Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (81 page)

The son of Sicilian immigrants, he grew up in the
seedy, criminal-laden Chicago suburb of Cicero in the
1950s.

Elizabeth Taylor had already endorsed Pellicano. In
1977, grave robbers dug up the body of Taylor's third husband, Mike Todd, ostensibly looking for a
10- carat diamond ring that was widely
believed to have been buried with him. After a
well-publicized search, Pellicano discovered
the missing body in the Forest Park cemetery
in Illinois, where it lay hidden under a canopy
of dead leaves. After that, Elizabeth sang the
praises of Pellicano and helped launch his
career as a private investigator. In time,
Pellicano's clients even included the National
Enquirer.

Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd

When Michael and Pellicano came together,
both were at the peak of their careers.

But in February of 2006, Pellicano would make national headlines when
he, along with six others, was indicted on a charge of conspiring to wiretap,
blackmail, and intimidate dozens of celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone.
The 220-count federal indictment outlined a web of payoffs to police, hightech eavesdropping, and other skullduggery.

Before that, on November 21, 2002, FBI agents in Los Angeles raided
Pellicano's offices, finding two practice grenades modified to function as
homemade bombs as well as enough military grade C-4 plastic explosives to
take down a passenger jet.

After his arrest, Pellicano pleaded guilty to illegal possession of dangerous materials and was sentenced to thirty months in federal prison.
Theoretically, his release had been scheduled for February 4, 2006, but on
February 3, based on a new indictment of charges of wiretapping and racketeering, he was transferred to the Los Angeles County Jail.

Meanwhile, during ongoing negotiations with Fields, Evan regained custody of his son for one week, beginning on July 12, 1993.

Fields had worked out this agreement, and it was endorsed by Michael.
But, unknown to Michael, Evan wanted private time with his son to gather
more information about his relationship with the pop star.

During the week Jordie lodged with his father, one of his teeth was
extracted on July 16.

A pivotal moment in the drama came when Jordie sat in his dental chair.
If later testimony is to be believed, Jordie revealed to Evan that Michael had
touched his penis. Later Evan would be accused of "planting" the idea of
molestation in Jordie's head while the boy was under anesthesia. Evan consistently denied this accusation.

"I know everything," Evan said, lying to his son. "I know about the kissing, the jerking off-and the blow jobs." He claimed that he'd bugged Jordie's bedroom on those nights he'd spent with Michael in Evan's house.
Threatening his son, he warned him, "If you lie to me, I'm going to take
Jackson down." Looking frightened, Jordie burst into tears. Between sobs, he
admitted to having had sex with Michael.

When the charges against Michael were later made public, Jordie's visit
to his dentist father became a media event. Writing in GQ magazine in
October of 1995, Mary Fischer claimed, "In the presence of Dr. Chandler and
Mark Torbiner, a dental anesthesiologist, the boy was administered the controversial drug, Sodium Amytal. It was after this session that the boy first
made his charges against Jackson."

Doctors have claimed that patients are very liable to emotional manipulation after taking Sodium Amytal. Ray Chandler, Jordie's uncle, would later
claim that his nephew was not given Sodium Amytal that day. A search of Dr.
Torbiner's records show that Jordie was administered doses of Robinul and
Vistaril instead.

Since Jordie had been taken from him, Michael was seen once again with
Brett Barnes, shopping the real estate market in Beverly Hills. In addition to
Neverland, Michael said he wanted a "real house-not just a condo"-closer
to his business interests in Los Angeles.

The real estate agent later reported that she had no idea at the time that
Michael was in any kind of legal trouble. "He chased the young boy through
the house and at one point they collapsed on each other in a pile on the floor,
giggling and tickling each other's ribs. They seemed to be having a romp. But
within days I heard of the child molestation charges. I just naturally assumed
that the boy house-hunting with Michael was Jordie Chandler, only to learn
later it was the Brett Barnes kid."

In spite of Michael's obsession with Jordie, which consumed his nights
and most of his waking hours, his career continued. Free Willy was released
into movie houses, depicting a boy's effort to free a whale from a theme park.
This was the first release for Michael on his new MJJ Records label, featuring
"Will You Be There," the film's theme song.

The song rose rapidly on Billboards charts, the film becoming a sleeper
hit. Michael showed it to Jordie a dozen times, neither man nor boy tiring of
it. Each night before Jordie fell asleep, Michael inserted his tongue into
Jordie's ear, then sang the lyrics of the song to him.

Michael had decided to change the name of his record company from
Nation Records to MJJ Records. He was furious when his sister released Janet
Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, feeling Janet had "taken the word nation for
herself."

Evan did not return Jordie to the care of his mother at the appointed time,
and, through Rothman, demanded that June sign a stipulation which would
forbid Jordie from any further communication with Michael. June signed the
agreement. Even so, Evan refused to return the boy once he had June's signature on the agreement. Later, June claimed that she was cajoled and manipulated into signing.

