Hollywood Squirms Over Upcoming Trial

(CBS)  Anthony Pellicano may not be a household name but, as "private eye to the stars," his upcoming trial is putting some big names in an uncomfortable light.

"He's like the J. Edgar Hoover of Hollywood," defense attorney and CBS News legal consultant Mickey Sherman tells The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. "Supposedly, he's got all the dirt on everybody and, now that he's being targeted, everybody's in trouble."

Pellicano is accused of wiretapping telephones and bribing police to get damaging information on Sylvester Stallone, Garry Shandling and comedian Kevin Nealon.

And, says Kauffman, insiders wonder whether the names to come up so far are just the tip of the iceberg.

"He's a private eye!" says Anne Thompson of the Hollywood Reporter. "He goes after people and finds out things about them, and it seems that lawyers in Hollywood have been using him to get information. The question is whether they knew how he got it."

That is the big question, Kauffman points out. After all, she says, you have a client who hires a lawyer. The lawyer hires a private eye. If the private eye breaks the law, is the original client responsible?

"That's the issue that's coming up now and causing a lot of problems," Sherman observes. "You don't want someone to cross the line but, if he does, we don't want to know about it."

The director of the blockbuster movie "Die Hard" is the latest executive entangled in the web.

John McTiernon has been charged with lying to the FBI when he claimed he didn't know Pellicano was wiretapping.

"You're talking about a business with huge egos … thinking they're untouchable," says producer-manager Graham Kaye. "You can't go around hurting people and threatening them and expect that no one's going to find out about it."

Ironically, says Kauffman, prosecutors once considered Pellicano a hero: Several years ago, he was able to enhance old tape recordings that helped solve the case of a 1963 church bombing.

Now, his expertise with tape recordings is just what's gotten him trouble.

"It's been going on for years and years and years, apparently," Thompson notes. "So, when did all these powerful people think that it was OK?"

Over the years, Pellicano has worked for Michael Jackson, Roseanne, Steven Seagal, O.J. Simpson case witness Mark Fuhrman, and John DeLorean.

One of the biggest executives tied to Pellicano is Brad Grey, president of Paramount Pictures. Grey has testified before a grand jury and hasn't been charged.

"It's similar to when Heidi Fleiss got busted, and all the celebrities were worried they'd be on the customer list," Sherman says. "It's the same kind of mentality."

Acting U.S. Attorney George Cardona says the racketeering charge was prompted by Pellicano paying police officers to give him information on his targets.

Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to the wiretapping and racketeering allegations.

And he isn't the only one feeling the heat. Fourteen people have been charged so far.

Says Thompson: "The speculation in town is: 'Who's next?' "

The trial is slated to start next Tuesday.