LOS ANGELES - After months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, a federal probe into the alleged illegal wiretapping activities of private investigator to the stars Anthony Pellicano appears to be ready for its close-up.
Prosecutors revealed recently that Pellicano's former girlfriend and a veteran police officer pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the investigation.
The girlfriend, Sandra Will Carradine, 58 - once married to actor Keith Carradine - pleaded guilty to a perjury count for lying to a grand jury about whether she knew about Pellicano tapping her former husband's phone.
Former Beverly Hills police Officer Craig Stevens, 45, of Oak Park admitted that Pellicano paid him for confidential information he obtained from law enforcement databases, prosecutors said.
The charges provide a glimpse into a three-year investigation that many believe could implicate some of Los Angeles' top lawyers in Pellicano's wiretapping activities.
Pellicano has worked for some of the biggest legal names in Los Angeles and some of the world's biggest celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson.
A source familiar with the investigation said there are more charges coming in the not-too-distant future.
"It's like a rollout in the movie business," said former Pellicano defense lawyer Victor Sherman, comparing the Carradine and Stevens charges to the way some movies are premiered. "You know, they start small in 10 theaters, then later they'll go wide in 1,000."
Said lawyer Peter Knecht, who represents Sandra Carradine: "It's going to hit the fan soon."
Lawyers said they expect there will be charges filed against Pellicano before his scheduled Feb. 4 release from federal prison, where he is serving a 30-month sentence on weapons charges.
Prosecutors are not talking about what happens next.
Hot gossip in this movie-industry town has been how high up in Hollywood's legal and show business hierarchy the investigation could reach.
"Everybody talks about it," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor. "They're talking about it because either they're nervous, or they're engaging in a little schadenfreude. Lawyers take a lot of glee from the agony of other lawyers."
"There is a great deal of interest to see how far the web will spread and to see if there is anyone ensnared in it," said lawyer Gloria Allred. "A lot of top names in the legal and entertainment industries have been mentioned."
The investigation started in November 2002 after investigators linked Pellicano to a straight-out-of-the-movies threat against a news reporter who was investigating a possible organized crime extortion plot against actor Steven Seagal.
A search of the offices of Pellicano's now-defunct private investigation firm turned up two unregistered hand grenades, plastic explosives and computer files containing wiretapping software, bookkeeping records and encrypted files of telephone conversation transcripts.
Prominent entertainment lawyer Bert Fields is one of the names that has been linked to the investigation. Actor Garry Shandling acknowledged to The New York Times in 2003 that FBI agents informed him some of his telephone conversations had been recorded. In the late 1990s, Shandling was in a court battle with his former manager, Brad Grey, who is now president of Paramount Motion Pictures Group. Fields was Grey's lawyer.
Stevens, the former Beverly Hills police officer, reportedly is cooperating with prosecutors. The charges against him state that he checked police databases for information about Adam Sender, a New York financier and art collector, and members of the family of Hollywood producer Aaron Russo.
Sender sued Russo five years ago in connection with a failed movie deal. Sender was represented by Fields, court records state.
Fields' attorney, John Keker, would not comment on the investigation.
"It is our firm belief that no (firm) attorneys have taken part in any wrongdoing," said Katherine Hertel, a lawyer representing Fields' law firm.
Stevens' lawyer did not return telephone messages.
Knecht, Carradine's attorney, said his client pleaded guilty because prosecutors had tape-recorded evidence of her perjury. She hasn't promised to testify against anyone.
Knecht said he doubted prosecutors need her for a case against Pellicano. He said Pellicano taped the telephone conversation that ultimately implicated Carradine.
"He was like Richard Nixon; he forgot he was taping himself, too," Knecht said.
While the evidence the U.S. Attorney's Office possesses is under wraps, legal experts said prosecutors would need either Pellicano - or someone with inside knowledge of Pellicano's relationships with lawyers and his clients - to cooperate with the investigation to help prove a conspiracy.
"Every lawyer has this built-in defense of: 'I didn't know what Pellicano was doing.' (But prosecutors) are going to have an insider," Levenson said.
But don't count on that insider being Pellicano, said Sherman, who until recently was the private eye's defense lawyer.
"No amount of pressure is going to make him cave in," Sherman said.
