Authors: Steve Knopper
“completely freaked out,” $500,000 in escape money,
and
“go underground”
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 20.
Aubrey’s version
: Aubrey interview.
“As we crossed the George Washington Bridge”
: Cascio,
My Friend Michael
, p. 222.
“We all flew back on the plane”
: Schaffel interview.
McDonald’s deal for $20 million
: Gary Susman, “ ‘Give’ Out,”
ew.com
, July 15, 2002.
McDonald’s 5-million copy estimate
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 20.
$51 million on
Invincible: Ibid., p. 23.
$
75,000 exploding building
: Confidential source.
“That was a crazy job”
: Author interview with Rubin Mendoza.
MJ asked for $8 million for a video
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 23.
“The problem for Michael Jackson”
: Author interview with Michael Schulhof.
Sharpton didn’t consider Mottola a racist
: Author interview with Al Sharpton.
“sad and pathetic” and “It had nothing to do with race, heaven or hell”
: Tommy Mottola,
Hitmaker: The Man and His Music
(New York: Grand Central/Hachette, 2013), p. 7.
MJ threw $11 to $15 million offer into the trash and “No way I’m gonna do that”
: Author interview with James Meiskin.
$800 million for Marvel
: “Samia” estimate in
Union Finance & Investment Corp. vs. Michael Jackson,
April 2, 2002; confirmed by confidential source.
MJ Universe details, “light and funny,” “new, fresh, motivated people,” and power-of-attorney
documents
: Konitzer interview (who provided documents and the Neverland video).
$10 million every ninety days, airline hangar, $80,000 debt to electronics store, and “He owed money to everybody”
: LeGrand interview.
Al Malnik and MJ background
: Alvin Malnik and Stephanie Williams, “Behind the Mask,”
Haute Living,
July 8, 2009, pp. 3–4, and
almalnik.com
.
Malnik denied being Blanket’s father
: Kelly House, “Remembering Michael,”
Miami Herald,
June 23, 2010, p. 1E.
sky-high interest rates
: Sharon Waxman, “Michael Jackson Faces Cash Crisis,”
New York Times,
February 12, 2004, p. E1.
Prince’s godfather and “bring up Blanket”
: Ibid.
“solidified all of Michael’s assets” and “Michael was spending probably double”
: Author interview with Charles Koppelman.
Malnik loaned MJ $7 million to $10 million
: Stuart Backerman, “Speaking for Michael: An Insider’s Account of the Most Turbulent Period in Michael Jackson’s Career,” unpublished memoir used with permission, p. 69.
“Al personally wrote checks”
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 314.
Michael Clayton details, quotes, and money figures
: Author interview with Michael Clayton.
two thousand reporters
: Matt Taibbi, “The Nation in the Mirror,”
Rolling Stone,
June 30, 2005, p. 69.
sixteen-pound tumor and chemotherapy
: Davellin Arvizo testimony,
The People of the State of California vs. Michael Joseph Jackson,
California Superior Court, March 4, 2005.
Doctors told his family to prepare for his funeral
: Author interview with Ron Zonen.
Laugh Factory background
:
laughfactory.com
.
Gavin’s list of Tucker, Sandler, and MJ
: Jamie Masada testimony, grand jury, Santa Barbara, California,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 30, 2004, and March 29, 2005.
Quincy Jones’s office number
: Masada testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 29, 2005.
“
scripted”
: Jay Leno testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
May 24, 2005.
Masada working his contacts
: Masada testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 30, 2004, and March 29, 2005.
MJ calls Gavin at hospital, Arvizos visit Neverland, guest room, and lake
: Davellin Arvizo testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 3, 2005.
David didn’t want Gavin to ride on rides
: Gavin Arvizo testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 9, 2005.
Nicknames
and “I’m going to put you in the movies”
: Ibid.
“
Michael adored Princess Diana” and “my devastating mistake”
: Author interview with Uri Geller.
Bashir documentary description
:
Living with Michael Jackson
(Granada Television), US airdate February 6, 2003.
“really, really bad questions”:
Author interview with Dieter Wiesner.
“For us, it was not something special”
: Ibid.
“We got information”
: Ibid.
“Dude, that documentary fucking sucked”
: J. Randy Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson:
The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story 1958–2009
(New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009), p. 604.
“
Michael, I love the way you are with children,” “Get your ass in gear,” and ABC, NBC, and Fox offers
: Backerman, “Speaking for Michael,” pp. 38–43.
$7.3 million, $4 million, and 20 percent
:
Schaffel vs. Michael Jackson
, February 16, 2005.
Rebuttal-video lifeline
: Konitzer interview.
$20,000 for Katherine’s medicine
: Ibid.
“I felt enough was enough” and
“unfounded”
: Mike Taibbi,
today.com
, March 16, 2004.
“
shopping all the time”
: Konitzer interview.
“Kids who fabricate”
: Author interview with Stan Katz.
“Go away!,” MJ Mirage rampage, $250,000 in damages, and “some berserk, out-of-control madman”
: Backerman, “Speaking for Michael,” pp. 8–10, 122–23.
“Everything fell apart”
: Konitzer interview.
MJ mug shot preparation
: Backerman, “Speaking for Michael,” pp. 8–10, 122–23.
“wasn’t even the Michael that I knew”
: Ibid.
Malnik posted bail
: Backerman, Ibid., p. 69, confirmed by Schaffel interview.
Discounted bail-bonds service and $300,000 up front
: Schaffel interview.
Jesse Jackson on three times as much bail and
“As soon as you get famous and black”
: Shawn Hubler, “Is Race Card in Jackson Deck?,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 14, 2004, p. E1.
