Anthony Pellicano

A Hollywood film director who pleaded guilty three years ago to lying to the FBI in connection with the Anthony Pellicano investigation, then withdrew his plea, was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. John McTiernan faces two counts of making false statements to federal agents and one count of perjury for a statement to a federal judge while seeking to withdraw his plea, federal authorities said.

It ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. After years of breathless coverage in every newspaper and magazine known to man, Anthony Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday for running an illegal wiretapping operation that dug up dirt -- or at least tried to unearth dirty laundry -- on a host of prominent Hollywood celebrities and industry insiders. A longtime private investigator who engaged in everything from wiretapping to computer fraud, Pellicano was supposed to bring down half of Hollywood with him. But after years of titillating speculation, the story was a bust.

The case of the shattered windshield, a dead fish and a rose is finally moving forward. Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and his alleged hired hand, Alexander Proctor, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that they threatened reporter Anita Busch in 2002 to scare her off a story. Pellicano and Proctor, both 65, were charged four years ago in the threat on Busch's life.

A federal judge Wednesday agreed to allow Anthony Pellicano to represent himself at his wiretapping trial next month, but only after repeatedly warning the indicted private eye that the move was risky. Noting the complexity of the more than 100 wiretapping and conspiracy charges facing Pellicano and five codefendants, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer tried several times to persuade him to reconsider his decision to relieve his attorneys.

Indicted private eye Anthony Pellicano on Monday abruptly dropped his request for a hearing into alleged government misconduct as a federal judge brushed aside eleventh-hour bids to postpone next month's wiretapping trial of Pellicano and five co-defendants. The surprise move by Pellicano came at the outset of a hearing before U.S. District Judge Dale S.

In March 2002, a former Cook County police officer and his wife were convicted of bilking the government by submitting billings for security work that was never performed at one of the nation's most dangerous housing projects, the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. And ever since their convictions, James and Janice Skrzypek have waged a fight from behind bars to prove they were set up.

For the last six years, few plots in Hollywood have kept more power brokers and entertainment lawyers in suspense than the FBI investigation into onetime private eye to the stars Anthony Pellicano. With alleged victims including actors Sylvester Stallone and Keith Carradine and secret grand jury testimony from the likes of super-agent Mike Ovitz and studio executives Brad Grey and Ron Meyer, the case was seen by many as the entertainment industry's biggest scandal in decades.

In his first opportunity to rebut charges that could put him away for life, private eye Anthony Pellicano on Thursday sidestepped the government's allegations that he was the heart and soul of a wiretapping and racketeering ring that empowered celebrities and other well-heeled clients to "discredit and in some cases destroy" their adversaries. Instead, the enigmatic former investigator, acting as his own attorney, told the packed courtroom of U.S. District Judge Dale S.

Offering new and colorful details about the clandestine world of indicted private investigator Anthony Pellicano, his former assistant told a federal jury Friday that his once-thriving business relied on high-tech snooping and delving into confidential police records to dredge up nasty secrets for his clients.

Tearfully confronting her former boss, a key government witness in the racketeering trial of Anthony Pellicano told a federal jury Wednesday that she feared for her life after telling the FBI and a grand jury about the indicted private investigator's alleged wiretapping and other crimes. "I was shattered. I was so scared . . . about your retaliation," a seemingly terrified Tarita Virtue said to Pellicano, who is acting as his own defense attorney.