jackson case now?
- I have resigned. REPORTER: Why?
- That's personal.
DIANE: Nobody was given an explanation.
It was just like, hey, where did that guy go?
- This resignation, by no stretch of the imagination,
is any indication that I believe that
Michael Jackson is guilty.
I believe, as I have always believed,
that Michael is innocent, and I know he will prevail.
REPORTER: Has he ever tried to do anything with you
that would even be considered questionable?
- No. Nothing.
DIANE: I look back at that video
of those two young boys, and I--
I sort of cringe, knowing what I know today.
Wade Robson looked so innocent and sweet,
but now we know he stands with Jackson's accusers.
- I had no understanding that what Michael did to me,
sexually, was abuse.
You know, he told me that it was love.
He told me that he loved me,
and that God brought us together.
- And in a recent court case, Wade's mother Joy
testified under oath about that CNN interview.
You gave interviews on TV REPORTER:
defending Michael, right?
- Well, we were sort of coerced to do that
by Anthony Pellicano. REPORTER: Uh-huh.
- Made--really coerced.
REPORTER: Did you, at the time, feel coerced?
- Yes.
It's--I'm--it's not easy to go on television
you've allowed your son and admit that
to sleep in somebody's bed.
Even though at the time, I thought--
I knew how--I knew how it appeared.
there was anything going on, Although I didn't think
I knew how it appeared.
Anthony Pellicano was an interesting man.
He spent a lot of time with us.
wonder how lives - It's fair to
could have turned out differently
if Anthony Pellicano hadn't been working
for Michael Jackson in 1993.
How did you feel when you REPORTER: heard
that a boy was alleging that Michael had abused him?
- I was shocked, too, and I think it's sick,
because I know Michael well enough that he wouldn't
do anything like that.
I know that for a fact.
RON MEYER: Anthony was very good at getting information.
He was someone who got the job done
when it needed to be done.
controlled Hollywood at the - All these guys who time
were ruthless.
[camera shutter clicking]
The conversation begins with Michael Ovitz,
one of the most powerful men
that have ever been in Hollywood.
But along with him came executives like Ron Meyer,
who ran Universal.
Brad Grey, who was a manager slash producer.
And these people, who all knew each other pretty well,
pretty much ran the show.
If they wanted a movie made, the movie was made.
And for years, many Hollywood power players
had used Anthony Pellicano.
- You know, Anthony would better answer it than I can,
but--but I certainly felt very comfortable
when I had a client who had a--
a problem that required some special service in that area,
that Anthony was the right person to go to.
- Oh, God.
You're--you're asking me too tough a question.
That's ridiculous.
- Oh, I--
I can't tell you what part he performed
and what part he didn't perform.
Anthony was the real deal.
He--he solved problems for people.
How and what he did, I can't get into it,
'cause I don't know myself.
Um, but he was able to get things done
that other people couldn't get done.
NED: Brad Grey, in the '90s, was an interesting figure,
because he was sort of in an emergent business.
He was known as a manager, but he also at the same time
produced TV shows like The Garry Shandling Show,
and most famously, The Sopranos.
- Well, this was the subject of some dispute
between The New York Times and Mr. Grey at the time.
But we would discover that he had tried to hire him in 1995
when Linda Doucett sued him and his client
at that time, Garry Shandling.
- Were you two just talking about Hank?
- No.
- Oh. [laughs] 'Cause my ears were burning.
Anyway, the staff is having a little
going away cake for Hank.
It would be nice if you could join us.
- Isn't he taking this a little seriously this time?
- Oh, fuck it. It's free cake.
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
LINDA DOUCETT: At the time of The Larry Sanders Show,
Garry and I had been in a long-term relationship.
Brad Grey, who was Garry's manager and very close friend,
was also executive producer.
Things that he liked about the business and the things
he didn't like about the business
was the premise of the show.
The insecurities and the desperateness
and the narcissism.
Garry mocked that.
Creatively, personally, business-wise,
we all confided in each other.
It was very validating to be working with them,
because I was much greener
and just starting out in my career.
