Chapter 8: Heidi Wear: The Mid 90s Heidi Pioneers Personal branding And Cashes In With Her Own Line Of Branded Sleepwear
Heidi Fleiss goes to trial with the eyes of the world on her, and the Fleiss family’s close bonds are tested as they are asked to turn against each other in court. But Heidi Fleiss mania has already peaked as the OJ trial begins and takes focus. The jurors deliberate and then have second thoughts. Plus the story of Charlie “Good Time,” the Malibu music promoter with a Heidi connection.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Why Ron Los Angeles. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences presents Oscars the sixty six And you will
look Academy Award your Host of the six, and you
will look Academy Awards. Whom Berg the Haven't in this
(00:32):
medi shows Executive So Nervous, Sweat and Over One Woman,
Society Fly Sonny Yeah. Previously on Heidi World, Heidi Flice's
trial has captured the world at the moment when television
channels like Court TV are creating the twenty four content
(00:53):
cycle with other l A trials like the Menendez Brothers
and O. J. Simpson. But Heide's crimes are only arguably
even crimes in a crooked system that prosecutes sex workers
and criminalizes sex work. Welcome to Heidi World. Chapter eight,
(01:24):
tidy Ware. Heidi pioneers personal branding and cashes in on
the scandal with her own line of Brandon sleepware the
mid nineties. Welcome back to Heidi World. I'm your host,
Molly Lambert. It's Hide's estate in the hills above l
(01:49):
A has sold for just under its one point eight
million dollar listing. Heidi has moved out of the house
and is trying to keep her location off the grid
to avoid more media attention. The Tower Grove mansion is
bought by an Italian named Federico Pignatelli, whose fortune comes
from manufacturing laser dental products. In San Clemente, Heidi Flice
(02:14):
is still the subject on everyone's lips. In July, at
long last, Heidi is able to unveil physical prototypes of
her new clothing line of Sleepwaar and casual accessories, Heidiwear.
The first ever Heidiwear store opens in Pasadena. A tan
(02:36):
and relax looking Heidi is there manning the Heidiwaar counter
herself and offering to autograph any item in the store,
which sells the infamous Heidiwear boxers with the condom pocket,
as well as T shirts, leggings, and tank tops with
prices that top out at thirty bucks. It's a branded
capsule collection and ahead of its time notion that will
(02:57):
eventually take over sleepware and streetwear and lead the world
to where we have Savage by fenty, a capsule collection
of laundry sold to me by a famous person. There
is also, get this, a hotline we can call to
order stuff from Heidi Ware. The number is one eight
hundred Heidi p J. Obviously I called it to see
(03:20):
what happens now, and the answer is it's a sex
party hotline. And because I am a podcast effective, I
wonder what happened when you call other old hotlines. So
I called the hotline one eight seven seven Tame Her,
(03:44):
which is the hotline that Paul Thomas Anderson made an
infomercial for and a sount to promote Magnolia, which starred
Tom Cruise as Frank t J. Mackey, a seduction artist character.
Let's just say that I called the number a lot
at that time, and it gave you a prerecorded message
of Tom Cruise as Frank t J. Mackie inviting you
into the seduction destroy universe. Well, anyway, I guess what
(04:06):
happens when we call it now? You get the same
sex party line that you get when you called a
Hidiwear number. Isn't that beautiful? I also called the j
J the Beeper King Hotline and found out you got
the same sex party line there, which is very satisfying.
It means that there's some company out there who is
buying up all the old hotlines for people who don't
(04:29):
have the Internet that still call sex hotlines like me.
While Heidi is ringing up the boxers at the Heidi
Wear store, she and her father are getting their bells
rung over potential tax fraud. To get Heidi the loan
for the wildly expensive house, Dr Paul Flice had lied
and inflated his income. He had also said that he
(04:52):
would live on the property when he was really living
at a property in Venice. The i R s claims
that Paul Flice helped his her hide assets and inflated
his own income when he co signed the loan, that
he listed Heidi as a dependent making thirty three thousand
dollars a year on his tax return, an income he
(05:13):
said he partially furnished. The indictment also claims Heidi had
given checks from clients to her father and younger sister
Shana to deposit for her part. Heidi stars up and
down that her parents truly believed that she was working
as a realtor and counselor, and that they found out
what she actually did for a living at the same
time the rest of the world did. No It's very
(05:36):
possible that Dr Paul Flice didn't know how much money
his daughter was actually making or what exactly she was
doing to make it, so why did he offer to
go in with her on the house. Who knows he
loved his daughter and wanted her to have whatever she wanted.
A lot of rich parents co signed loans for their kids,
(05:56):
especially to buy property, but still wouldn't The crazy price
tag on the house signaled Paul, who was very smart,
that something was up. Shane of Flice thinks her parents
were in denial. They knew, but they didn't want to know.
It was like, we won't ask and you don't have
(06:17):
to tell. Shane of Flice. If Heidi was telling them
she was working as a realtor, maybe they just thought
she was getting a really good deal, but the I
r S disagreed. In August, Heidi and her father, Paul Flice,
plead not guilty to the federal charges of tax evasion
(06:39):
and money laundering. It's just weeks before Heidi's other trial
for pandering. If anyone should be embarrassed by all this,
it should be the government for charging Heidi with a
victimless crime and bringing these very peculiar charges against me.
