Posted on 11/22/2002 3:34:52 PM PST by jimbo123
Man Implicates Seagal and Pellicano in Probe
Fri Nov 22, 8:34 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man charged with threatening a reporter who was investigating an alleged Mafia extortion plot against Steven Seagal told an FBI informant the actor was behind the threat, court documents show.
Alexander Proctor allegedly said in secretly recorded conversations that he was hired to carry out the threat by Anthony Pellicano, a private detective to the stars. FBI agents said Proctor told the informant Seagal hired Pellicano to threaten Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch.
"He wanted to make it look like the Italians were putting the hit on her so it wouldn't reflect on Seagal," Proctor, 59, told the informant, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by FBI agents who later searched Pellicano's office.
Pellicano was arrested Thursday in connection with what appeared to be explosive materials found during the search, said FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin. He was expected to appear before a federal magistrate Friday.
An attorney for Seagal told the Los Angeles Times that his client had no involvement in the threat.
"This uncorroborated allegation by someone arrested is pure fiction and is nothing more than a transparent attempt to divert attention from himself and the real perpetrators," said attorney Martin R. Pollner, who represents Seagal. "This is part of an unrelenting campaign to disparage Mr. Seagal and reads like a bad screenplay."
A federal law enforcement source also told the newspaper that "at this time, other than Proctor's uncorroborated statements, there is no independent evidence that Seagal was involved in the threat made to the reporter."
Prosecutors said Proctor smashed Busch's windshield in June and left a dead fish with a long-stemmed rose in its mouth on the car along with a sign reading "STOP," according to a federal grand jury indictment.
Proctor was charged with interference with commerce by threats of violence, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. He has pleaded innocent.
According to court documents, Proctor told the informant he owed Pellicano about $14,000 and agreed to intimidate Busch for $10,000. Proctor allegedly told the informant he was supposed to "blow up" Busch's car as a warning so she would stop reporting about Seagal. There is no indication in court documents that Proctor ever met with Seagal.
The Los Angeles Times published several stories earlier this summer about the arrest of Seagal's former business partner, Julius Nasso, for his alleged role in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme against the actor. Federal prosecutors in New York said they had a tape of Nasso and a Gambino crime family member plotting the shakedown.
Last month, Nasso's attorney alleged in a court document that Seagal might have been involved in the threat against Busch and that it could reflect on the actor's credibility as a witness.
Meanwhile, the FBI said its informant in the case was facing criminal charges at the time he agreed to cooperate in the Proctor investigation.
I tried Shoto-Kan Karate and Tae Kwan Do before I found Kali.
Not that I don't agree that it's great to have a gun, but there are many times when just a stick will do.
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I suspect Seagal's ego is so big it doesn't leave room in his life for other people. He is also getting dingy, which is hard to live with day to day.
Some of these people are unstable. Van Damm has been married five times as of a while back. He goes through a wife about every two years including a year to find a new one.
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I'll offer a bot of advice from someone who has been places he wishs he never been and seen things he wishes he never seen. There have been times I've wondered if I'm fit to associate with decent people because of it.
The business of a 98 pound weakling defeating a 200 pound man by using his own strength against him with Asian arts is a myth that will get you killed in a serious situation. If you are going to get in a tussle with the big boys, particularly if the have knives, clubs, or whatever, you need to be able to move fast and deliver a single incapacitating blow. That takes STRENGTH and training. I know how to break a person's spine, neck, or arm if he grabs me. I know a few nerve holds. None of these are generally known to the average person. The moves are not particularly taxing. They require speed. They require more force than you might expect. Those two factors are the result of power training. There's no substitute for it.
You don't have to be Bruce Lee to poke someone in the eye or smash them in the nose.
Learn to handle a stick and then carry a cane.
The few people that can defend against a barrage of 3 to 5 verticle 'florettas' (flowers) delivered with a cane or rattan stick wouldn't be attacking you anyway.
Anyone can learn to swing a cane in a small back-handed, verticle, circular motion stopping their arm motion with the palm of their opposite hand at base of the biceps and elbow joint on the inside of the upper arm.
Anyone can learn to fire three rapid fire swings in a single second.
Anyone has the endurance to keep firing for 10 to 15 seconds while moving forward, backward or to either side. Any part of the body struck by the tip or any part of the last 3rd of the stick or cane, that's traveling the circumference of a circle 12 to 18 feet in diameter in a 3rd of a second, really hurts like hell.
With a little practice if you put a small strip of reflective tape on the tip of your stick, all your attacker will see is a blur of color.
Mix your strikes up with figure 8's and 'abanicos' (fan strikes) and you're bound to hit something that's going to take a long time to heal.
Your Grandma and Grandpa can learn to swing a stick like this.
I believe the accusation is that Seagal engineered the attack on the reporter to blame it on the mob and make them appear more guilty and ruthless.
I believe the doubt that all of these counter accusations will create in the judge's mind will be enough to affect his decision.
I agree, Jet Li is fun to watch and would be a formidable opponent on the street, or against an overweight and out of shape Seagal.
One of my favorite martial arts movies is 'The Hunted' with Christopher Lambert, Yoshio Harada, Joan Chen, John Lone and Yukio Shimada. Have you seen it?
The sword play by Yoshio Harada was among the most realistic I've ever seen on film. I've never been able to find Yoshio Harada in another film.
Yoshio Harada - Filmography
• The Mystery of Rampo (1995)
• The Hunted (1995)
• Komikku Zasshi Nanka Irani (1987)
• Umi Isubame Joe No Kiseki (1984)
• Onibi: The Fire Within
• Last Frankenstein
• The Girl of the Silence
• Yumeji
• Hakuchi
• Nijusseiki Shonen Dokuhon
• Roningai
• Dotsuitaru nen
• Umihooziki
• Suri
• Party 7
They gotta offer 'em out there as targets in order to attack you, even Jet Li.
Patience, shatter one little bone at a time.
They eventually add up.
The reflexive moves of Aikido will, and I have used them in real life quite well. Not to the total and elaborate end moves on the ground, but sufficiently well to avoid punches and grabs and cast the attackers away from me onto their faces, and that has been enough. And that is without stretching, warming up, gettig focused, getting into a proper fighting stance etc.
Only two come to mind that I still think about from time to time.
In these two incidents there was more than pride or money on the line.
How about you?
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