And Brad used me sometimes to say,
"Can you talk to Garry?" You know.
And then Garry would use me sometimes to say,
"Mention this to Brad."
But at the same time, we were steering our own ship,
with so much creative freedom.
But also a lot of pressure.
I had that biological clock.
And I thought, gosh, I have to have
something bigger than this in the way of a child and family.
And that was important to me and difficult for Garry.
So we decided to break up and still try to work together.
When the powers that be behind Garry got involved,
it became a very big business thing.
Garry seemed very, very nervous and said,
"Okay, we're going to separate.
But you have to sign this."
And he brought me this thing like a phone book.
And so I signed it,
and then they fired me.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
I have a lawsuit against my loved ones,
my ex-fiancé, and Brad, and people I work with and loved.
And it was surreal.
What started happening then was,
Garry found out that Brad had been taking money from him.
NED: Garry Shandling felt that he was being exploited,
essentially-- that his own manager
was horning in on his business and not sharing the wealth.
Brad Grey would say, no, I was sharing the wealth.
But the point is, this fell out over money.
When Brad Grey lawyered up,
he was represented by Bert Fields.
And that's where Anthony Pellicano enters the picture.
LINDA: The first time I heard the name Anthony Pellicano
was when Garry said, "I just want you to know
"that during your wrongful termination lawsuit,
"Brad wanted to use this person
named Anthony Pellicano to discredit you."
that's what Brad used against The ironic thing is that Garry.
I remember joking with Garry about,
do you think our phone is tapped?
And hearing the clickings, and hearing it,
but still not totally being able to believe
that it could be happening.
- I loved our conversations on the phone.
I'm gonna miss those, late into the night,
talking about comedy and joke structure.
It was just him and me,
and on occasion, Anthony Pellicano.
[laughter]
ALLISON: Pellicano's work in that case really undermined
Garry Shandling's reputation.
According to Garry Shandling, Brad Grey went about
wiretapping all of his friends,
and that he used all that information to mount
a public campaign to discredit Garry Shandling--
that he was crazy, that he was a drug addict.
It was a character assassination as well as
a career assassination.
Shandling felt that he never And frankly, Garry
really came back from it.
- I think it's an incredibly, uh,
that our world has become one unfortunate circumstance
in which this so-called spin is used, uh, for certain agendas.
[tense music]
NED: There was a handful of extremely powerful lawyers
that kind of ran the town behind the scenes.
And it was their job to very quietly and ruthlessly
get the job done.
- I didn't realize the relationship Pellicano had
with these lawyers until I started
listening to these recordings.
ANTHONY: Do you want me to destroy them?
TERRY CHRISTENSEN: Yeah. ANTHONY: You got it.
TERRY: Yeah, um...
- It's like they assumed a different personality
to handle him.
DENNIS WASSER: I got some pretty good stuff, boy.
ANTHONY: No, I'm talking about fucking Kolodny.
- It was all about getting private information
that you can use in the litigation,
especially in divorce.
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
JUDE GREEN: In 1994, I was living in Aspen, Colorado.
I was separated from my husband, Andreas.
Alex was two and James was six.
James and I went skiing together.
He wanted to have hot chocolate at The Little Nell.
We sat in front of the fireplace.
There was a man sitting by the fireplace,
and he looked harmless.
That was Leonard.
So I put James next to him.
Leonard started playing tic-tac-toe
with him on a napkin.
He asked James, "Could you and your mother
meet me the next day?" and James said,
"Mom, we're having a ski date with him."
And so that's how I met him.
He won me over.
♪ ♪
He immediately said,
"Are you gonna divorce your husband?"
I said, "Yes, let me talk to my lawyers."
Leonard said, "We need to get you to California."
So I had to leave my house and my job,
and he started speeding my separation into a divorce.
I met him November '94.
By November '95, we were married.
Leonard is known for the leveraged buyout.
He thought, years ago, that if people could put 15% down
and buy a house, why can't they put
15% down and buy a company?
I was a good advocate for Leonard.
I was just, um, a people person,
and I would hear for months that there was problems,
that they couldn't get this company,
and then I'd take them out for dinner, and it was done.
