LOS ANGELES, March 6: Anthony Pellicano, the former investigator known as Hollywood’s private eye to the stars, goes on trial on Thursday in a case of wiretapping and skulduggery that is expected to reveal the dark side of the glitzy world of the movie industry.

Actors Sylvester Stallone, Keith Carradine and Farrah Fawcett, along with movie studio executives Brad Grey and Ron Meyer and former powerhouse talent agent Michael Ovitz, are among the 120 prosecution witnesses called to testify in a case that has kept Hollywood on tenterhooks for almost six years.

Pellicano, 63, is accused of illegally wiretapping the telephones of opponents of his powerful clients and of bribing police officers and telephone company workers to run illegal background checks on the targets of his investigation.

Pellicano is representing himself at his trial and has pleaded not guilty, along with his four co-defendants, to the 111 federal charges they face together. The trial in Los Angeles federal court is expected to last up to 10 weeks.

Pellicano’s colourful past includes working for lawyers who represented Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Most of his celebrity clients have denied knowing that Pellicano was breaking the law but the investigation has already resulted in seven guilty pleas.

They include “Die Hard” director John McTiernan, who was sentenced to four months in prison last year for lying to the FBI about having asked Pellicano to wiretap producer Charles Roven, with whom he worked on the 2002 film “Rollerball”.—Reuters