I don't know why they're bringing this case. I didn't
do anything. Role Pole Flash pediatrician, I don't think Dad
(07:06):
knew what he was getting into. Dad probably said, why
would anyone loan you this money when I'm a doctor
and I couldn't get a loan like that, And it
was probably like, just sign the papers and watch me, Dad,
I'll get the loan. Shane of Flice is not doing
well herself. She has been told she might be called
into the case as well for cashing checks from Heidi.
(07:29):
She loves her sister, but her sister is also the
one who got her in a car wreck that almost
killed her and might now drag her into a criminal case.
As Heidi becomes one of the most notorious women in
the world, her sister Shana starts dabbling with heroin, first snorting,
then smoking it, and finally shooting up. After trying to
(07:49):
go cold turkey twice, she goes to a rehab facility.
She's working a job at a preschool that her dad
helped her get, but emotionally, Shana is still struggling with
the turmoil of her family breaking down so publicly. The
(08:26):
trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is said to happen on
the same day as Heidi's pandering trial on September at
the same place, the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse. Everyone
is salivating over what Summer calling the tabloid super Bowl.
(08:49):
The courthouse says it's a coincidence. Heide's August trial was
postponed because her lawyer had another trial scheduled. Some think
the judges behind the Heidi trial pushed its date to
come verge with the o J trial, figuring the o
J trial will take some of the media glare off
of Heidi. Local journalists agree that o J. Simpson is
(09:09):
a bigger story because he was a national celebrity to
begin with, whereas the Heidi scandal is, in many ways
a small town story that has been blown out to
huge proportions because of its connection to Hollywood. A guy
named Disease Mohammed, selling bootleg The Juice's Loose shirts for
the o J trial outside the courthouse, tells a reporter
(09:30):
he'd consider making T shirts for Heidi too, but Heidi,
of course, already has her own line of T shirts.
In September, Heidi goes to court ordered drug rehab. She's
tested positive six times in the last month in violation
of the terms of her federal case. Her lawyer argues
that the drugs she tested positive for aren't hard drugs.
(09:50):
She has a prescription for valium, but she also tests
positive from me amphetamines. Heidi says someone spiked her Coca
Cola with drugs at a birthday party. She's been in
federal custody in jail, but she's now moved from the
Metropolitan Detention Center to a rehab house in Pasadena called
Impact House. The trial is rescheduled to start on November one.
(10:14):
The l A Times runs a story saying that Heidiflice's
celebrity has already peaked and most people in town have
moved onto the o J case, which is happening two
doors down the hall. One person who does show up
is Norma Geina Almodovar, a former l A p D
officer who became a high end escort. She's there to
(10:35):
promote her new book, From Cop to Call Girl. I'm
here to make sure she gets a fair trial. In California,
there's a tremendous prejudice against people in the sex industry.
Norma Geine Almodovar, sex worker, former cop. On November eleven,
(10:55):
a jury is assembled for the pandering and coke possession trial.
One perspective of juror believes prostitutions should be legal. Another
thanks the Bible forbids it, which to me says they
didn't close read the Bible. The religious potential juror is
cut loose. Heidi has a team of lawyers that includes
Anthony Brooklyre and Donald Marks, who are looking into whether
(11:16):
Detective Sammy Lee's sting was conducted illegally. The four girls
who are expected to testify against Heidi after being busted
in the staying are Kimberly Birch, Peggy Schenk, Samantha Burdette,
and Brandy McClain. Brandy has still been living with Heidi
on and off while working as a clerk at the
Heidi Wear store. On November fift the courtroom, here's a
(11:38):
tape of the sting that reveals what an absolute slapstick
fiasco it was. Heidi appears in court in a blue
suit with gold buttons furnished by her new outfitters, Dulce
and Gabana. Her whole family is there, but Heidi can
barely face them. One of Heidi's lawyers, Donald Marks, makes
an opening argument that the staying was entrappedmant He says
(12:01):
the cops pursued Heidi and coerced her into committing a
criminal act. Heidi's lawyers file emotion with the judge, arguing
the case should be dropped because the John's aren't being prosecuted. November,
Heidi wears a black suit with velvet cuffs. Alan Carter
and Anthony Brooklyar examined Sammy Lee on the stand. Each
(12:24):
officer asked the young lady basically, for dollars, what would
they get. The answers ranged from straight sex, to oral
sex to what they wouldn't do. Detective Sammy Lee, Beverly
Hills Police Department. The girls said, for that amount of money,
you could get oral or straight sacks, but no anal sex.
(12:48):
Heidi Flies didn't ask to be introduced to you. Correct,
it was your idea. You asked for her telephone number,
she didn't offer it. Correct. If you don't count checked her,
she probably never calls you, but you do call. Correct.
Anthony Brookelyer, Hidi Flice's defense attorney. On November, Judge Judith L.
(13:13):
Champagne rules that it's irrelevant whether the John's are charged.
Later that day Samantha Burdette takes the stand in a miniskirt.
Hidie is wearing a gray pinstripe Kilchain Gabana suit and
appears to be miserable. Burdette tells the story of the
night of the bust. She was offered d dollars to
(13:33):
meet some Hawaiian businessmen. She said she received anywhere between
one and ten thousand dollars for a job involving quote
sexual favors. Sammy Lee undercover, asked for some cocaine, and
Burdette sold the officers two small bags of coke and
received cash for that. On top of the d the
(13:54):
men wanted her to do a dance, so she started
a strip tease, at which point Sammy Lee burst back
into the room to bust her. On November nineteen, the
case rests. Heidi appears in court in a bone white
mini skirt suit again by Delta and Gabanna. In Oldtown
Pasadena at the Highlywear store, business is brisk. According to
(14:17):
a Highywear store employee who goes by the nicknames Squirrel,
Highywear is quote moving like hotcakes. Novembery, The l A
Times runs a real estate story about how a venice
condo were Heidi lived after moving out of the Beverly
Hills mansion has sold for three hundred thousand dollars. The
Venice condo was owned by Paul Flice. They run this
(14:39):
alongside a story about how the condo in Brentwood were
Nicole Brown Simpson and We're on Goldman were murdered. Has
been put back on the market for seven hundred and
ninety five thousand dollars. The four bedroom condo can also
be rented for five thousand dollars a month. Absolute ghoulish ship,
but what else would you expect from the California housing market.
