Sin Eater – Pellicano a Private Investigators Takeaway

In this BLOG post Tim Santoni discusses what he saw and his takeaways from the Sin Eater – Pellicano Documentary.

The recent FX documentary “Sin Eater” presented by the New York Times that sheds light on the clients and practices of Anthony Pellicano. The documentary is quite revealing in the sense that it reveals not only the practices of Pellicano, but who he was working with. The show tries to paint the attorneys and clients that Pellicano worked with in a bad light. In the end many of the attorneys and clients that Pellicano worked with did not get charged.

The producers of this documentary appear to have gotten their hands on actual recordings of Pellicano and his clients which they play on the show. This is interesting because many of the calls involved well known celebrities and attorneys. A few of the clients and cases discussed on the documentary include the following: Michael Jackson, Michael Ovitz, Brad Grey, Steven Seagal, John McTiernan, Garry Shandling, and Bert Fields.

Pellicano was a Private Investigator, but things did were above and beyond what a typical private investigator would even think of offering or executing. The documentary shows evidence that Pellicano recorded calls, paid phone company employees to run wiretaps, and intimated and scared people through violence. There is no discussion of any conventional investigative research that Pellicano might have done as a Private Investigator like background checks, asset searches, surveillance, and public records research.

During the documentary many of the Pellicano clients are asked if they knew what Pellicano was doing and if they asked him to do anything illegal. It is clear that the clients of Pellicano never asked for anything illegal but understood he would do whatever it took and if that meant bending or breaking the law, he would do it. This is significant because the high-profile attorneys and law firms that hired him, really could have been on the hook for his activities and methods. Pellicano took on assignments and was willing to do whatever it took to win for his clients no matter the cost to his life, reputation, and license. He makes it clear that he knew what he was doing and that everyone in the Private Investigation industry was bending or breaking the law. He was getting hefty retainers, typically starting at $25,000.00 just to initiate these types of investigations. Reports show that he was paid $2 million for his work in the Michael Jackson case.

The documentary shows a computer laboratory that Pellicano had in his office that was blanketed with devices and computers that were used to carry out many of his investigations. This is not something that would be required if he was really just doing typical private investigation work.

If you need documented evidence that holds up in court then you should hire a licensed private investigator that understands civil code of procedure, federal code of procedure, evidence handling guidelines and the business professions code. It is clear that the work Pellicano conducted was typically not for use in court, it was used for intimidation and manipulation.