Former private eye to the rich and famous, Anthony Pellicano, was convicted for performing such services as wiretapping, protection, intimidation and identity theft and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. With about a year to go, Pellicano, 75, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and said, “I changed a lot of lives for the better, helped a whole lot of people who were all grateful at the time. That’s what I kept in mind as I took all the heat — alone.” Pellicano lived in LA and helped defend auto executive John DeLorean on cocaine distribution charges. He built an all-star client roster that included Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Roseanne Barr, Garry Shandling, Courtney Love and many more. His 2008 trial was for 78 counts of wiretapping, racketeering and other charges and featured testimony by industry figures like Chris Rock or then-Paramount CEO Brad Grey. Before that, he played a role in the investigations into John F. Kennedy’s assassination and Watergate. He has nine children from four marriages to three wives. Some people on the outside think he’s done his penance, and that he deserves to be released and spend his remaining days in peace. Others disagree.
“What struck me was the pervasiveness of his criminality — it reached into so many areas of finance, entertainment and law,” said Neville Johnson, a Los Angeles attorney whose firm represented 10 Pellicano victims, including Kirk Kerkorian’s ex-wife Lisa Bonder, to The Hollywood Reporter. “What was also so shocking was the length of time over which he was able to engage in this kind of conduct.”
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