Anthony J. Pellicano (born March 22, 1944) is a high-profile Los Angeles private investigator and convicted criminal known as a Hollywood fixer.
Several other people were also convicted of crimes associated with their involvement with his illegal activities, including his actress girlfriend Sandra Will Carradine (ex-wife of Keith Carradine), film director John McTiernan, Beverly Hills police officer Craig Stevens, Los Angeles police sergeant Mark Arneson, and attorney Terry Christensen.
Pellicano became a private investigator[2] who was often utilized over the years by Hollywood celebrities, for a large retainer, because of his reputation as a fixer who was adept at solving their problems.
[16] Attorney Terry Christensen was convicted of racketeering for hiring Pellicano to tap Bonder's phone and received a three-year prison sentence.
[17] An investigation into Pellicano began after journalist and former The Hollywood Reporter editor Anita Busch found that her car had been vandalized in 2002.
The FBI agents found two practice grenades which were modified to function as homemade bombs and military-grade C-4 plastic explosives.
On February 3, Pellicano was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles to face new charges.
His alleged crimes included racketeering, conspiracy, wiretapping, witness tampering, identity theft and destruction of evidence.
Specifically, Pellicano was charged with receiving unlawfully accessed confidential records on celebrities and public figures from members of the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills police departments.
For example, prosecutors alleged that Pellicano tapped the phones of Sylvester Stallone[20] and Keith Carradine and accessed the confidential police records of Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon.
[34] In 2022, his probation ended, and he works as a self-described "negotiator" for people such as Daryl Katz and Joel Silver, mostly involving corporate disputes with the "occasional" #MeToo case.
[36] Los Angeles police sergeant Mark Arneson and phone company technician Rayford Turner were convicted of racketeering for their roles in helping Pellicano.
Pellicano bribed Arneson to obtain access to law enforcement databases and paid Turner for technical information about how to set up wiretaps.
[40][41] Bert Fields was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into illegal wiretapping, but was not charged with committing a crime.
"[42] On May 28, 2004, Anita Busch, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, commenced a civil action against Pellicano, alleging harassment, including a death threat made in 2002: In 2002 Anita Busch discovered a dead fish with a red rose in its mouth and a sign reading "Stop" on the cracked windshield of her car.
The trail eventually led to his office where FBI agents discovered plastic explosives, grenades, pistols and about $200,000 in cash in Pellicano's safe.
[43]Pellicano threatened financier Ron Burkle with extortion of $100,000 to $250,000 to avoid investigation by Michael Ovitz, another of his clients.
[15] In July 2006, The New York Times reporter and lawyer Allison Weiner unsuccessfully attempted to interview Pellicano in jail by misrepresenting herself as his attorney.
In 1999, Pellicano was an FBI wiretap consultant in the investigation of the Aisenbergs, who were charged with making false statements to police.
Pellicano served a subpoena and gave a warning from Spilotro to Gustave Reininger, co-creator of the NBC television drama Crime Story.
In 2006, when he was charged with new crimes just prior to his release from prison, Fiorentino started dating Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Mark Rossini.