It's chilling turn in the Anthony Pellicano case guaranteed to cause sleepless nights in the Hollywood Hills: Bertram Fields, the litigious attack-dog attorney known for burying the malodorous laundry of the rich and famous, might be the guy who brings down the accused wiretapper Anthony Pellicano—and half of A-list Tinseltown with him.

This morning in the Pellicano trial in L.A., before the jury came in, prosecutors told the judge and defense attorneys of a witness they planned to call who would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Asked who this potential witness was, prosecutors answered, "Bert Fields."

If this were a movie, someone would have audibly gasped. Some are speculating that prosecutors will offer Fields immunity in exchange for his testimony.

Fields is the man Brad Grey, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and virtually any industry titan going through divorce or A-lister with a closet full skeletons calls when he wants bad gossip and lawsuits to disappear. (Paramount honcho Grey, last week, testified that he didn't know about Pellicano's tactics—Fields handled him.)

You're not doing your job as a Hollywood reporter if you don't have at least one cease-and-desist letter from Fields. What's ironic about the possible twist in the case is that he was a longtime client of Pellicano—the jailed P.I. who formerly did time for possession of explosives is now indicted on 110 RICO charges and faces 600 years in prison. Fields has been investigated but not charged in relation to the Pellicano case, although many have speculated that the private dick's alleged wiretaps benefited Fields' clients. Susan Maguire, ex-wife of Los Angeles mega-developer Robert F. Maguire III, in a deal granting her immunity, testified last week that Pellicano, hired by lawyers at Fields' firm, played her tapes of a wiretap on her would-be ex-husband's phone. Fields has repeatedly—four or five times in the latest L.A. Times story, in fact—claimed he knew nothing of any wrongdoing or illegal tactics. Pellicano has even gone to bat himself for his frequent client Fields, saying in 2006 to the L.A. Times: "There is no way in the world that any lawyer who has got any brains is going to hire somebody to do something illegal."

That theory might be tested if Fields is given immunity from prosecution, and in a potentially dreamy scenario for screenplay writers and Hollywood gossips everywhere, Tinseltown's pet pitbull would likely be compelled to offer a glimpse into his decades-long, behind-the-scenes angling and intimidation. All while double-crossing the dick he once held dear.

Anyone smell dirty laundry?

UPDATE: Lonny Soury, a rep for Fields firm hit the Web with a statement from Fields this afternoon, contradicting prosecutors' claims in court today that he would plead the Fifth: "I have nothing to hide. I do not intend to take the Fifth Amendment. I will testify if I am asked," Fields says in the statement. He has not apparently been granted any special immunity and has not been subpoenaed, but asked by Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke why prosecutors made the claim, he would say only, "It's complicated."