Posted on 11/28/2002 3:48:09 PM PST by SSN558
A celebrity private detective linked to a bizarre harassment episode against a Los Angeles Times reporter involving actor Steven Seagal ( news) and the Mafia was released from a federal jail on bail on Wednesday in an unrelated illegal weapons possession case.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Fernando Olguin rejected prosecutors' argument that Anthony Pellicano, 58, represented a public threat because he had two live grenades and enough plastic explosives to blow up an airliner in a safe in his office, and ordered Pellicano released on $400,000 bond.
Pellicano's list of clients read like a Who's Who in Hollywood over the past two decades and included Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Michael Jackson ( news) and comedian Mike Meyers.
FBI ( news - web sites) agents had searched Pellicano's office for evidence that he had hired 59-year-old Alexander Proctor, an ex-convict suspected of threatening Times reporter Anita Busch in June.
Proctor, who was jailed Oct. 16 for allegedly leaving a dead fish, a rose and a note saying: "Stop" on Busch's car, allegedly told an FBI informant that Seagal and Pellicano were behind the threats against Busch.
Busch had written a series of stories about an alleged shakedown plot against Seagal engineered by the martial arts star's ex-film producing partner, Julius Nasso, and Gambino crime family boss Anthony "Sonny" Ciccione.
Authorities said Nasso and Ciccione extorted $700,000 from a terrified Seagal after the actor terminated his partnership with Nasso.
According to Proctor, an unnamed client believed to be Seagal was unhappy with Busch's stories about the alleged extortion plot and hired Pellicano to stop her from delving further into the story. Both men have denied the allegation.
During a search last week of Pellicano's office, FBI agents found the weapons, as well as $200,000 in cash and quantities of gold and jewelry in an office safe, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Pellicano has been jailed without bail since his arrest on Nov. 22. On Wednesday, a rumpled Pellicano walked jauntily into U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in jail-issue blue pants and a green top with his hands chained to his waist.
The grey-haired "private eye," who tells his famous clients "Your problem is my problem," smiled and greeted a number of family and friends, including celebrity divorce attorney Dennis Wasser.
A number of the city's most prominent lawyers who have used Pellicano's sleuthing services wrote letters to the court to plead for his release for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Saunders asked the judge to lock up Pellicano without bail based on the gravity of the weapons possession charge and Proctor's allegations.
"What was he doing with those bombs?" Saunders said. "We believe his possession of those weapons of death and mass destruction meets the showing of dangerousness."
Pellicano's attorney, Donald Re, argued that his client, who had no criminal record and a long relationship with local law enforcement as an expert in analyzing tape recordings, should be released on bail.
"His background with law enforcement is enough to demonstrate that he is trustworthy," Re told the judge. "And the outpouring of letters after his arrest from the best legal talent in town."
The judge ordered Pellicano to hand over his passport and restricted his travel to Los Angeles and Orange Counties. He set a Dec. 17 preliminary hearing.
When the judge asked him if he understood the conditions of his release, Pellicano said: "Absolutely your honor. No doubt that I will comply."
Pellicano lingered for several minutes after court was adjourned, talking to the two dozen supporters who attended the hearing. As he was escorted from the room by federal marshals, he called out: "Thanks, everybody from my heart. I love everybody. Thanks for coming."
Hmm...where to begin....
No-Knock raids for a lid of pot and the THREAT/RUMOR of a "gun" leads to innocents being assaulted/killed in their own homes when the info is wrong...
Pulled over by Staties on a highway stop, and any cash above a "threshold" is confiscated as "Drug Money"...
But THIS puke has Plastic explosives...LIVE GRENADES, and "$200,000 in cash and quantities of gold and jewelry" and HE GETS BAIL?!?! He's not a FLIGHT RISK?!?!
Let's see the LEO-Uber-Alles crowd explain THIS one!
BTW where is Craig Livingston ?
Thanks for the ping, Ronnie. TWA Flight 800 was on the minds of many Americans after the attempted downing of an Israeli passenger plane over Kenya yesterday. We may never know how active Al Quada was during the Clinton years. The corruption in high places feeds terrorists, gangsters, poverty pimps and every assorted bully. I say we give them their own country...say, the island of Alcatraz...minus any telecommunications, transportation or parole. Hugs.
A young George W. Bush must have marveled at the spirit in Reagan when his own father served as VP. You can see in President George W. Bush the same FIRE that rested in Ronald Reagan's soul, and like a father-figure, President Reagan passed on his spirit to President George W.
How fitting, after 8 years of destruction under Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, that a Son of Light should be sent forth to do the Father's work...
About as safe as Barbara Olson on 9-11.
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