Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (102 page)

In the mug shot, Michael's heavily made up head tips to the right and his
eyebrows are sharply arched. His wide-open eyes were later compared to
those of Joan Crawford. He'd painted his thin lips a scarlet red, and his nose
looked chiseled, the result of countless plastic surgeries.

Specific charges against Michael were not defined with any specific detail
or legalese at the time, but police revealed that they would include multiple
counts of "lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14."

Emerging from the jail after his booking, Michael waved and flashed a Vfor-victory sign at screaming fans. He blew a kiss to photographers before
stepping into a dark Chevrolet Suburban with opaque windows. He was then
driven to the airport for his return to Las Vegas.

Back in Las Vegas, he moved into the penthouse suite of the Regency
Tower at the Las Vegas Country Club, the same building where sister La Toya
has a condo. En route to Nevada,
Michael dressed in drag-black
flowing clothes and a dark hat as
well as a veil.

MJ's fans with gestures of support

Katherine Jackson angrily responded to the charges, claiming that
"there are two sets of rules in this
country-one for the white people
and the other for the black people."

His mother wasn't the only family
member weighing in on the side of
Michael's defense. In an interview
with CNN, Jermaine proclaimed
Michael's innocence. "I'm sick and fucking tired of people," he angrily said. "This is nothing but a modern-day
lynching."

In the wake of his arrest, the damage to Michael's singing career was
immediate. In February of 2003, ABC, NBC, and Fox had each won huge ratings by exposing bizarre aspects of Michael's private lifestyle to the world at
large. But in November of the same year, following the latest police raid on
Neverland, intense pressure was put on CBS to cancel a music special which
had been scheduled for airing on November 26 and linked to Michael's latest
album, Number Ones, his collection of previous hits.

In an article that appeared in The New York Times, Alessandra Stanley predicted that if CBS had actually gone ahead and shown the program, "many
millions would certainly watch. His fans aside, people watch Mr. Jackson for
the same reasons they watched O.J. Simpson's Bronco ride, forest fires in
California, and the finale of The Bachelor. It's scary, grotesque, and fascinating."

As his defense attorney, Michael hired Mark Geragos, the son of an
Armenian-American lawyer, who was at the time also handling the Scott
Peterson murder case. Geragos insisted that he could easily juggle the two
cases. Geragos had previously won two high-profile acquittals-one for
Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal and another for Roger Clinton,
Bill's half-brother, on a drunken driving charge. He'd also defended stickyfingered actress Winona Ryder during her shoplifting trial.

In response to Michael's detractors, Geragos said, "What we have here is
an intersection between a shakedown-someone who's looking for moneywith somebody doing an investigation who has an ax to grind."

He was referring, of course, to Tom
Sneddon's "ax." Geragos claimed that the boy
fabricated the kiddie sex story in the hopes of a
payoff that was equivalent to the $25 million that
was paid out to Jordie Chandler in 1993.

Paul Barresi

With the exception of Elizabeth, most
celebrities, including Lisa Marie, issued a "No
comment!" to the press, Virtually everybody else
who had worked for Michael or been employed
by him weighed in with an opinion as to his guilt
or innocence.

Paul Barresi, a former legman for the controversial private investigator Anthony Pellicano,
who at the time was in prison, revealed
Michael's "modus operandi for entertaining children. First, he wins the parents over. They become just as mesmerized as the kids. Then he puts the parents in separate
buildings. He naps all day intermittently with the kids in the tepee or different
places so that kids are well rested. Then he frolics and plays with the kids all
through the night while the parents are sleeping."

At first the name of Michael's teenaged accuser, charging him with sexual molestation, was either not known to the press or else known but not
revealed by the media because of his age.

But soon his name would become a household word. Gavin Arvizo was
born in 1989 to David Arvizo and Janet Ventura-Arvizo in California. He had
an older sister, Davellin, and a younger brother named Star. Ironically,
Gavin's mother, who eventually would acrimoniously divorce her 37-year-old
truck driver husband, David, would become "Janet Jackson" because of her
marriage in 2004 to U.S. Army major Jay Jackson.

Born into a poor Latino family, Gavin lived with his parents, his brother,
and his sister, in a rough urban neighborhood in East Los Angeles. Their home
was a box-like studio apartment. At one point they were so poor they'd lived
in a horse stable.

