The victims of Anthony Pellicano’s wiretapping are angling for more compensation — though most of them don’t need the money.
Pellicano, 69, is the Chicago tough guy who became Hollywood’s top private detective, known for helping lawyers dig up dirt. In 2008, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for using corrupt cops and Pacific Bell employees in a wiretapping ring.
Some of the plaintiffs, however, are not happy with the $1.5 million settlement from a related class-action lawsuit against AT&T, Pac Bell’s parent company.
Per the settlement, the lawyers were set to collect $660,000, and AT&T wanted to give 70 percent of the remainder to the University of California-Berkeley, leaving each victim with no more than $2,500.
But now the court has been asked to reconsider how the money is divided (meaning less could go to charity and legal fees), and a new hearing on the settlement is being scheduled.
“We went into court to fight it,” one of the more than 50 plaintiffs told me. “The judge went off on the attorneys, and said, ‘What is going on here?’ ”
Among the more than 500 names eligible for the class-action settlement: Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Selleck, Jeff Bridges, Daryl Hannah, Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Harvey Keitel, Garry Shandling, Brenda Vaccaro and Jane Seymour.
The victims were identified by lawyers who pored over the phone records of Pellicano’s targets, including Keith Carradine, who was in a bitter divorce battle; Chris Rock’s Hungarian ex-girlfriend Monika Zsibrita; and entertainment reporter Anita Busch, who was covering CAA superagent Michael Ovitz for the New York Times.
Victims who talked to Busch alone include such media heavyweights as John Connolly of Vanity Fair, Dean Baquet and David Carr of the New York Times and TV correspondent Diane Dimond.
“We’re fighting for everyone from Nikki Finke to Mother Dolores Hart,” one plaintiff said.
Hart, the prioress at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, was an actress and starred with Elvis Presley in “Loving You” before she took her vows.