(March 22, 1944- )
Born in Chicago, Illinois
Private detective and Hollywood ‘fixer’
Clients included John DeLorean, Don Simpson, Mike Ovitz, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Roseanne Barr, and Michael Jackson
Convicted of racketeering, wire fraud, and illegal wiretapping (May 15, 2008)
Sentenced to 15 years in jail
Released on his 75th birthday (March 22, 2019)

His usual tactic for defending his clients was to dig up dirt to discredit their accusers.
He was forced to resign from the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission after it was revealed that he had accepted a $30,000 loan from the son of Chicago mobster Paul ‘the Waiter’ Ricca (1976).
He issued a statement denying that one of his clients, Columbia Pictures executive Michael Nathanson, had been involved with ‘Hollywood madam’ Heidi Fleiss before anyone had accused Nathanson of being one of her clients; the result was a flood of stories speculating on the relationship between Nathanson and Fleiss and a ‘PR Boner Award’ from ‘Variety’ for Pellicano (1993).
One of his operatives tried to stop Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch from investigating his clients by vandalizing her car and leaving a death threat (2002).
During the investigation into the Busch threats, police discovered C4 plastic explosives and two grenades in a safe in his office; he served 30 months in prison for illegal possession of dangerous materials (2004-06).

He earned a high school equivalency degree while serving in the Army Signal Corps.
’Playboy’ called him ‘America’s most tenacious private detective.’
He claimed the explosives in his safe belonged to a client (who he declined to name).
He was good enough at encrypting his wiretap tapes that the NSA had to be brought in to crack the codes.
While in prison, he declined a $500,000 offer from one of the tabloids to dish dirt on his clients.

Credit: C. Fishel

https://aia.li/45286

E-mail Link to Friend | Report updates or corrections for this profile

For 2021, as of last week, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 45 Votes: 51.11% Annoying

• Breeders [Have 5 or More Kids] (Ranked: 9)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 70]
• Connected - Alleged Mob Ties
• Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People [1993] (Ranked: 96)
• I Acted as My Own Attorney
• I am from Chicago
• I Earned a High School Equivalency Diploma
• I Tend to Refer to Myself in the Third Person
• I Was Expelled From School
• Look at Me, I'm Driving
• Look at Me, I'm on the Telephone
• My Child has Autism
• On Trial 2008
• Profiles 45251-45500 (Ranked: 45286)
• Raised by a Single Mom