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The image of private investigators in Hollywood has segued over the years from Philip Marlowe to Charlie's Angels. Real-life gumshoe ANTHONY PELLICANO, however, is a throwback to the noir era; he has handled cases for Michael Jackson, Sylvester Stallone and Farrah Fawcett, below, and once described his job as making people "remember why they're afraid of the dark."
Things are looking pretty dark for the detective right now. He spent six days last week in a Los Angeles jail on charges of illegal weapons possession, after police searched his office to see if he was involved in the harassment of Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch. While researching a story on a possible mob shakedown of actor Steven Seagal, Busch found a dead fish, a rose and a note reading STOP on her car. Police traced the threat to an ex-con who said he had been hired by Pellicano on behalf of Seagal.
In Pellicano's office, police found two handguns, two modified hand grenades and material consistent with C4 plastic explosive "strong enough to bring down an airplane," according to an FBI agent on the case. Pellicano said the armaments were from an old case, and his attorney denied any complicity in the Seagal affair. Seagal says he never tried to stop the stories either. Pellicano was released on $400,000 bond and had to surrender his passport.
TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM
Is Nick Carter a Boy or his own man? The Backstreet Boys have filed a $75 million lawsuit against their record company, Zomba, alleging that the label was so concerned with promoting Carter, center, as a solo artist that it delayed the release of the group's new album, thus depriving the Boys of $5 million they would be owed had they completed it by April 30, 2002. The lawsuit claims that the label's attention to Carter made it unavailable to approve song selections, causing the group to miss its delivery date. This is surely a case of divided loyalties since Carter is part of the suit. "We are committed to the Backstreet Boys," read a statement from the group, "and we will protect our group from anybody or anything that tries to break us apart." Even if that anybody is one of them.