(15:02):
November twenty two, the trial resumes with Heidi's team showing
the video of the hotel room sing in its entirety,
complete with the undercover Asian American police officers speaking in
terrible fake Japanese accents. When Samantha Burdette gets on the
bed in her Red Song lingerie, the smoke alarm goes
off in the next room from the cups, who are
(15:24):
watching the action from a camera feed remotely in the
room next door while chain smoking cigarettes. The video is
often accidentally funny and people start laughing in the courtroom,
including Heidi, who was wearing glasses and another suit. After
the video, Anthony Brooklyer cross examines Detective Sammy Lee. This
(15:48):
whole thing was a setup. Correct. Correct, It was all
arranged with the people in the next room. Correct. Why
did you need to hide a video camera in the
bedroom where Burdette disrobed? Anytime you have a vice operation,
the videotape is good both as evidence and regarding the
(16:10):
conduct of the officer. Of the four girls busted, all
of whom flipped for immunity, only two are called to
the stand. Brandy McLean is absent, as is Peggy Shank,
who has fled with her young kid. Samantha Burdette and
(16:31):
Kimberly Birch both testified that they were offered each to
go out on the job, that this was a normal
lower end rate for them, and that Heidi took her cut.
They were shocked when the job turned out to be
a set up. Despite everyone in Hollywood freaking out that
they'll be named, no names of John's come out in court.
(16:52):
Not only are the powerful men who bought sex from
Heidi protected from the consequences, they don't even have to
suffer the mild embarrass sman of being outed as her clients.
November closing arguments, Heidi wears a gray Dulce and Gabbana
suit and another pair of glasses. Carter argues against the
(17:13):
idea of entrapment, saying it's not entrapment if they would
otherwise go about committing this crime. Sure, the cops asked
Heidi for girls, but she could have gone off the
strange vibe in her gut that she was getting from
Sammy Lee and said now that she readily agreed to
procure girls for quote. Nico Akai speaks to the fact
(17:34):
that this was something she does regularly. He compares Heidi
to a luxury car dealer hawking her wares. If Miss
Flice was on trial for a speeding ticket, the defense
would say it's the government's fault because the government built
the highway. All detectively did was open up the road.
Ms Flice sped right down the road. Alan Carter. Prosecutor
(18:00):
Anthony Brooklyer brings the focus back out to the fact
that Heidi is being prosecuted at all when violent crimes
constantly go unsolved in the city of Los Angeles. This
is hypocrisy at its best. This is so serious, isn't it?
How serious does the prosecution or the law really think
this is when they never prosecute the mail customer. Prostitution
(18:23):
is legal in Nevada, just two and fifty miles away.
It's a function of where you live as to whether
or not this is illegal. Yes, this is technically a crime.
So is spitting on the sidewalk. It's not appropriate for
law enforcement to induce the commission of a crime. They're
going to make this happen, come what may. Brooklyar calls
(18:46):
the case an abuse of power by the cops, a
show of force for a victimless crime. Maybe not the
best use of twenty armed police officers and the l
a city budget. And he is absolute lutely right. Alan
Carter almost gets it. Recently, there's been a new twist.
(19:08):
It's a bad twist. I did it, but it's somebody
else's fault. Yeah, I arranged for those women, but it's
Detective Lee's fault. If we travel down that road, you
all better buckle up and lock up real type. Now,
all of a sudden, defendant is no longer on trial.
It's the police officers who are on trial. Heidi is
(19:30):
facing a sentence of eleven years for pandering. The jury
is made up of five women and seven men. They
go off to deliberate on the last day of November,
when Heidi World returns. How the jurors deliberated. Welcome back
(20:13):
to Heidi World December three. One of the jurors is
a woman named Sheila Mitrowski, a forty eight year old
phone company worker from Bell Gardens. Mitrowski says the jury
was evenly split it first on Heidi's guilt. Four of
the women and two of the men initially believed Heidi
(20:34):
should be acquitted. Nobody on the jury really buys Tony
Brooklyer's argument about the staying being entrapped meant. Four days later,
the jury comes back with their decision. Heidi is convicted
on three counts of pandering. They find her not guilty
of supplying the police with cocaine and reached a checkmate
(20:55):
on the other two pandering counts. Heidi puts her head
on the table as the judge reads the first and
second guilty verdicts, then sits back up and slams the
table with her fists. As the judge reads the third
guilty verdict. Her father in the front row of the courtroom,
also drops his head and starts weeping. Alan Carter declares
(21:17):
the trial of success a triumph of morality. People who
go into the prostitution business are usually pretty sad souls,
and they're exploited by Pandora's Judge, Judith L. Champagne, sets
a sentencing date of January one. Jerry four Woman Sheila
(21:40):
Mitrowski is informed that Heidi could get as many as
eight years in jail with a mandatory minimum of three.