But Leonard basically let lawyers run his life.
lawyer is--is as good as you You know, I always say a are.
But if you're not good, if you're--if you're open
and weak and vulnerable, then they will run you.
And that's precisely what was happening.
They were asking for a postnuptial agreement.
Because I never signed--
never--nor was I ever asked to sign a prenup.
It was just causing tension.
And then divorce proceedings started.
There was a myriad of lawyers, because every lawyer
that I interviewed told me that Pellicano
was closely associated with the lawyers
that Leonard was hiring.
They all say the same thing to you.
Oh--so you are going to be wiretapped
all the time by Anthony Pellicano.
JUDE: He will go through your garbage,
so you need a cross-cut shredder,
'cause Anthony knows how to glue together
the single-cut shredding machine.
I'm sorry, what?
Watch your cars too.
My God, it's like The Godfather.
I can't believe this is the advice.
Family law in Los Angeles is clearly corrupt,
and it was corrupted by Pellicano
and the lawyers that used him.
[inquisitive music]
- He really wanted people to think that he was a thug,
and that he had sort of this honor code
that is akin to what we see in mafia movies.
And a lot of his clients really bought into that,
because he seemed like the PI you'd hire from TV.
[phone rings]
JUDE: I'm living in Bel Air,
and I remember I had a call around 10 p. m.,
a very gruff voice telling me
I'd better keep my mouth shut or else,
for the sake of your kids.
And click.
[ominous music]
I went to press the alarm, and nothing happened.
So I pulled it out, and the wires were cut.
I went up to my panic button. They were cut.
I went to the foyer, and they were cut.
In my guard-gated Bel Air house.
I had to say good night to my kids
and act like everything's great.
Divorce is stressful enough,
but try doing it being a mother of two sons
and having no one you can trust.
Not even your lawyer.
I was terrified.
- You know, I'm sure that Pellicano thought
I was a spoiled princess in Bel Air.
But I'm from Detroit, and you just don't
mess with women from Detroit.
My father, he taught me how to throw a football,
how to hit a baseball.
And he taught me how to beat up a man.
He empowered me with how to be strong.
That helped when I finally came face to face with Pellicano.
I was driving my Shih Tzu, Saki, to the groomer,
and I pull up like I usually do.
And there's this Mercedes that parks
right up behind my car, perpendicular.
And I thought, this is crazy.
So I come out, and now he's leaning against my car.
I said, look, here's the deal.
I'm getting in my car.
I'm putting it in reverse, and I'm going to mow
your Mercedes right down.
So have a nice day.
And I shoved him.
He flew back to that car.
I thought, I'm not going home.
I'll go to a public place where people are.
I go into Peet's Coffee.
I thought, I'll get in line.
He got right behind me, shoving me.
I shoved him back.
And then I thought, here's my father.
He said always twist and turn.
So I said, "Get the fuck away from me!"
And I decked him.
And I just stepped on him and walked out
like he was roadkill.
What they did to me is--is uncalled for.
And what they did to me, they did to my children.
When I saw my older son James suffering,
I said, "Let's--let's just settle."
They were destroying us.
And I knew I had to say that's enough.
I mean, how many law firms?
And how much could I fight?
I was one person against multiple--
a multipronged attack.
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
ALLISON: Anthony Pellicano made good use of intimidation.
But I have to tell you, in a lot of instances,
he had built up this myth about himself.
Everybody played to it.
So Anthony Pellicano
becomes really full of himself.
that he's become part of the And he not only now thinks club,
but he thinks he has the power to move some of the players
in the club around.
At one point, he calls the litigator Marty Singer.
And Marty Singer is saying to him,
"I don't want you going after Sylvester Stallone,
who is a client of Marty's."
- And Anthony really takes it badly.
ALLISON: By this point, Brad Grey and Anthony Pellicano
become so close that they end up developing
a TV series together over at HBO.
- That project ends up falling through,
but the writer they hired goes on to create Ray Donovan.
- No! No! Oh Jesus, Ray!
I can't reveal my sources.
No! No, no, stop!
