Ok, will be careful cause if you tape calls you need to find out if you are a one parety state or two. IN a two you will have to tell the person you are talking to you are taping them, on a one you don't have to tell them at all. Thankfully i live in a one party state cause i tape a lot of calls.
In NY, only one party need to consent to the recording of call, and that one party can be the recorder.
Now, the threat to release tapes of private conversations can in some instances be extortion or otherwise actionable, but I see no legal problem in keeping the tapes or magnetic media for defensive purposes.