“If you tried to connect me to organized crime, you probably could get close — but no cigar,” he said.

In 2002, his career began to unravel spectacularly. A reporter named Anita Busch, who had written for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, had recently published articles about the waning career of Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of the Creative Artists Agency and a former president of the Walt Disney Company. That summer, she found what appeared to be a bullet hole in her windshield, along with a dead fish and a rose on a tin tray on the hood of her car. A note was taped to her car that said, “Stop.”

She later sued Mr. Ovitz for hiring Mr. Pellicano. According to court documents, she said that her phone had been tapped, her computer hacked and her hard drive erased. She said that two men in a Mercedes had tried to run her over and that she had been warned that someone planned to blow up her car. Mr. Ovitz planned to argue that the fish was Steven Seagal’s fault — Ms. Busch had been reporting about Mr. Seagal as well — though the F.B.I. found no persuasive evidence that the actor was involved, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She and Mr. Ovitz settled out of court. He did not respond to a request for comment.

While investigating the threat against Ms. Busch, the authorities found grenades and C-4 explosives in a safe in Mr. Pellicano’s office. He was sentenced to 30 months on weapons charges. In 2008, he was convicted again, this time on more than 70 charges including racketeering, wire fraud and wiretapping, and he had been in prison until this day.

“My code word when I would call the F.B.I.,” Ms. Green said, “was C-4.”

Ms. Green said that Mr. Pellicano cornered her outside a Santa Monica, Calif., dog groomer where she had taken her Shih Tzu for a haircut. He blocked her car and got in her face, then followed her to a Peet’s Coffee, where he boxed her in again and then shoved her inside the store. She said that she yelled to make a scene and fled.