The Pellican Brief, Part I
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
CRACKS ARE WACK Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch • ... One of the first cases related to the federal indictment of jailed PI-to-the-stars Anthony Pellicano will go before a jury Tuesday. In a trial memorandum obtained by RadarOnline.com, federal prosecutors make their case that the P.I. recruited SBC telephone employees to help him tap the phones of Sylvester Stallone, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's ex-wife, Lisa Bonder, actor Keith Carradine, and journalist Anita Busch.
Last February, the feds indicted Joann Wiggan, a veteran SBC employee, for allegedly committing perjury in her testimony to the grand jury about her contact with SBC field technician Rayford Turner, who stands accused of helping Pellicano place the taps. She claimed they barely knew each other, but the hundred plus messages he left on her voicemail seem to suggest otherwise.
• ... Oddball downtown art dealer Jeffrey Deitch is suing the owner of the property next door to his Deitch Projects showroom at 76 Grand Street in New York for $80,000. The hard-partying gallerist claims 72 Grand Partners's construction activity on September 8, 2004 caused his ceilings and walls to crack, and he wants the firm to pick up the tab. "It's damage to property, not to artworks," assures Deitch lawyer Paul Tumbelson, who brought the case in front of New York Supreme Court Monday. The landlord's office declined comment.