Oh no, that's way too much. You've got kids out
on the streets dealing drugs for crying out loud, and
they get probation, Sheila Mitrowski, Jury four woman, so close, Sheila,
(22:03):
You're so close. Maria Campos, a thirty eight year old
hospital receptionist from Northeast l A, says that Jerry watched
tapes of the sting repeatedly and argued a lot. Juror
Nancy Reyes, a four year old secretary from Monterey Park,
also seems regretful about the guilty verdict. When she learns
that Heidi will go to jail. She even calls the
(22:25):
cops overbearing. I don't think she should go to jail
for it. I just don't think it's fair that she
has to do time for something like this. It's upsetting.
I mean, hey, she didn't kill anybody. Nancy Reyes, another jerror,
comments to the press under a promise of anonymity, that
(22:48):
several jurors did feel that Flights had been entrapped by
the cops, but chose to bargain with the jurors who
could not be convinced rather than come out with a
hung jury. They didn't realize that if Heidi had been
died on the coke charge but not on pandering, she
would have been ulgible for probation. Pandering, it turns out,
is a much more serious charge given the nondescriptively elegant
(23:11):
name that they use instead of pimping. I heard some
of them talking afterward on TV, and I couldn't believe it.
They thought they were doing me a favor by convicting
me of pandering rather than the drug charge. They thought
I'd just get a ticket or something. Heidi Flice. Other jurors,
(23:36):
like forty two year old Department of Water and Power
worker Darryl Kitagawa, believe firmly that justice was served and
that the police did not act in appropriately. After the conviction,
Heidi's bail is set at seventy dollars would. She posts
and flees to a condo in Santa Monica. There is
no more hoping for a good outcome. Her entire world shattered.
(24:02):
I'm still in shock. Oh my heart has never beaten
so fast. I heard them say guilty on the first count,
and then I just couldn't hear anymore. I just went blank.
My father was crying. He said to me, be strong
and think of something positive that I can't even think.
(24:25):
Her mother, Alyssa, gives a comment to the press about
how Hidi is being punished too harshly, referencing the Menendez
brothers and the cops who beat Rodney King. There's something
flawed about people who can't decide about the guilt or
innocence of admitted parent killers and people shown on cam
I smashing the head of someone else and then find
(24:47):
Heidi guilty. I just don't believe the good of society
has been served by putting Heidi in jail. Alyssa Hidie's mother.
I don't care about anything but what's happening right now.
Even if the guys were going down to that wouldn't
help me what. The media is disappointed by the lack
(25:12):
of big names revealed in the case. No new movie
stars were mentioned, or even any rich idiots. The only
names that ever came out were the ones blurted out
to Vanity Fair by Heidi Felice herself, which she immediately
tried to redact. The newspapers are inundated with letters, people
calling for the legalization of sex work, people calling for
(25:33):
the l a p d To focus on things like
carjacking instead of watching women undressed in hotel rooms. Some
of the jurors go on Horaldo to talk about the verdict,
and Sheila Mitrowski realizes when a legal expert explains entrappedman
that she did not actually know what entrapment was during
the trial. After I flew back home and I was
(25:58):
sitting there watching Horaldo on TV, I thought, holy cow,
I did that wrong. Mittrowski also starts thinking about sex
work and that commission. She tries to put herself in
Heidi Flice's black leather boots to me, there really and
(26:21):
truly is that possibility. A lot of people will do
a lot of things for that kind of money. I
feel very badly. I feel I'm in a mistake when
I found her guilty of those three counts. There's also
gossip that Heidi has a new bow. Frank Sinatra's son,
Frank Sinatra Jr. I don't know how all this stuff
(26:45):
gets started. Heidi flies I befriended because she and I
went through something of the same nature, and when word
reached the tabloids, bless their little hearts, they decided here
was something they could make money with. They even had
it in one of the papers last weekend that she
and I were going to run off to Vegas and
get married. That's a lot of horse dump. Do you
know what would happen if she left l A right now?
(27:07):
They'd lock her up and throw away the key. She
knows that, and so do I. Frank Sinatra Jr. Singer
December a ray of hope for Heidi. Five jurors sign
a statement saying they discussed the case and properly outside
the courtroom and didn't fully understand what they were doing.
(27:29):
Anthony Brooklyer wants to get Heidi's conviction overturned With this statement,
gil Garcetti says, even if the verdict is overturned, Heidi
will be prosecuted again thanks a lot. Gil Anthony Brooklyer
is on the case. There were juror irregularities that occurred
during the course of the trial which deprived our client
(27:52):
of a fair trial and a true verdict. Though inadvertent,
a real injustice has unfolded. But jurors changing their minds
after a case ends isn't enough to overturn it. It's
the talking about the case outside the courtroom that was
more blatantly against protocol. The jurors who were sympathetic to Heidi,
(28:14):
like a man named Joseph Lichuga, were concerned a retrial
might give Heidi an even worse sentence rather than a
lighter one. But Heidi is elated. My future was so bleak,
so so bleak, and now maybe there's another way. God
(28:36):
am I happy. It takes a lot of courage for
anybody to come forward and admit they did something wrong.
It's a very hard thing to do. The mid nineties
are here, and with them Heidi's fate. Gil Garcetti is
(28:57):
upset about Ellie's reputation as a place tawdry scandals involving
famous people is all the media cares about, so he
invites local public television legend Huelhauser to the l A
courthouse to show him what it's really like boring, mostly
incredibly boring. The episode airs as part of Huelhauser's show
(29:18):
Visiting on the night before the O. J. Simpson trial begins. December,
Heidi turns twenty nine years old. Happy Birthday, Heidi. January,
Victorias Sellers catches a felony drug charge for that traffic
stop where she asked the cops to fetch her person
they searched it. She's booked for possession of meth amphetamine
(29:39):
for sale and also for having the downer diazepam. She
has brought to court in Van Nuys and sentenced to
thirteen days in jail and three years probation. January one.
