If accused wiretapper Anthony Pellicano would have taken a call from his buddy Chuck Philips of the L.A. Times, he might still be up to his old tricks as Hollywood's dirtiest dick today, a former employee of the P.I. tells Radar.

On June 20, 2002, Anita M. Busch, a reporter writing about Michael Ovitz for the L.A. Times, found a fish, a rose, a bullet hole, and note that said "Stop" on her car. On the eve of Busch's testimony in Pellicano's trial, the New York Times chronicles today how the threats against her lead to the arrest of the shamed shamus, whose trial has ensnared a roster of celebs either accused of hiring the P.I. or enduring his alleged criminal tactics.

A day after Busch found the care package, an informant called to tell her the punishment was just beginning and that a private investigator had hired someone to blow up her car. Busch and the paper's editors and lawyer met with the FBI, and the lawyer suggested "bringing aboard" Pellicano, of all people, who knew his way around the seamy side of Hollywood, Busch tells the New York Times. Philips was tasked with calling him. He frequently talked or met with Pellicano, but the P.I. considered him such a nag that he would often tell his assistants to say he was too busy to take Philips' call.

Such was the case when Philips rang to see if Pellicano might be able to find out who was tapping one of the paper's phones and leaving her threatening messages, a source who testified at his trial in L.A. tells Radar. Pellicano is the one charged with those crimes now, and if he had taken Philips' call, he'd have learned that Busch had been tipped off and possibly learned the identity of the informant, who'd have likely been intimidated right out of the country, the former employee tells Radar, and the case would likely have never happened, leaving Garry Shandling without a single venue.