The question repeatedly asked by the media was how Gavin came to meet
Michael in the first place. The Arvizos had read countless stories about
Michael's involvement with Jordie Chandler, which could have alerted them
to the potential danger associated with having their underage son hang out
with the pop superstar.

Eventually the story of how Michael met Gavin came to light: In 2002,
Gavin lay in a hospital bed in Hollywood suffering
from a cancerous tumor in his stomach. He was
befriended by Jaime Masada, the owner of the Los
Angeles comedy club, Laugh Factory, who also
ran a summer camp for underprivileged kids.
Masada promised Gavin that if he'd start eating
and building up his strength, he'd introduce him to
any star he wished to meet. Gavin listed Chris
Tucker, Adam Sandler, and Michael Jackson in
that order.

Jaime Masada

Masada managed to get Tucker and Sandler
to visit Gavin, and eventually he even contacted
Michael himself. Masada later expressed his
regrets for having introduced Gavin to Michael.
"You hate to think you may have brought the boy
to the lion."

Michael called the hospital and spoke to
Gavin when he was only 10 years old, shortly after he'd had a 16-pound tumor removed from his stomach. The pair became
friends and Michael invited Gavin, with his family, to Neverland. But the
friendship did not last and calls from Michael eventually ceased. However, in
2002 Michael called Gavin again. "You want to be an actor, right? I'm going
to put you in the movies." The "part," it turned out, was in the Bashir TV documentary. After appearing within the documentary, Gavin became Michael's
beloved "Doo Doo Head," the star's nickname for his new pet.

Neverland staff member Talia Mandel reported on Gavin's appearance
during his first visit to Neverland. "He was really sick-looking and pale. He
was little and skinny and had no hair and no eyebrows as a result of cancer
treatments. He told me that Michael was helping him recover from cancer, but
I don't know exactly what he was doing."

According to Gavin's claims, Michael did not begin to abuse him until
after his appearance in the Bashir TV documentary. The show was filmed in
2002 and was not aired until 2003.

During the very few months when Michael got to know his future enemies, Janet and her son, Gavin, they had the run of Neverland. As poor people from the ghetto, Gavin and Janet felt they'd arrived at paradise on earth.
Just as Michael had seduced Jordie Chandler's family, so he set out to woo the
Arvizos with a lavish lifestyle and expensive presents.

He paid for Gavin's mounting medical expenses, and he hired a limousine
to take him to and from chemotherapy sessions. When Janet separated from
her husband, David, Michael even leased an apartment in Los Angeles for her new boyfriend. Janet
asked all her children to call Michael "Daddy" when
"Sugar Daddy" might have been a more appropriate
term.

Gavin Arvizo

The honeymoon ended after Gavin revealed during his statements on the Bashir TV documentary that
he was sharing Michael's bed at night. Massive criticism, exacerbated by Gavin's cuddly appearance, followed in the wake of the program. Janet claimed that
Michael had not secured permission from her for
Gavin to appear on the show.

Later, Michael came to Janet and got her permission to allow Gavin to appear on Michael's own TV
show, which was being produced as a formal "rebuttal" to the Bashir documentary. Consequently,
Michael dispatched his videographer to tape an interview with the Arvizos, during which they would
insist that Michael's relationship with Gavin was innocent and pure.

During that taped interview, Janet issued a statement that would later be
used against her at Michael's trial in 2005. "I'm appalled at the way my son
has been exploited by Martin Bashir. The relationship that Michael has with
my children is a beautiful, loving, father-sons-and-daughter one. To my children and me, Michael is part of my family."

In front of cameras, Janet went on to claim that Michael was "good to
us-in no way were we unhappy with anything he has said or done."

"If Michael knew at the time that they were going to make these accusations, making this tape was obviously a crafty thing to do," Michael's personal videographer, Hamid Moslehi, later said.

At the time, Janet also signed an affidavit clearing the pop star of any
wrongdoing. However, in November of 2003 she claimed that she was "confused and coerced" when she put her signature on the document.

On February 18, 2003, after being besieged with complaints from all over
the country, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office began a formal investigation.
The Santa Barbara District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, seemed only too willing
to endorse a child molestation case against Michael again, having failed to
inaugurate a trial in the Jordie Chandler case after the boy was bought off.

It has never been determined what went wrong between Michael and the
Arvizos. One day they were singing his praises to authorities, but within
weeks they turned on him. Janet consulted with attorney Larry Feldman, the
lawyer who had represented Jordie Chandler in his case against Michael in
1993.