Barringtonia
07-03-2008, 11:40
Sid Hudgens: [voiceover] Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows... you could even be discovered, become a movie star... or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles... it's paradise on Earth." Ha ha ha ha. That's what they tell you, anyway.
Link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/07/usa.internationalcrime)
Abridged article...
The list reads like the credit roll from a 1980s movie: Sylvester Stallone, Farrah Fawcett and Keith Carradine. Instead they are the standout names from a five-page list of witnesses released yesterday by prosecutors at the start of the long-awaited trial of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano.
The 127 names also include comedians Chris Rock and Garry Shandling, as well Hollywood divorce lawyers and studio executives, among them the former or current heads of Disney, Universal and Paramount, all due to take the stand in the eight-week racketeering and wiretapping trial.
Pellicano, 63, with four other defendants, is charged with running a criminal enterprise that involved placing illegal phone taps on his clients' enemies and opponents. If convicted on all charges he faces a jail term of up to 625 years.
"This is a case about corruption," said prosecution attorney Kevin Lally, launching the case yesterday. Clients "would pay a premium fee to discredit, and in some cases destroy, their adversaries".
The case began almost six years ago in typical Hollywood noir fashion: a dead fish and a rose left on the windscreen of a reporter's car along with a note bearing the single word: Stop. The fish was left on the windscreen of a then Los Angeles Times reporter who investigators linked to Pellicano and his client, former Disney president Michael Ovitz. Prosecutors allege that after discussing who might be the source of bad press about Ovitz, Pellicano engaged in a criminal enterprise with a LAPD detective and a telephone company employee to gather information about the LA Times reporter. They also gathered information about a New York Times reporter who was the husband of Amy Pascal, then president of Columbia Pictures.
The only person to confess to being aware of Pellicano's allegedly illegal tactics so far has been the Die Hard director, John McTiernan, who was charged with deliberately lying to investigators about his knowledge that Pellicano was illegally bugging one of his former producers. McTiernan was sentenced to four months in prison and is appealing over his guilty plea.
Is there any industry, sports or anything whatsoever that isn't riddled with dirty tactics?
Link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/07/usa.internationalcrime)
Abridged article...
The list reads like the credit roll from a 1980s movie: Sylvester Stallone, Farrah Fawcett and Keith Carradine. Instead they are the standout names from a five-page list of witnesses released yesterday by prosecutors at the start of the long-awaited trial of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano.
The 127 names also include comedians Chris Rock and Garry Shandling, as well Hollywood divorce lawyers and studio executives, among them the former or current heads of Disney, Universal and Paramount, all due to take the stand in the eight-week racketeering and wiretapping trial.
Pellicano, 63, with four other defendants, is charged with running a criminal enterprise that involved placing illegal phone taps on his clients' enemies and opponents. If convicted on all charges he faces a jail term of up to 625 years.
"This is a case about corruption," said prosecution attorney Kevin Lally, launching the case yesterday. Clients "would pay a premium fee to discredit, and in some cases destroy, their adversaries".
The case began almost six years ago in typical Hollywood noir fashion: a dead fish and a rose left on the windscreen of a reporter's car along with a note bearing the single word: Stop. The fish was left on the windscreen of a then Los Angeles Times reporter who investigators linked to Pellicano and his client, former Disney president Michael Ovitz. Prosecutors allege that after discussing who might be the source of bad press about Ovitz, Pellicano engaged in a criminal enterprise with a LAPD detective and a telephone company employee to gather information about the LA Times reporter. They also gathered information about a New York Times reporter who was the husband of Amy Pascal, then president of Columbia Pictures.
The only person to confess to being aware of Pellicano's allegedly illegal tactics so far has been the Die Hard director, John McTiernan, who was charged with deliberately lying to investigators about his knowledge that Pellicano was illegally bugging one of his former producers. McTiernan was sentenced to four months in prison and is appealing over his guilty plea.
Is there any industry, sports or anything whatsoever that isn't riddled with dirty tactics?