ALLISON: He thought he was part of the power brokers
and the power elite in town.
Now he's become part of the angry talent.
ANTHONY: I mean, fuck, it's all me.
- Anthony Pellicano is really starting to become
reckless with his behavior.
He's become a big name.
He's taking on more clients. He's doing more work.
And in a way, he might have gotten a little bit sloppy.
[birds chirping]
[pensive music]
♪ ♪
ANITA BUSCH: I loved--
I love journalism.
I was a journalist to the core.
I wanted to be a journalist since I was a little kid.
I remember the Christmas that I got my little tape recorder,
and I would interview my friends and...[laughs]
I was curious about everything.
I came to learn that journalism was really
about shining a light on the good
and lifting it up, and shining light on the bad
and getting rid of it.
A lot of people the filmmakers and the agents
and the actresses, they looked back at their career
over the past year, and they decide, you know,
should I make a-- should I make a change?
You know, 2002, I had just left The New York Times,
and I went and I started under a contract at the LA Times
under a--it was gonna be three months,
and then I would decide if I wanted to go on.
I got a call, I remember, one morning,
that there was, um, a sweep of the waterfront in New York.
Julius Nasso, the producing partner of Steven Seagal,
was swept up in that sweep,
along with some other Gambino people.
It was organized crime. It was a great scoop.
So I started digging into that
like I would dig into any other frickin' story.
[inquisitive music]
June 20th, I was working on questions for Steven Seagal,
and my doorbell rings.
It's my neighbor.
And she says, "Hey, I think you need to come outside."
I said, "Why?"
She goes, "Something happened to your car."
I was like, "All right, I'll be there in a second."
She goes, "No, I think you need to come out right now."
When I walked out, I saw a pan on the windshield.
And inside of it, wrapped in plastic,
was something dark and long.
And there was a piece of paper, and it said, "Stop."
It just didn't seem real.
It was a dead fish and a rose.
I remember thinking, well, yeah, from Hollywood movies,
a dead fish is swimming with the fishes, okay.
So I get stop or you'll be swimming with the fishes.
Stop or you'll die. I got that.
I didn't know what the rose meant.
I thought immediately, well, gosh,
this has to be related to the story I'm doing,
because of writing about the mob and Steven Seagal
and Julius Nasso and the Gambinos.
I was trying to figure out what I had stepped into,
who was behind it, and what was going on.
I had no clue.
♪ ♪
I go into the office the next day
and I start listening to phone messages.
And it's one after another of a guy saying
that he wants to talk to me about the Seagal story.
[dial tone hums] [touch tones beeping]
I dial the guy back, and he said,
"I ran into a guy, and he was hired
"to blow up your car, and it's gonna happen
in the next couple days."
I'm shaking, but I'm being the journalist, like, okay.
Who did you run into? What was his name?
You know, can you tell me any more information?
I was able to get out of him that it was
a private investigator who had hired
the guy that he ran into.
And I said, okay, thank you.
I hang up, and I was like, I want the FBI called.
I want the LAPD called. I want--I want them here now.
They told me that I should not be using my cell phone,
my computer, my bank account--
anything, until they knew what they were dealing with.
- My name is Dan Saunders.
I was an Assistant United States Attorney
in the Central District of California
in Los Angeles from 1997 to 2011.
[suspenseful music]
In the late summer, early fall of 2002,
I was contacted by an FBI agent, Stan Ornellas.
Uh, and he contacted me
because a man named Alex Proctor
had threatened a reporter named Anita Busch,
and had done that at the behest of Anthony Pellicano.
It all sounded like it was straight out of a movie.
So we obviously did what we do,
which was, we began investigating.
[laughter]
- Did I ever tell anybody to do anything like that?
Absolutely not.
That is crazy, and it's stupid.
I don't give a fuck what people say about me.
I don't care.
I mean, I've been called a thug.
I've been called every word.
And those are just words, you understand?
And people say things for their own vested interests.
People will say anything.
You know that.
You have to decide at one point in time,
who's the good guy, who's the bad guy, you understand?
I never went after innocent people.
Never.
♪ ♪