Supersnoop had an eye for top talent
Imprisoned Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano — who's under
indictment on illegal wiretapping charges while serving 30 months for
weapons possession — might have singled out Oprah Winfrey, Al
Pacino, Paula Abdul, Whoopi Goldberg and other celebs for special
scrutiny, according to just-surfaced audio tapes.
The tapes, which the FBI received a week ago from former Pellicano
associate Paul Barresi, contain January 1994 conversations in which
Pellicano was apparently seeking personal contact information on celebs
and supermarket-publication types from tabloid journalist Jim Mitteager.
"Okay, here is one of the things I want you to do," Pellicano tells
Mitteager on one of the tapes, which Barresi transcribed. "I'm going to
give you a thousand dollars for this. I want you to give me the names
and telephone numbers of all of the people that you know working with
all the tabloids." Mitteager died in 1997 and bequeathed the material
to Barresi.
The targeted celebrities names — along with those of intimates
who allegedly dished on them — show up on the tapes and in notes
that Barresi supplied for the U.S. attorney's investigation of the
Hollywood scandal.
Alleged tabloid sources, according to Barresi's notes, included
Winfrey's niece Alisha; Paula Abdul's unnamed massage therapist; Cher's
daughter, Chastity Bono; Al Pacino's father, Sal; Sylvester Stallone's
mother, Jackie; an unnamed assistant of Kirk Douglas; an unnamed
girlfriend of Magic Johnson, and "insider" informants on Ted Danson and
Whoopi Goldberg.
Yesterday, Pacino's rep Pat Kingsley told me: "His [late] father was
not involved in Al's life in any way. They rarely saw one another."
None of the other celebrity reps contacted by Lowdown yesterday
commented on Barresi's tapes — nor would the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Los Angeles.
But Barresi told me that Pellicano likely wanted to know which snitch
was ratting out which celebs in order to generate income for the
Hollywood attorneys who paid him a handsome retainer.
by Lloyd Grove and Katherine Thompson
published on May 9, 2006
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/416127p-351454c.html