Geraldine, Rothman's legal secretary, revealed that since August 16, 1993,
Evan had been negotiating with Michael "for money in exchange for not
going public with the suspicion of child molestation."

In court, June prevailed, and Evan was ordered to return Jordie to his
mother. Increasingly desperate, Evan played a dangerous card, at least from
Michael's point of view. Evan took the child not back home to his former wife
but to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Mantis Abrams.

For Michael, as events subsequently revealed, this would become a fatal
blow to his reputation.

Dr. Abrams became Jordie's psychiatrist. Their first session together on
August 17, 1993 lasted for more than three hours. Under intensive questioning, Jordie admitted that Michael, in the words of the psychiatrist, "orally copulated" Jordie but "he did nothing oral to MJ and nothing anal happened."

In Florida, Jordie alleged that he protested sexual contact with Michael,
but was threatened that if he ever told anyone "about what we did, you'll be
sent to a juvenile hall for punishment." According to the psychiatrist's report,
Michael revealed to Jordie the names of "other boys I've done this with."

After hearing Jordie's testimony, Abrams was bound by California law to
report the boy's charges to the Los Angeles Department of Children's
Services. Jordie was called in for intensive interviewing by staff member Ann
T. Rosato. After grilling him, Rosato was convinced that he was telling the
truth, that Michael was committing sex acts with the boy.

The Los Angeles police were also called into the investigation. Officers
known only as "E. Cateriano" and "J. Calams" arranged for Jordie to be interviewed by them as well. In their report to their superiors, the two officers concluded, "The boy is telling the truth."

Police and prosecutors in Santa Barbara began an investigation of Michael
to determine if he were indeed a pedophile and had engaged in sexual activities with minors. If convicted of such charges, of course, a man could go to
jail.

June's husband, David Schwartz, and Evan were on friendly terms, even though both men had married the same
woman. Evan learned from Schwartz that
his marriage to June was unraveling. "I
rarely see her," Schwartz claimed. "She
spends all her time with Michael."

Howard Weitzman
and Anthony Pellicano

In a conversation taped by Schwartz,
Evan is heard telling him, "Jackson is an
evil guy. If I go through with this and blow
the whole thing wide open, I win big time. I
will get everything I want. She [meaning
June] is going to lose Jordie, and Michael's
career will be over. He has June in his pocket. She likes the glitzy life that he can provide for her too much to give it up. I'm convinced she'll allow Jackson sexual access to our son again. I will be granted
custody and June will have no rights whatsoever."

In a further comment, Evan claimed that "Jackson is going to be humiliated beyond belief. He will not believe what will happen to him. It'll be
beyond his worst nightmare. He will not sell one more record. The facts are
so overwhelming. Everyone will be destroyed in the process."

Fields, Michael's attorney, helped June obtain a court order that demanded the return of her son.

But through his attorney, Evan countered with a court order of his own,
forbidding June to allow Jordie to accompany Michael on the Dangerous tour.
With Michael hovering in the background, the battle lines over Jordie were
forming.

On August 4, 1993, Evan, with Jordie at his side, met Michael and
Pellicano in a suite at the deluxe Westwood Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles.
Evan later wrote, "Michael looked Jordie straight in the eyes, smiled, and
denied charges of sexual molestation. It was a chilling smile-like the smile
you see on a convicted serial killer who perpetually declares his innocence
despite the mountains of evidence against him. I knew it right then. Michael
Jackson had not only molested my son but he was a criminal! It was suddenly all so obvious-June had been fooled, Jordie had been fooled, I had been
fooled-the ENTIRE WORLD has been fooled by this fragile, pitiful creature
with an absolutely brilliant criminal mind."

For some mysterious reason, Evan's attorney, Rothman, did not attend the
meeting, which lasted five minutes. But Evan reported to Rothman later, and,
from all reports, the two men agreed to seek $20 million in punitive damages
from Michael. Hearing of this offer, Pellicano presented a counter-offer: to
purchase three of Evan's screenplays over a three-year period for $350,000 each. Evan rejected the offer as too little. When he delivered additional
demands to Pellicano, the detective was astonished-"and I've seen it all."

Evan wanted a trust fund set up for Jordie for $20 million. But that wasn't all. He also demanded that Michael purchase four of his screenplays for $5
million each.

Michael told Pellicano that "I don't want to pay one cent to the Chandlers.
If anybody pays, let it be my insurance company."

Based on his perception that Fields needed a back-up attorney, Michael
hired Santa Monica lawyer Howard Weitzman, one of the most influential
attorneys in America, to work with Fields. His list of celebrity clients included Marlon Brando, Magic Johnson, O.J. Simpson, and Arnold
Schwarzenegger.

On August 20, 1993, at the debut of the most disastrous trip of his life,
Michael flew to Bangkok for the second part of his Dangerous globetrotting.
This time there would be no Jordie flying with him.