Today started off on a rather intriguing note when Mr. Hummel moved to strike all of Mr. Sender's testimony about how Mr. Pellicano offered to murder Aaron Russo for him. The government insisted that even though they haven't charged Mr. Pellicano with murder, it's important for the jury to understand the diverse criminal activity that Mr. Pellicano was involved, telling the Judge that Mr. Pellicano "wasn't a criminal investigator, he was a thug." The Judge took the matter under submission.
As a follow-up to Ms. Gores' testimony yesterday that she was sexually intimate with her brother-in-law and that Mr. Pellicano wiretapped her on the phone with him after the two met up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the government played the alleged wiretap. Although it was difficult to hear Tom Gores on the call, the courtroom heard Ms. Gores voice concerns that her then husband, Alec, was having her followed. In a conversation that seem to last way longer than Ms. Gores' actual testimony, she repeatedly told Tom Gores not to worry about that she would disclose the details of their rendez-vous at the Beverly Hills' Hotel. "The most anyone can know is that I went to the hotel," she said, feeling out the worst case scenario. "There was nobody in the room and that's the way I know that no one will ever know and I'll deny everything forever." She also told Tom Gores that she saw a man following her when she left the Beverly Hills Hotel and that she was scared about it. Tom Gores suggested that it was probably someone being paid by his brother, Alec, and that they have Alec Gores' reversed followed.
After the Gores' audiotape was played, the government called famed hairdresser Guiseppe Franco to the stand. Wearing tight pants, a black and white argyle sweater and a bouffant curly coif, Mr. Franco appeared to be perfectly cast as a Hollywood hairdresser.
Mr. Franco's testimony was fairly brief. He was basically just asked to verify that he'd spoken with Mr. Pellicano about Mr. Pellicano's attempt to serve Aaron Russo, a producer and regular customer of Mr. Franco's salon. When Mr. Franco was excused, he seemed surprised by the brevity of his testimony and on his way out, tipped an imaginary hat to the jury. Several of the jurors smiled and Mr. Franco happily bounded out of the courtroom.
Next up, the government played a tape of Mr. Pellicano screaming at Mr. Franco about how two of his employees had signed a declaration on Mr. Russo's behalf in which they said that Mr. Russo had not been properly served. In an audio recording reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine, Mr. Pellicano yelled at Mr. Franco, "They lied about me." "Lied about who?" Mr. Franco asked with apparent confusion. "Me!" Mr. Pellicano screamed. Then the conversation digressed into a bad version of Godfather-like dialogue, with Mr. Pellicano telling Mr. Franco, "You know who I am. I was told a long time ago to protect you and that I could trust you. I've been caring for you like a member of the family." Mr. Franco seemed to finally get that he was in big trouble with Mr. Pellicano. "I'll take care of it," he said of his employees' declaration against Mr. Pellicano. "Give me an hour. Don't worry."
Read all of HuffPost's coverage from inside the Pellicano courtroom here