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George Rush & Joanna Molloy

Explosive twist in Pellicano case

Private eye Anthony Pellicano worked for Michael Jackson, Michael Ovitz and Chris Rock. Was the notorious P.I. also a go-between for Israeli mobsters?

Last year, convicted fraudster Daniel Nicherie was charged with hiring Pellicano to wiretap Israeli businessman Ami Shafrir. But even though Nicherie and Pellicano are now in the same prison, Nicherie believes he, too, may have been a victim of Pellicano.

According to Jan Tucker, a private investigator working for Nicherie's legal team, Nicherie and his family received death threats in 2000. Among them, says Tucker, was a hand grenade found under the hood of a car belonging to Nicherie's mother.

According to Tucker, Pellicano offered to negotiate with the threat-makers. Pellicano said they would leave Nicherie alone for $200,000, according to Tucker, who suggests Pellicano led Nicherie to believe an Israeli crime syndicate was behind the shakedown.

Nicherie came up with the money, says Tucker. But later, he says, Nicherie found the same cash in Pellicano's safe - along with that scary hand grenade.

"Did Pellicano really make the death threat go away, or was he part of this whole thing?" Tucker recently asked former Pellicano legman Paul Barresi. "Was it all a little dramatic act to liberate [Nicherie] of about $200,000?"

Pellicano's lawyer, Steven Gruel, did not return a call for comment.

With Jo Piazza and Chris Rovzar