Michelle Malkin » The Pellicano case Update: Mystery solved?

The Pellicano case Update: Mystery solved?

By Michelle Malkin • February 19, 2008 08:42 PM

Readers keep sending me this Roger Friedman story about Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano, who is on trial for racketeering and illegal wiretapping. The prosecutor in the case has released a list of 244 potential government witnesses–and apparently my name is on the list:

Prosecutor Daniel Saunders has issued his list of potential government witnesses in the Anthony Pellicano case, and we’ve got it exclusively.

The government may not call them all, but there are 244 names on the witness list for the trial set to begin Feb. 27, in which Hollywood private eye Pellicano faces federal charges of racketeering and illegally wiretapping celebrities.

The list — which was obtained by this column on Monday — includes a lot of stars, studio execs and other Hollywood players whose names are familiar either because they’re famous or infamous…

…Key legal players named on the witness list, of course, are journalist Anita Busch, who triggered Pellicano’s descent into the court system when she discovered a dead fish placed on her smashed windshield. Also named are divorce lawyer Dennis Wasser and director John McTiernan. The latter already is in jail on matters relating to Pellicano.

There are plenty of actors, such as Keith Carradine and Kevin Nealon, not to mention Carradine’s ex, Sandra Will, who once was Pellicano’s girlfriend. Actor/comedian Garry Shandling, who sued Pellicano client Grey over his TV show, could be a big draw. They’re all on the list.

The names go on and on, and if even half of them make it to testimony, the Pellicano trial will be a hot ticket. Chris Rock would make an amusing witness, no doubt. So would Sylvester Stallone.

Actor/producer Andrew Stevens, as I predicted some months ago, could be a linchpin in all this. So could producer Bo Zenga, who’s in the middle of a legal wrangle with Grey over the discovery that Pellicano was wiretapping him — Zenga — during depositions in a previous case against Grey.

Of course, within the witness list there are little soap operas. Just establishing them in front of a jury will be riveting. Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and his former wife Lisa and daughter Kira all are there. So are wealthy Alec Gores and his ex, Lisa, not to mention Gores’ brother Thomas. Bob Pfeifer, former head of Disney’s record division, is there along with his ex, Erin Finn.

Wealthy movie producer and frequent gossip column character Steve Bing is named, too. So are restaurateur Peter Morton, commentator Michelle Malkin, former Hollywood beat writer for the New York Times Bernard Weinraub, Pellicano’s wife/former ex-wife, Kat, former phone company manager Teresa Wright and “sexiest” private eye Tarita Virtue, as well as security expert Gavin de Becker.

I’m totally perplexed by the inclusion of my name. Haven’t seen the list. Haven’t heard from anyone about this case. Have had absolutely zero contact with Pellicano–or anyone else on the list, as far as I know. I think there’s probably some clerical error or mistaken identity. In any case, Hollyweird is a foreign land. I had no interest in this case whatsoever. I do now, though, and I’ll be following it to see what develops.

And maybe I should keep an eye out for dead fish.

Hollyweird.

***

A reader writes: “Michelle, I just googled Pellicano Malkin and found an article in which two former SBC phone company employees, Teresa Wright and Michele Malkin, are mentioned.”

Thank you, reader. Maybe Fox will correct its news item now.

Posted in: Hollyweird

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#1

On February 19th, 2008 at 8:50 pm, zorro said:

I had no interest in this case whatsoever.

I had no interest either, but, since you are mentioned, I will follow it as well. Strange, I wonder what their motive is…
#2

On February 19th, 2008 at 8:51 pm, Mookie said:

Michelle, could it somehow be connected to Drudge? He’s done some hardcore reporting on the Pellicano case and Anthony isn’t a very big fan. Drudge might know why you’re on there.
#3

On February 19th, 2008 at 8:59 pm, William Amos said:

I wonder if someone in Hollywood used his services to investigate you Michelle ?
#4

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:06 pm, AlohaGuy said:

A dead fish on the windshield? So dopey it could only happen in Hollywood. A message from the Codfather perhaps?
#5

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:12 pm, William Amos said:

And “sexiest” private eye Tarita Virtue

I admit I had to check this out to see if she was

Tarita virtue
#6

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:14 pm, DubiousD said:

Michelle, you should be interested in this case. One of the clients Pellicano did his dirty work for was Bill and Hillary Clinton.
#7

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:17 pm, brooklyn red said:

Sometimes people just drop names for the appearance of credibility… right Mookie?

More likely a 4th party libel, a fear tactic used as part of the “big lie”… followed by ” well everybody knows…”

And this is after all an election year… ahhh the politics of personal destruction in the morning… it smells like ~~victory~~ Clintons.
#8

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:32 pm, Mookie said:

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:17 pm, brooklyn red said:

Sometimes people just drop names for the appearance of credibility… right Mookie?

What are you trying to say?