Judge Champagne agrees to hear the jurors testimony. February four.
The jury gets limited immune d from being prosecuted for misconduct.
(30:03):
February twenty four. With immunity granted, the jurors cop to
what is called quote unquote horse trading, dealing behind closed doors,
and bargaining on votes. Five of the jurors wrongly thought
that the drug charge was a heavier charge than pandering
and thought they were helping Heidi get a lighter sentence
by voting not guilty on the drug charges. They were wrong,
(30:24):
but furthermore, they were clearly all completely confused. Judge Champagne
gets mad at Jerry four woman Sheila Mactrowski for not
reporting this to her when it was actually happening. Heidi
is at the courthouse watching wearing a gray turtleneck and
a gray skirt suit. It's really hard, very very hard.
(30:51):
March on. Bernie Cornfeld dies. He had suffered a stroke
in December during a trip to Israel and dies of
pneumonia in a London hospital at the age of sixty six.
Cornfeld and Heidi kept in touch long after their breakup,
and Heidi regarded him as both the mentor and perhaps
her great love. He was a hustler's hustler, which appealed
(31:12):
to Heidi sense for moneymaking. Although he had moved to
Europe in the late eighties to evade the I R
S over a twelve million dollar debt, he was still
trying to do crazy deals, like trying to buy MGM
Studios with five hundred million dollars in cash. There is
also some evidence that he may have allegedly been a
(31:32):
CIA plant, fake rich guy, sort of like Jeffrey Epstein,
and I couldn't prove this obviously, but let's just say
the rabbit hole exists. March, Judge Judith L. Champagne rejects
the bid for a retrial and sets Heidi sentencing for May.
She is dubious about juror's claims that they swapped votes.
(31:56):
It is a parent to the court that with each
opportunity to describe their acts of misconduct, these acts of
misconducts seemed to grow a little like Pinocchio's notes Judge
Judith L. Champagne, So we got a little comedian on
the bench. Sounded like she didn't believe us. But we
wouldn't have put ourselves on a limb to make the
(32:17):
statements we did if we weren't telling the truth. I
feel it's very unfair to Heidi. It's really tough. As
desperate as Heidi might be, at least Heidiware is doing well.
Chrissy Teagan, who followed me for some reason, responded to
(32:39):
one of my posts on Twitter announcing this podcast, saying
that her mom took her to the old Town Pasadena
Hidiwear store when she was a kid to get Heidi's autograph,
which might make an impression on you about how celebrity works.
Hidiwere is selling like crazy, and Heidi even wants to
open a second Hidiwear store, but her pesky meddling trials
(33:02):
keep getting in the way. On May eleven, Paul Flice
takes a plea bargain. After refusing previous offers. He agrees
to plead guilty to lesser charges to get his sentence reduced.
He wears a gray pinstripe suit in court and has
a nervous habit of smiling and tapping his fingers. I
was aware that she had a misdemeanor gambling conviction. I
(33:26):
was aware that she had income, but I had no
special knowledge. With the plea bargain, he is up for
only four to ten months in jail, which could conceivably
be served at home with an electronic bracelet. In his
plea bargain, Paul fly says he was aware that Heidi
was working in the sex business. According to the court,
(33:48):
Dr Flie admitted that he knew Heidi was making money
illegally from a bookie business. A third party, possibly his
daughter Shana, told him Heidi was running a call ural
ray in the year he led her deposit seventy dollars
and two of his bank accounts. I love Heidi. She's
(34:09):
my daughter. I love her very much. I'm still quite
worried about my daughter. I have my own problems. I
have so many problems. This is just another example of
Paul's lovingness and is concerned for the family. Paul did
(34:30):
nothing wrong. He was just doing the expedient thing for
the sake of the family. In the Plea Bargain, Paul
Flice admits to helping his daughter even when he knew
she was running an illegal business. He helped her get
a car loan to buy her corvette by taking the
loan out in his name and taking cash from Heidi
(34:50):
to pay it off. And he also helped her get
the million dollar home loan for the Tower Grove estate
by filling out the loan application with falsified information. And
it's very difficult for a twenty five year old girl
to get a loan or insurance on a corvette. He
(35:13):
was doing what a lot of parents with money do
for their kids, for better or worse, almost always for worse,
and he didn't care about the possible illegality of the
money because he's a man of the seventies. You can
look at it as he just wanted to help his daughter,
or that he was spoiling her and enabling her, helping
her get the material goods that would ensure her downfall,
(35:37):
or both. It's complicated. On May nineteen, Heide's lawyer in
the I R. S case tries one last time to
get the charges dismissed. He argues that they're treating his
client like she's al capone. It does not work. She's
also up for sentencing in the pandering case. For somewhere
between eighteen months and eight years, she has trapped in
(35:59):
a reality that is genuinely cough ga ask. She knows
she's being used by the City of l A, by
the cops and the courts and the District Attorney to
make it look like they take action on crime, but
she's well aware that the seriousness of her crimes pales
in comparison to a billion other things, and from her
previous experiences with the cops after her friend Wendy Tar
(36:21):
was murdered, she knows that the l A. P D
don't really do ship, especially for victims of sexual assault.
