No trial on Monday, however Judge Fischer is going to be listening to the Defense lawyers’ request for additional discovery. Their first act of concern should be to figure out how they are going to defend this gaggle of misfits from themselves. OMERTA has been a key word in the early stage of this trial. This was a word that Anthony Pellicano appears to have lived by, in a way. Anthony told the court the other day that he used a version of Telesleuth (his wiretapping software) to record and keep track of all of his calls! He received 50 or more calls a day, and he recorded all of them. I guess that makes sense — as long as you are not raided by a federal police agency and now they have many of your calls…could we in the real world call this…OMERTA OOPS!
What I am about to discuss is a detail I don’t think that many have paid much attention to in the press, at least I have not seen much talk about this incident. When the FBI raided the offices of Pellicano Investigative Agency, LTD they went into the War Room, and the other day we were shown pictures of the War Room as it was when they arrived as well as when they left (it is the FBI’s policy to photograph raid locations upon their arrival and upon their departure). The Apple Mac computers that were still in that room when the FBI left were the brains of the wiretaps! Yes, the FBI had the Pelican by the beak and let him go. The photos show all that was described by Ms. Virtue, exec. asst. to Anthony, as the computer setup behind the wiretapping operation, but for some reason that only the FBI can explain, there was some issue at the time that those computers would not be taken or touched.
At some point when they raided the offices again in 2003 the War Room had been emptied, and empty spaces were present now in the pictures that once held the recording computers for the wiretaps. At one point those pictures were shown and a “special agent” was on the witness stand and the prosecutors were making a reference to the War Room, and it was made clear by the “special one” that computers were in there at one time. Anthony Pellicano being his own attorney cross examined the agent and said to him, “now, you know I was moving” — this was Tony P’s attempt to try and smooth over the fact that he had screwed the U.S. Government and the F.B.I. by taking the computers, and only he knows where they are today! What I am saying is that F.B.I. had it all and missed it.
Another funny thing was brought to my attention: Anthony bought the FBI guys pizzas and one agent made reference to it as he and Pellicano reflected on those good old raid days! Hell, sure he did, he would have sent them to Italy for a pizza just to get them out so that he could clear the War Room. Another agent testified that Anthony Pellicano helped him load a computer into their car! Absolutely, I am sure he would have helped them mow their lawns just to get them on their way and out of the office! You have to wonder how it must have felt to the agents of the F.B.I. when they realized that they left so much important stuff behind. Also, when they went back in 2003 what were they looking for? Did they think that Pellicano was going to leave anything behind? Maybe they enjoyed the pizza and thought another go would not hurt.
After hearing what Pellicano was doing I am convinced that he is a smart guy, self taught, but he was arrogant. The other thing that is coming through is that he was more of a “bully” and had little or no respect for people around him. This is all going to come back to haunt him, and it has already started. Matt Derrick Williams, Former San Francisco Giants baseball player, laid him out with the help of a recording of himself and Tony P. Then here comes Ms. Virtue, and testifying against her former boss, she looked like one of those guys on those crab boats making chum!
In a story written years ago on Anthony Pellicano, the writer described a large pelican sculpture in his waiting room at 9200 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 322, Los Angeles. This writer made the comment that perhaps an albatross may have been a more appropriate sculpture! That was funny then, and it is especially funny now. For the sake of dozens of former clients, some with JDs, there is little doubt they are all hoping that Pellicano never becomes fond of canaries.