Well, today had to be a tough day for the “star witness”…more on that later! During the show and tell segment we got to see names like Prince, Mike Myers and others…the prosecution puts it up and then takes it down quick so you gotta be fast. The other problem — unless you had a scorecard you don’t know where on the “feeding chain” you are. I don’t know if these people were targets or clients of Pellicano.
Tarita Virtue, aka “star witness,” told the court that Cassandra Cohen, Esq. a target of Pellicano, got over 1,000 calls in two months. “It was our job to get the dirt” and so they did…lucky for her the guy who had hired Pellicano, attorney Ed Masry (lovable sexual harasser of Erin Brockovitch fame!), got cold feet and “fired” them…maybe like the ballplayer from Day Two he had a feeling something wasn’t kosher!
When you can tap a phone, it is true things are so much easier! One of the Pellicano law firms’ clients wanted to see if his girlfriend was an “escort”…you know, a hooker. So the “tap” goes on and they find that Ms. Finn is in fact doing the nasty for money! She was getting 100 phone calls a day, testimony is that there was 5,000 phone calls coming through the wiretaps, and in listening and transcribing them could the eager student Ms. Virtue have been learning pointers for another business other than how to be a private investigator? This was touched on by Mr. Hummel, Sgt. Arneson’s attorney, more on this later! They got Ms. Finn’s clients, how much she charged and the rest. Now this woman was convinced her phone was tapped, and it was! When she called the phone company, Pacific Bell/SBC, a representative came out and told her that there was nothing on her phone…GREAT JOB, PHONE COMPANY! When Ms. Virtue went to tell Anthony Pellicano that Finn was bringing in the phone company to check her line, he told Tarita not to worry, they won’t find anything! And he was right! Just tap away. The goddam phone company should make Pellicano a field agent when this is all finished, you know like 7-11 hired the guy that once robbed 7-11’s as a consultant! Seems the phone company could learn something from Tony and the crew. At one point Tarita the Star told Anthony that both people on the tap she was monitoring commented on the “clicking noise” and again he tells her, don’t worry, they wont find it! How cool is that…had Anthony Pellicano been on the Titanic it probably would not have sank! Well, at least not right away!
Pellicano was so confident in his system that he started to get a little brazen and careless…he let a client come to his office and sit in a room and listen to the taps himself! How about that? Of course it started to leak out about what was going on. I was also one of the first to say that I was not surprised when Anthony was arrested, not at all. The real question was what took so long? Many people knew what he was doing, even some of his targets knew, so I was not surprised — not one bit! Plus this is funny, it is reported that while the “War Room” was spinning and tapping away, the F.B.I. and other members of law enforcement would come by and discuss technology issues with Tony the Wizard of “audio enhancment” as if he were an expert they could learn something from. How cool is that, no wonder he felt like he was above the law! Think of it, through most of his career he worked all sides to the middle and got paid big money. That is a talent and all of these people around him knew what he was doing and on it went! (note: he was why I told many of my clients to use disposable phones and not the hard lines…much safer from taps! This will still work today by the way!) Also everyone keep in mind had the fiasco of the operatic mafia-wannabe threats against reporter Anita Busch not gone down, he would have gone on and on, tapping away!
The prosecutors speak very quickly of a character out of South Florida that Pellicano used called “Bad Billy,” he could get stuff no one else can! Bad Billy…I am not making this up, I am only reporting what is being said! Honest! Also, what is this “Sweetie” shit all these girls of the night call everyone…whenever I hear the word “sweetie” I think of escorts and hookers! And it drives me nuts, so don’t call me sweetie, it is right up there with “buddy” or “pal!”
Tarita has immunity, but the defense are doing their best to muddy her up. If she does not get indicted for something concerning this case (eg, perjury), she is if nothing else funny! She made the comment that Pellicano was the only P.I. she knew who NEVER LEFT HIS OFFICE! Maybe he he should have the night the dead fish was being tossed around and threats being left on Anita’s car! I will bet you that fish is his least favorite dish! Tarita is questioned as to why she continued to participate knowing that this was all illegal and she did it anyways…”I had to do it, I wanted to be a licensed P.I.” Well, I guess it was a good thing that she never managed a brothel!
Oh, this is sooo sad for all of you wanna-be Hollywood screenwriters. Brad Grey (now head of Paramount Studios) wanted dirt on producer Bo Zenga, and Pellicano got it. Zenga and his girlfriend ran ads in Hollywood entertainment papers for scripts. Like a contest…send in your script with $25.00 and then a winner would be picked! LMAO, well Bo would always win and they would keep the money and then they would also have the scripts! Welcome to Hollywood! This is sooo sad that it is funny, and again only in this town could this happen, and I promise you that anyone reading this could do the same swindle again and it would still work, except do $45.00 it is a better number! So maybe “tapping” this piece of human waste was not all that bad after all.
That famous attorney Leslie Abramson was in court today, and she seemed to know the prosecutors and was being very friendly. But that smile is on and then off, she always looks like a lemon was just pulled from her mouth…presto smile, double presto, a puss! She was sitting next to Abner Nicherie’s mom. Now that would be a greeting card, the two of them together…that’s a lot of blonde!
A source tells me that there is a reporter covering this case for a BLOG (she used to write for a BIGTIME paper), who is also an attorney and in the early stages of this case tried to get in to see Pellicano under the premise of being his attorney and got caught (maybe this is why she’s now writing for a blog? But hey, no disgrace in blogs!!). You have to admit that is ballsy if it is true! And I think maybe yeah!
TARITA Da Star Witness had another funny observation, that Anthony was getting old and letting people in to the operation that should not have been allowed! And perhaps she was right, except that was not what brought him down. So what does she know after all, 38 years old! She also told a funny story of someone that they were trying to serve, and when you can tap a phone, life is easy for a process server! Well they tapped this nitwit and when he went to get his hair cut, Tarita and Pellicano associate Denise Ward met him there and a chase ensued, and the guy ran through a restaurant and through the kitchen! Just like the friggin’ movies. Well, Anthony showed up in the nick of time eating a meatball sandwich and threw the papers at the guy as he sat in his convertible and said, “you have been duly served motherfucker!” Now that was a Hollywood moment! Oh, I lied…there was no meatball sandwich!
I have told hundreds of people wanting advice about “taps” and the rest, telling them that if it is done right there is nothing you can do, you’ll never detect it. We heard today, even the phone company was However, there are Bozos out there in my business that will show up and do a number on you with a wonderful dog and pony show. I am talking equipment and the rest to give you peace of mind…and you pay for it! LOL! There are things you can look for if the work is sloppy, but again, when it is done right, forget about it! Just ask the Governor of New York!
MORE TO COME ON: “The Star Witness,” aka “The Sexiest P.I.” (no, not me!)