At last!

One of the many loathsome aspects of Hollywood is its eagerness to portray white male businessmen as crooks and killers. And I've long suspected that this is not only trendy leftism, but is also a reflection of the sort of people you encounter if you are in the movie business. They are just telling it like it is, to them...Here's some evidence:

NYT: LOS ANGELES, May 21 — Three months after the indictment of Anthony Pellicano, the private detective who prosecutors say routinely wiretapped enemies of the rich and famous, a fraternity of high-priced lawyers who do Hollywood's business from glass towers in Century City are waking to a grim truth: the government believes they are the problem.

This town has been increasingly consumed by the spectacle of a prosecution that has touched dozens of show business figures since it began to unfold with Mr. Pellicano's indictment in February. So far, an unlikely sheriff — a 43-year-old prosecutor without a single large-scale case under his belt — has studio chiefs, agents, producers and movie stars all waiting to see if they will join those who face criminal charges, be called as witnesses or merely have their ugliest personal and business secrets revealed in court and reported in the newspapers.

But it is only now becoming clear that powerful businesspeople and stars are just collateral damage in a hunt for the real target: what government lawyers see as corruption in a legal system that is suddenly being policed after decades of neglect....

....While some Hollywood people joke that all the good criminal defense lawyers are taken, some top Los Angeles lawyers say that the best ones were avoiding taking clients now, betting that more indictments are coming and will land even bigger fish.

Any further indictments are almost certain to take aim at the lawyers — something Mr. Saunders signaled after announcing charges against Mr. Christensen. The lead partner of one of Century City's biggest law firms, Mr. Christensen, who pleaded not guilty to wiretapping and conspiracy, was caught on tape discussing with Mr. Pellicano wiretapped recordings the private detective had made of Mr. Christensen's legal adversaries talking about their strategy and other sensitive subjects. "No attorney should stoop to such levels to gain a tactical advantage," Mr. Saunders said at the time....

Sweet! Couldn't happen to nicer people. Thanks for the link to Jim Miller, who links to an interesting Guardian article, stuffed with curious celebrity tidbits, including this one:

....Pellicano did work directly with one president: during Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign Pellicano was hired, reportedly by Hillary Clinton, to discredit Gennifer Flowers, the woman who alleged that she had maintained a 12-year affair with the candidate. Six years later, with Clinton into his second term, the White House, according to the New York Post, hired Pellicano, considered a respected forensic audio specialist, to look into Monica Lewinsky's background....