The whole thing is so ridiculous, especially right now with
everything going on in the world, like the prison overcrowding,
the bombing in Oklahoma City. To spend this much time
and money on me, it is crazy. I think I've
(36:44):
been punished enough. When Heidi World returns, Heidi faces sentencing
and her future. Welcome back to Heidi World. May Judgment day.
(37:26):
Heidi appears in court wearing a gray miniskirt suit. Judge
Judith L. Champagne has weighed the arguments made by Alan
Carter for the prosecution and Anthony Brooklyer and his team
for her defense. We're dealing with someone who prays on
the young, the naive. She steers impressionable people in the
(37:49):
wrong direction. That kind of conduct needs to be punished,
your honor. No one was hurt in this case, no
one was coerced, and no one operated under duress. All
my client did was arranged consensual sex between consenting adults.
(38:13):
Judge Champagne sentences Heidi to three years for pandering and
finds her dollars. Heidi shows no emotion in court, numb.
It's like sex. It's the worst crime on earth. It's ridiculous.
No one lost money, no one got hurt. This was
(38:37):
a highly sophisticated and lucrative criminal enterprise. It cannot be
called a victimless crime. It's very degrading and it does
take its toll. Alan Carter had asked for four years
for Heidi. Judge Champaigne opted for three, which is the
shortest mandatory sentence for pandering. Heidi's family is horrified seeing
(38:59):
this as a miscarriage of justice. Seeing your child locked
up is a nightmare. That's what happens when they make
laws one size fits all. They indict people where it
really isn't appropriate. Hi do you thinks Alan Carter is
(39:21):
a total hypocrite who infantilizes women for choosing sex work.
He said they're stupid and I degraded them. He's the
one who's really bashing them. Hi do you? Posts a
two hundred thousand dollar bond and files an appeal. She's
(39:41):
allowed out on bail during the appeal, which can take
up to a year. May Hid he opens a second
Hide Wear store in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade.
The first Hide Wear store has moved to a prime
location in Old Town Pasadena, which is an open air
mall that's like the grove for people from the past.
(40:03):
The best selling item at both Hide Wear stores is
the boxer shorts with the condom pocket. June two, The
l A Times publishes some letters from people who are
angry about the city budget being spent on the Heidi
Fly's trial at a time when hospitals are in danger
of closing down due to lack of funds. People right
into support Heidi, saying it's outrageous that she might go
(40:26):
to prison while the men who got her in trouble
walk away without a scratch. June nine, the judge in
the federal case refuses to drop Heidi's charges. June the
opening day of the federal I. R. S trial. I'm
scared as hell, but I've got turning optimistic this time,
(40:51):
some of the witnesses called our clients. The first John
to take the stand in the federal trial is film
and TV producer Howard Schlinker, former owner and stakeholder in
sports teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets.
He cops to writing five checks for a total of
seventeen thousand dollars to Heidi for sexual services rendered. Manuel Santos,
(41:13):
president of Bibisco, Mexico and real estate developer from Monterey
also testifies that he wrote checks totaling forty thou dollars
for prostitutes from Heidi all through. He said on the
stand that he often sent his private jet to pick
up the Heidi girls and fly them to Mexico. Christina Watkins,
(41:34):
an actress from the San Fernando Valley who worked for Heidi,
testifies that she had sex with clients in Las Vegas, Paris,
and Greece. Two girls confirmed that the money was often
dispensed in cash envelopes, which they'd bring to Heidi's house,
where she'd take her for cut and give them the rest.
Samantha Burdett testifies that her first client wrote her a
(41:56):
check for seven thousand dollars for sex July eleven. I
had a good run, Alex Fleming Madam Madam Alex is
laid up at Cedar Sinai Hospital in her beloved Beverly Hills.
(42:17):
She is only sixty years old, but she is dying.
Complications from heart surgery put her on life support. Despite
their contentious relationship, Heidi is devastated, as is another one
of Alex's longtime f enemies, it's like losing a friend.
And all the years we've played cat and mouse, she
(42:40):
never once tried to corrupt me. Fred Clapp retired lp
D Vice Officer. Madam Alex's health, which has been terrible
for years, deteriorated further and she ended up in the
hospital and her deathbed. Heidi, who despite it all, really
did care her from Adam Alex in some way, went
(43:02):
to visit her when she heard that she was dying.
When Alex was dying in the hospital, she listed me
as a family member. The hospital called me every day
at my hide wear store and wanted to know when
I was coming by. I stayed with her as much
as I could. I went out of my way to
make her laugh and feel better. And then something happened
(43:24):
that brought back all the terrible things that she had
done to me. On my way in the head nurse
and the I see you showed me a list of
people who have been there that day. The name Detective
Sammy Lee was on the list, and it made me
rethink what I was doing there. On the day that
(43:45):
Heidi's federal trial begins, Madam Alex dies when her life
support is disconnected. Heidi has conflicting feelings about her mentors death.
In her book Pandering, she writes an open letter about Alex.
I always loved and respected her, although at times she
(44:06):
made it difficult. I have said things in the past
that were unkind, but it was always a reaction to
some unbelievable act of betrayal on her part. Time after
time I would call her on the phone and forgive her.
I would actually nothing had happened between us. I learned
to understand that her extreme verbal abuse, paranoia, and backstabbing
(44:26):
was just who she was. I think Alex had a
bizarre kind of love for me, which justified the terrible
things she did to me. We had a close relationship
because of our business and complex lifestyles. No other person
could relate to the things we dealt with. We spoke
on the phone for hours and hours and hours every
(44:48):
day for five years. The only time we would not
speak was when Alex would do or say something evil
to me, and I would have to take a break
to deal with my feelings. How do you then RecA
on something incredibly anti semitic? Alex said to her that
I do not have to repeat here, but feel free
to read the book She says Alex was a mass
of contradictions. She demanded loyalty and silence, but she was
(45:11):
a paid police informant who talked about her trade with
the tabloids. In court, the federal judge orders to the stand.
