THE PELLICANO TAPES

Federal prosecutor Kevin Lally indicated Thursday that he intends to make Anthony Pellicano the chief witness against himself by introducing recordings of the former celebrity private eye boasting about the crimes he is accused of committing. Addressing the jury in his opening argument at Pellicano's wiretapping trial, Lally described Pellicano as "the biggest government informant in this case." He accused Pellicano of bribing police officers and telephone company workers to gain information for his clients. "This is a case about corruption," Lally said, "corruption fueled by greed." While recordings of virtually all of Pellicano's alleged wiretappings were destroyed, the U.S. attorney said, recordings of the detective himself talking about those wiretaps were not and will be introduced at the trial. Pellicano, who is acting as his own attorney, spoke to the jury for only 10 minutes, saying cryptically at one point, "The evidence will show what it shows."

07/03/2008