IN HOLLYWOOD he was always known by his last name — Pellicano.

His influence in a town where power is measured by box office sales was obvious from his roster of A-list clients — Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Michael Jackson, as well as several prominent entertainment executives and celebrity defence lawyers.

But Pellicano — Anthony Pellicano, “celebrity sleuth” and professional muckraker — played by his own rules for too long, and yesterday he was indicted for illegal wiretapping and obtaining confidential records about his targets.

According to prosecutors, Pellicano, 61, even used his own proprietary eavesdropping software, known as Telesleuth. Hollywood is now bracing itself for one of the ugliest trials in its history, as Pellicano prepares to expose a cast of studio bosses, celebrity clients, bad cops, computer hackers and phone company insiders. It is already being billed as a real-life version of LA Confidential.

Those who became targets of the undercover investigations allegedly included Sylvester Stallone, the comedian Garry Shandling, the Hollywood actors Kevin Nealon and Keith Carradine, as well as a former Hollywood reporter for The New York Times, Bernard Weinraub, and two partners of the all-powerful Creative Artists Agency.

Pellicano is also accused of trying to discredit five women who accused the software millionaire John Gordon Jones of raping them. Mr Jones was acquitted, but a judge later awarded one of the alleged victims $6 million (£3.5 million) in damages, which she could not collect because the money had been moved offshore.

However, the 110-count charge sheet against Pellicano remains silent on what embarrassing information was obtained by the renegade private investigator, how it was used and, perhaps most interesting of all, who paid for it.

“We are not going to stop until we have discovered all of the illegal activities that (Pellicano) participated in,” Stephen Tidwell, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said.

The crux of the case against Pellicano is that to protect his wealthy clients from opportunistic lawsuits, or to help them win cases that were already in court, he would use a corrupt system of payoffs to police officers, high-tech wiretapping, and other skulduggery to find every last piece of dirt on potential plaintiffs.

The case has also resulted in the indictment of nine others, including Mark Arneson, a former sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department, and Rayford Turner, a former employee of the telephone companies SBC and Pacific Bell.

Authorities cite nearly 100 instances in which Pellicano and his colleagues illegally accessed official records, including the FBI’s National Crime Information Centre database.

Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could result in life imprisonment. Bail was denied after he was accused of threatening witnesses from prison, where he was serving a 30-month sentence on firearms and explosives charges.

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