Mr Charlie Sheen Judy Geller is a USC grad whose
father is a prestigious San Francisco lawyer. She was also
a Heidi girl who went on fifty plus out calls.
She estimates Heidi's take at sixty thousand a month and
(45:35):
testifies that Charlie Sheen was a major customer. She was
sent out on calls to Schlenker, Santos, and Sheen. Charlie
Sheen is shooting a movie called Shadow Conspiracy in Washington,
d C. And plans to give his deposition on videotape.
He has granted immunity for testifying. July, an FBI handwriting
(45:59):
expert says he forged her father and sister signatures on
escrow documents and checks from clients. Special Agent William Hellman
compared handwriting samples and says that Heidi didn't even attempt
to hide her handwriting while forging the checks. July, the
checks were for sexual services heterost sexual services. Charlie Sheen actor.
(46:27):
The jurors watched the Charlie Sheen tape. No, not the
sex tape of Charlie Sheen with Heidi girls that also
existed the deposition he taped while filming on location in DC.
A sweaty, fidgety Sheen SIPs ice water on screen while
he admits to ordering girls from Heidi that he paid
for in cash at least twenty seven times from the
(46:52):
seven checks used in court total fifty thou dollars. Sheen
says he is now engaged to a model named Dona Peal.
He claims under oath he cannot remember the names of
any of the Heidi girls he spent time with, even
the ones he repeatedly proposed to. He also says he
never gave money to Heidi, just her employees. He puts
(47:14):
out a statement, I apologize to my family, my future wife,
my close friends for all embarrassment these incidents may have cussed.
I offer no other explanation from my actions, only the truth,
which is contained in every detail within my tistama. I
(47:37):
wouldn't call it the past if it wasn't. Shane of
Flice is also called to the stand to testify against
her sister, but starts weeping. Shana tries to make eye
contact with Heidi, who stares down at her feet and
can't look at her sister in the eye. Shana says
(47:58):
she's incapable of testify ying against her sister, striking a
blow to the prosecution who were expecting her to be
a star witness. Blood is thicker than water. District Judge
Consuelo B. Marshall, who is presiding over the federal trial,
holds Shane of Flye in contempt of court and puts
(48:20):
her on house arrested. July, Heidi's mother, Alyssa Ash testifies
that the Fly's family is so close they share money
and bank accounts pretty freely, the way people now share
Netflix accounts. Sometimes we forget who owes what to whom.
(48:43):
The I r S doesn't care. Assistant U S Attorney
Alejandro Majorca says Heidi needs to quote pull her load,
which is an amazing choice of words. Majorca says Flice
should work as hard at paying her tax debt to
the U. S. Government as she did at building her
prostitution business. August eleven, Heidi is convicted in her federal trial.
(49:08):
On six counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy,
and one count of tax evasion. Wearing another Tandel Chancabana suit,
Heidi starts weeping when the verdict is announced. Once again,
the jury seems unsure of what exactly they're doing. A
journey named Diona Watson feels immediate regret, saying that John
(49:30):
should have at least been prosecuted. To Jay Leno, who
is at the peak of his run of O. J.
Simpson material during the other Big l A trial, makes
time for one last joke about Heidi Fleiss, whose truthfulness stings.
I think the woman of the point. When a woman
at the red of her prostitution, she's jailed, you know
(49:52):
what happens to a man he's reelected. September one, Hidi
is having dinner with friends at the Ivy at the Shore.
One of her friends is Dr. Stephen Houghlin, who is
Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon. After dinner, they take a walk
(50:13):
down the Santa Monica Pier when they hear a loud
splash followed by a man screaming for his life in
the water. Steve Houghlin jumps in the water and rescues
the suicidal drowning man Will Heidi runs the call nine
one one from a pay phone. Ste didn't even think twice.
He dove in with his wallet and beeper and everything.
(50:37):
Hidi runs into the piers arcade and finds the harbor
patrol who take a rescue boat out and are able
to save the suicidal man's life. Also in September, Charlie
Sheen gets married. He weds down appeal in Malibu at
(50:57):
Paul Flice is hearing in a courthouse packed with his
friends and supporters. Dr Paul Flice receives word he will
get a one day sentence with probation. Now for yet
another crazy story about another crazy guy that will make
sense why I'm telling it when I get to the
(51:18):
very end. A music executive known as good Time Charlie
Minor is shot to death by a spurned girlfriend at
his beach house in Malibu. Charlie Miner is known for
hosting all night parties every Saturday and for his constant
revolving door of beautiful young women in bikinis. He's the
(51:38):
king of what's called Paola, where record companies ply radio
programmers with money and sometimes even drugs, and call girls
if they agree to play certain records on the air.
Miner helped promote stars like Janet Jackson and Sting to
the top of the charts, but he had fallen in
status and was now working for the music Paola magazine Hits,
(51:59):
where coincidentally, I had my first ever internship in the
media business. At age forty seven. Good Time Charlie was
allegedly trying to cut back on his hard partying lifestyle.
He quit doing drugs and cut down on drinking, but
he had one remaining vice sex. His friends called him
(52:19):
a womanizer and a natural promoter who enjoyed his life
to the very fullest, and like Heidie and Madam Alex,
Charlie Miner was known for his ability to work the phones.