“Dieter, the devil is listening”
: Backerman, “Speaking for Michael,” p. 130.
“And there was no access anymore”
: Konitzer interview.
“
the only D.A. in the nation”
: Gillian Flaccus, “Feud Between Jackson, DA Goes Back Years,” Associated Press, November 20, 2003.
“Was he eager to put him in prison?” and “aggressive sort of guy”
: Zonen interview.
“Turn on your TV”
: Author interview with Linda Deutsch.
“He’s way over his head”
: Author interview with Thomas Mesereau Jr. Geragos did not respond to interview requests.
Cochran to Randy while on his deathbed and “If it was me, I’d want Tom Mesereau”
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 316.
Mesereau background
: Linda Deutsch, “Blake’s New Lawyer Is Unlikely Choice,” Associated Press, January 18, 2003.
Mesereau meeting with Randy, MJ mansion, “I don’t want the Nation of Islam,” “This message of inclusion,” and “on cloud nine”
: Mesereau interview.
“
I never felt it was in the bag” and “Okay, my life is about to change”
: Zonen interview.
Mesereau in Santa Barbara County
: Mesereau interview.
“They fought for copies”
: Rodney Melville speech at “Frozen in Time” panel, September 5, 2010.
“A goddamn zoo, a freak show” and “fat white psychopath”
: Matt Taibbi, “Inside the Strangest Trial on Earth,”
Rolling Stone,
April 7, 2005, p. 35.
Sheree Wilkins background
: Author interview with Sheree Wilkins.
“I believe the connection was pain”
: Ibid.
Diane Dimond interviewed twenty “possible victims” and “I think Michael Jackson”
: Author interview with Diane Dimond.
“A lot of people came there”
: Deutsch interview.
Juror details
: “Jury Selected in Michael Jackson Case,”
billboard.com
, February 23, 2005.
Mesereau wanted female jurors
: Mesereau interview.
“
I like people who are businessmen”
: Zonen interview.
“Humorless creep”
: Taibbi, “Inside the Strangest Trial on Earth,” p. 35.
“Like the sheriff and I are really into that”
: “Prosecutor in Jackson trial denies personal grudge played role in case,” Associated Press, June 14, 2005.
“On February the third of 2003” and other Sneddon opening-statement remarks
: Sneddon testimony in
People vs. Michael Jackson,
February 28, 2005.
“Sneddon was much more abrasive”
: Author interview with Peter Bowes.
“The way the state structured their case”
: Dimond interview.
“He was a drug addict”
: Zonen interview.
“
Ladies and gentlemen, I have an
organized
opening statement,” accusations of Janet Arvizo exploiting and expenses, and “And guess what happens”
: Mesereau,
People vs. Michael Jackson
.
“Very talkative” and other details from Davellin testimony, including 160 “I don’t remember” references and 130 “I don’t know references”
: Davellin Arvizo testimony
, People vs. Michael Jackson,
March 3, 2005.
“I got dressed for this court date”
: Author interview with Tony Baxter.
“Got milk?,” “You’re missing some pussy,” and other Star testimony details
: Star Arvizo testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson
, March 9, 2005.
“[Michael] was like my best friend ever,” “Daddy,” and other Gavin testimony details
: Gavin Arvizo testimony
, People vs. Michael Jackson
, March 9, 2005.
“You could see his health declining”
: Bowes interview.
“close the book” and “most people thought anybody”
: Mesereau interview.
“We wanted a cooperative witness”
: Zonen interview.
“Michael wasn’t paying him twenty million”
: Ibid.
“
Dressed impeccably” and “Gold digger”
: Aphrodite Jones,
Michael Jackson Conspiracy
(Aphrodite Jones, 2012), pp. 189–90.
$7,000 gift certificate and other June Chandler testimony details
: June Chandler testimony
, People vs. Michael Jackson,
April 11, 2005.
Janet Arvizo’s testimony key to prosecution case
: Matthew Davis, “Profile: The Arvizo family,” news.bbc.co.uk, June 13, 2005.
Janet Arvizo testimony
: Janet Arvizo testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
April 13, 2005.
“It was just startling”
: Deutsch interview.
“Why not Merv Griffin”
: Matt Taibbi, “The Nation in the Mirror,” pp. 69–72.
Shaplen narrating the verdict
: Author interview with Peter Shaplen.
ABC coaxing six jurors onto a Disney jet and CNN locking out other networks
: Ibid.
Wilkins on a stretcher and “I had given absolutely everything”
: Wilkins interview.
“The one thing I really regret”
: Clayton interview.
Manama description, including prostitutes and movie theaters
: Yaroslav Trofimov, “Upon Sober Reflection, Bahrain Reconsiders the Wages of Sin,”
Wall Street Journal,
June 9, 2009, p. A1.
“baby Dubai, with its prenatal skyscrapers and tax shelters”
: Devin Friedman, “Where’s Michael?,”
GQ,
May 2006, pp. 175–77.
DJ Whoo Kid flight and lost passport
: Author interview with DJ Whoo Kid.
Sheik’s palace pool, MJ with legs exposed, “Do you not
understand
?” exchange, and Abdullah paying:
Ibid.
“It’s difficult to explain to people”
: Author interview with Guy Holmes.
“Where Have You Been?”
and “It was like we’d already spent time together”
: Friedman, “Where’s Michael?,” 175–77.
Sheikh loaned MJ more than $2 million
: Patrick Foster, “Sheikh’s expensive duet with Jackson ends on a sour note,”
The Times,
November 18, 2008, p. 5.