Here is a story to commemorate our 3rd year of DesperateExes.com and my 19th as a private investigator. If I was to take my last breath tonight and not awake in the morning, someone would have to ask, where did he come from? My influence on the P.I. world will be around long after I am gone, that I promise you. And the guy who started the whole adventure…. Well, many readers know of my being adopted as an infant by a law-abiding, middle-class Armenian family in the 50s. John Joseph “Jack Nicholson and John James Nazarian have much in common in our early days on the planet, though he got here 15 years before me…he being born in New York City and I, Boston. We have let’s just say a very unusual and common thread..and it is also funny how much I always enjoyed the movie “Chinatown,” never to imagine I would become a P.I. myself one day.
Flash forward 30 plus years…I have done it all, had my trouble as a juvenile, high speed pursuit, in the 60s (they were unheard of in those days!). Sent out to California for what I guess was to punish me or my sister who I lived with, not sure. Got my head out of my ass to some degree, did well in school and off to the Navy after graduating from High School, and then began my next career as an embalmer. That was great in those days, when you’re young death doesn’t get to you much, you think you’ll live forever. I had a ball during the Disco Era and wild nights and even wilder days working at several mortuaries, one big party! “Six Feet Under” should have had me as an advisor…that show would still be on the tube had I been there… STORIES!!!! You would not believe!
Became a State Prison Guard, Deputy Sheriff and Police Officer and then I met Gary Lieberman, Esquire (much has been left out as many would not believe all that I have done!). Mr. Lieberman pretty much kicked my ass as well as my lawyer’s in a legal action involving my purchasing an apartment building in San Francisco….which was going well till “Mr. Lawyer” Lieberman came on the scene. That would lead to a friendship of more than 25 years that still exists to this very day, Gary was the guy who said, “John, have you ever thought of being a private investigator?” Gary Lieberman was also the very first lawyer to ever pay me, nineteen years ago, $45 an hour (it was a lot then!). Gary was first, then Lisa Meyer and Sorrell Trope, my three Jews, and Armand Keosian, Armenian. That is pretty much how I got started and the rest, as they say, is history. I owe so much to Gary for convincing me to take the P.I. Test and getting me started that I will always have a very special place in my heart for him and his family. Armand gave me a great office in Century City and Lisa and Sorrell put up with me all these years, and those checks!!!! I have no idea where I would have ended up had it not been for these wonderful and generous people.
Gary was kind enough to remind me how he “nailed” me, my partner, and my Stanford graduate lawyer to the wall and prevented me from buying my first apartment building in San Francisco……we became immediate friends on the spot!
Gary emailed me just the other day:
John: I have now looked at your website and I am more impressed than ever. To think that I had something to do with all of this is quite rewarding. I am sad that you didnt talk about me at being at the beginning (just kidding). Remember when I took your deposition? The look on your face (and your attorney also) when I asked the realtor what kind of a deal this was that my client, the seller, had to put in $45,000 to close the deal???????????????? You were a good deponent……
Honestly, I am very proud to say that I know you (and knew you when) and that I paid you so much to work for me. See you soon my friend.
Gary”
Thanks Gary,
John
PS – I am sure there are many who wish you and I had never met, and the best part is that they have not seen the best yet!