Pellicano Trial: Phone Company Funny Business

Well, here it is Thursday and I am eating breakfast in the Federal Court House cafeteria, my $1.65 bowl of oatmeal! Yes, this is were the bigshots hang out and eat gruel. Again my hat comes off to the many reporters who have done stories, oh my and the hard work that they do!

After yesterday, this is going to be a great day and I can feel it…till I arrive at the courtroom and the tech guy is going at it and I am running for an open door! Just kidding…it ended quickly and the internal version of the “hit squad” comes on from the phone company, David C. Lopes, 34 years and this guy has done it all! Fom A-Z and there is not much he does not know or know how it was done, total old school. After all he is the Area Manager of Asset Protection — shit, with an employee like Ray Turner and his two cohorts at the phone company, this could have been a career in it self!

He spoke about all the stuff the phone companies have on all of us: address, social security numbers, names, dob and even credit stuff, and how there are three or four computer systems that have all of it, and then how really easy it is to get in and show “error” on the line as if you had done this by accident. Oh yes, this was Big Ray Turner’s day to simmer and the fire was being turned up…it was Ray did this and Ray did that…this had to be a little upsetting, as for the last two weeks it was all about Pellicano and his police bitch!

The feds start the examination with a big box of “butts,” those little hand phones all the phone guys carry with the little clips. Pellicano had all kinds that the government had found in his storage locker in Westlake. As the testimony is being given, Pellicano is nodding in agreement or shaking his head not agreeing, but he takes a great deal of pride in his knowledge and his work, the Pelican! And just as they did for Arneson, they showed the work of Ray and one of his accomplices Teresa Wright — this girl was weeping as she was walking to be sworn in…LOL, it was sad! They were all there, the private phone company records of Finn, Zenga, Hughes, Heid, Friendly and Anita Busch, and her Stanley Ave address! There were hundreds more, these were only a few…but there she was my former acquaintance, and again, she was sooooo right! Oh it was right there on the big screen, Anita had called and complained and this time when it went to the right people there it was, “1/2 tap” this is a term the phone companies uses when a phone is being tapped. It was Mr. Clifford Schillingford who found it and took it off. And when it was checked, there was no record of any “1/2 taps” on her lines.

Happy Ray, as he was once referred to, had a couple of “chums” in the room and he was chatting with them as if he had not a care in the world. Ray retired from the phone company in 2001, and he has a son with the same name as his dad…nice legacy dad!

Each day it seems more and more lawyers are showing up — many are doing research on potential litigation, and the rest are taking notes! I was sitting next to one, he was dressed nicely and was chatting with John Connolly. It turned out that he was Kevin J. Leichter, Attorney at Law and is from Terry Christensen’s firm! I liked talking to him, he was taking notes as fast as me, maybe faster as he probably knows how to spell better than I. He made a comment to me that “Pellicano is really showing how he knows this stuff better than anyone,” meaning, I am sure, that the jury is paying attention to his “talent!” Well, Kevin is outside and I understand that he was asked to leave…Christensen is going to be tried seperately from Pellicano, and I guess there’s some conflict with his attorney being here and researching what they’re going to be up against. But he was there all day, and they just noticed him at the end…good observation skills! There’s a job for you in airport security!

I have to say that the government is painting this case nice and smooth, one solid layer after another. These guys and the agents on this case are running a nice show! And I have to feel that no matter how the defense tries, this has to be tough and the defense lawyers are doing a very nice job, the only bone head is Anthony with his showboating ways! NOT GOOD Tony!

While I am waiting outside, who do I see in a nice conservative gray suit but my “old friend” Frederick DeMann (movie and music producer, Madonna’s manager). He and I were introduced by our Bentley dealer as we were both picking up our new cars. We had a nice chat at the time and I always wondered why he never followed up…little did I know he was already tangled up with Pellicano! He is a nice guy and I wished him well, he said that things would be better when this was over. He and his wife Candy are decent people and got caught up in the Pellicano “magic,” just like many lawyers in this town. Well, “batter up!” Freddy has come to Federal Court and he walks slowly in and gets sworn in, looking like someone forgot to take the pits out of his prunes this morning. He speaks with conviction and tells of hiring Anthony Pellicano on November 2, 2000. His daughter Pilar is married to a shitbird and he thinks he is cheating on her, so he meets the Pelican and gives him $25,000 cash! And we are shown checks all drawn on the Bank of the Rich, City National Bank, Beverly Hills…I swear if you are rich you will bank here!

Anyway, the long and the short is that he ends up paying $135,000 to listen to tapes 5 or 6 times. The son-in-law Rusconi was cheating and it was caught on a wiretap. (Maybe this is why they are illegal…if everyone could do it the marriage industry in this country would be going out of business! So book another wedding! And DesperateExes.com will be here to help you catch him legally when that one falls apart! The sad and silly thing is there was no need to go to these ridiculous, illegal extremes to get the same end results in a lot of these cases.) Well Mr. DeMann is steadfast and tells the court “I confronted my daugther,” and had her listen to some of a recording. That was it, done, finished, no cross from the Pelican — this was one of the short and sweet versions of testifying. And as he left, he looked towards Pellicano, and Pellicano was nodding in agreement and DeMann also gave a very soft nod! Pellicano’s nod was almost as if to say, “Good boy.”