Looks like Hill won’t be congratulating Obama yet again. Sore loser indeed.
#9

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:37 pm, Azygos said:

Well you are a mob boss right? The Malkin Mob
#10

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:45 pm, DesertLover said:

A cursory web search turned up a lawyer out of NYC named Michael Malkin … seems to have some high profile problem clients … wondering if there is a confusion with the first name? …
#11

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:55 pm, BlameAmericaLast said:

Could be a typo.
#12

On February 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm, ajmontana said:

Holy Carp! I think they may have discovered Michelle’s secret conversation for the Spidey Cake!
#13

On February 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am, hadsil said:

The new game that’s all the rage …

Six Degrees of Michelle Malkin!
#14

On February 20th, 2008 at 12:46 am, BlameAmericaLast said:

Well, I guess it WAS a typo after all…
#15

On February 20th, 2008 at 4:48 am, Thunderbird 1 said:

There is no other Michell Malkin. You might as well say there are two suns (Tattooine notwithstanding, of course).
#16

On February 20th, 2008 at 4:49 am, Thunderbird 1 said:

Sorry. Typed too fast. “Michell Malkin” = Michelle Malkin.
#17

On February 20th, 2008 at 6:36 am, zorro said:

I will follow it as well. Strange, I wonder what their motive is…

Bad fact checking and Roger Friedman is probably a Geraldo fan…
#18

On February 20th, 2008 at 8:49 am, Peejz said:

I wouldn’t be so quick to pooh pooh this if I were you. The people listed in your post are not just those who used him but were victims of his work…

Erin Finn is the government witness and victim who brought Pellicano down. She was a girlfriend to Bob Pfeifer, now under indictment for illegal wiretapping.

This is an interesting piece from 2006

Prosecutors said that among the people who had been illegally wiretapped or subjected to criminal background checks were the actors Sylvester Stallone, Keith Carradine, Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon; a Hollywood reporter for The New York Times; and managers of the Creative Artists talent agency.

I would call my lawyer to check this out…
#19

On February 20th, 2008 at 9:26 am, Barry F. said:

Michelle Malkin said:

Thank you, reader. Maybe Fox will correct its news item now.

Don’t hold your breath waiting on a correction from them, Michelle. If it does occur, it will be buried somewhere in the bowels of the publication.
#20

On February 20th, 2008 at 9:28 am, Barry F. said:

On February 19th, 2008 at 9:06 pm, AlohaGuy said:

A dead fish on the windshield? So dopey it could only happen in Hollywood. A message from the Codfather perhaps?

LOL

The Codfather. Good one, AG.
#21

On February 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm, DubiousD said:

To reemphasize my earlier point:

Anthony Pellicano and the Clintons

Though the American press insists on not reporting this inconvenient detail, Anthony Pellicano was first hired by Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992 in a bid to discredit Gennifer Flowers’ steamy tape recordings of conversations with Mr. Clinton.

As noted in Ron Kessler’s 1995 best seller, “Inside the White House,” “The Clinton camp made much of the fact that Anthony J. Pellicano, an expert on audio recording analysis, had told the press that a twelve-minute portion of the tape of conversations between Flowers and Clinton had been ’selectively edited’ at two points.”

To counter Pellicano’s claims, Flowers submitted her recordings to Truth Verification Labs, which found them to be 100 percent authentic.

In 1999 Flowers filed a defamation suit against Clinton campaign officials James Carville and George Stephanopoulos - along with then-first lady Hillary Clinton - based on their attempts to use Pellicano’s analysis to discredit her.

Arguing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last year, Flowers’ Judicial Watch attorneys tied Pellicano directly to the first lady-turned-New York senator, telling the court: “Anthony Pellicano was a private investigator hired by Mrs. Clinton herself. And he’s the one who did the analysis of the tapes.”

The court ruled in Flowers’ favor, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

But that isn’t the only time Pellicano has been linked to the Clintons.

Four days after the Monica Lewinsky story broke in January 1998, ex-Lewinsky boyfriend Andy Bleiler came forward with the claim that she had stalked him. The Washington state school teacher also contended that Lewinsky wanted to become a White House intern so she could perform oral sex on then-President Clinton.

“I’m going to Washington to get my presidential knee pads,” Bleiler’s lawyer, Terry Giles, quoted Lewinsky as saying.

“Anthony Pellicano, the L.A.-based private investigator and O.J. defense team veteran [was] responsible for digging up Andy Bleiler,” the New York Post’s Andrea Peyser reported at the time. Sexgate provocatuer Lucianne Goldberg told Peyser that Pellicano’s services were bought and paid for by the Clinton White House.

When Peyser confronted the “investigator to the stars” with Goldberg’s claim, he didn’t deny it. “You’re a smart girl. No comment,” Pellicano told the Post reporter.
#22

On March 6th, 2008 at 10:28 pm, padikiller said:

You see that Ken Starr is on the list?