Hollywood's Biggest Scandal Ever?

Scribe: Wiretap Case Of Ex-Private Eye To Stars Just May Be

(CBS)  The biggest show in Hollywood these days is the federal wiretapping case against a former private eye. Anthony Pellicano is accused of spying on and for some of the biggest names in show business.

An article in the June issue of Vanity Fair magazine suggests an FBI raid of Pellicano's office turned up lots of evidence, including a taped conversation that may have been between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman when they were getting divorced.

Bryan Burrough, co-author of the article, asserted on The Early ShowFriday that, "This is already, even in the early stages, Hollywood's largest and most significant scandal in years, perhaps, ever, because every disagreement in Hollywood, every contract disagreement, every stalker, every baby born out of wedlock, involves attorneys. And for 20 years, when things got nasty, Hollywood attorneys turned to Anthony Pellicano to investigate — and, we now know, illegally wiretap his opponents."

Burrough told co-anchor Rene Syler Pellicano "styled himself for his clientele. That is, he made himself to be kind of a movie detective: smooth, double-breasted suits, opera on the speakers in the office. He wanted to be like Sam Spade, and unfortunately, he resorted to tactics you see often in the movies that just aren't done in real life: brandishing baseball bats at people and wiretapping telephones."

The scandal, Burrough says the scandal "has been percolating for about four years, since a dead fish was thrown on a newspaper reporter's car and Pellicano was implicated. He was put away on weapons charges."

The Vanity Fair article observes that Pellicano "was poised to emerge from prison in February 2006, when he was indicted again, this time with two former cops and two former employees of Pacific Bell, on 112 charges of wiretapping and of paying policemen to illegally access law-enforcement databases. Pellicano remains in custody while rumors ricochet that he will begin "ratting out" his clients."

On The Early Show, Burrough added, "Just about every week now, there are more people indicted in the probe."