Suzette McClure was a twenty seven year old exotic dancer
who Charlie Miner met at a West Side strip club
called Bailey's Gentleman's Club when he was there taking out
(52:41):
some radio programmers. One night, Susantte McClure showed up at
the Beach House without calling first and found Miner with
another woman. When he said he didn't want to see
her again, she shot him in the head. Nine times.
McClure's friends say that she was a smart, sensitive cal
poly Pomona graph to it who became a topless dancer
(53:02):
when her aerospace job at the Howard Hughes Aircraft Plant
in Long Beach was downsized by post Cold War budget cuts.
Why am I telling you the story, you might wonder
yet again, because good Time Charlie Minor allegedly also had
Heidi Flice's number in his rolodex. The focus of the
Heidi Flights investigation was mostly the film industry, but would
(53:25):
it be even a little bit surprising if music industry
exacts were also involved. Anyway, the death had nothing to
do with Heidi's operation. It was just connected back to
everyone knowing each other. October, BBC producer director Nick Broomfield's
documentary about Heidi, called Heidi Flice Hollywood Madam airs on Cinemax.
(53:50):
Heidi attends the runway shows at California's Fashion Expo to
promote Heidi Wear in advance of her jail sentence. She
sits for a show from a line called misk short
from Miscellaneous, where one of the outfits is modeled by
another woman who used the fact that she was once
the center of a big scandal in l A to
(54:10):
forge a career as a sort of professional celebrity and actress.
Tracy Lord's Heidi Flice is now thirty years old and
headed to jail. Even her family can't help her now
as she prepares to face her fate, but there remains
(54:34):
a lingering sense among the public that justice has not
really been served here. The show trial of Heidi Flics
has backfired on the l A p D when it
comes to the court of public opinion, but it has
achieved its ultimate goal to scare and silence sex workers. Yeah.
(55:02):
Next time on Heidi World, Heidi gets out of jail
and finds new fame in the burgeoning genre of reality television. Meanwhile,
her cousin Mike Flice invents and gets rich off creating
a new reality show about choosing a beautiful woman out
of a lineup of beautiful women called The Bachelor.
Why Ron Los Angeles. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences presents Oscars the sixty six And you will
look Academy Award your Host of the six, and you
will look Academy Awards. Whom Berg the Haven't in this
(00:32):
medi shows Executive So Nervous, Sweat and Over One Woman,
Society Fly Sonny Yeah. Previously on Heidi World, Heidi Flice's
trial has captured the world at the moment when television
channels like Court TV are creating the twenty four content
(00:53):
cycle with other l A trials like the Menendez Brothers
and O. J. Simpson. But Heide's crimes are only arguably
even crimes in a crooked system that prosecutes sex workers
and criminalizes sex work. Welcome to Heidi World. Chapter eight,
(01:24):
tidy Ware. Heidi pioneers personal branding and cashes in on
the scandal with her own line of Brandon sleepware the
mid nineties. Welcome back to Heidi World. I'm your host,
Molly Lambert. It's Hide's estate in the hills above l
(01:49):
A has sold for just under its one point eight
million dollar listing. Heidi has moved out of the house
and is trying to keep her location off the grid
to avoid more media attention. The Tower Grove mansion is
bought by an Italian named Federico Pignatelli, whose fortune comes
from manufacturing laser dental products. In San Clemente, Heidi Flice
(02:14):
is still the subject on everyone's lips. In July, at
long last, Heidi is able to unveil physical prototypes of
her new clothing line of Sleepwaar and casual accessories, Heidiwear.
The first ever Heidiwear store opens in Pasadena. A tan
(02:36):
and relax looking Heidi is there manning the Heidiwaar counter
herself and offering to autograph any item in the store,
which sells the infamous Heidiwear boxers with the condom pocket,
as well as T shirts, leggings, and tank tops with
prices that top out at thirty bucks. It's a branded
capsule collection and ahead of its time notion that will
(02:57):
eventually take over sleepware and streetwear and lead the world
to where we have Savage by fenty, a capsule collection
of laundry sold to me by a famous person. There
is also, get this, a hotline we can call to
order stuff from Heidi Ware. The number is one eight
hundred Heidi p J. Obviously I called it to see
(03:20):
what happens now, and the answer is it's a sex
party hotline. And because I am a podcast effective, I
wonder what happened when you call other old hotlines. So
I called the hotline one eight seven seven Tame Her,
(03:44):
which is the hotline that Paul Thomas Anderson made an
infomercial for and a sount to promote Magnolia, which starred
Tom Cruise as Frank t J. Mackey, a seduction artist character.
Let's just say that I called the number a lot
at that time, and it gave you a prerecorded message
of Tom Cruise as Frank t J. Mackie inviting you
into the seduction destroy universe. Well, anyway, I guess what
(04:06):
happens when we call it now? You get the same
sex party line that you get when you called a
Hidiwear number. Isn't that beautiful? I also called the j
J the Beeper King Hotline and found out you got
the same sex party line there, which is very satisfying.
It means that there's some company out there who is
buying up all the old hotlines for people who don't
(04:29):
have the Internet that still call sex hotlines like me.
While Heidi is ringing up the boxers at the Heidi
Wear store, she and her father are getting their bells
rung over potential tax fraud. To get Heidi the loan
for the wildly expensive house, Dr Paul Flice had lied
and inflated his income. He had also said that he
(04:52):
would live on the property when he was really living
at a property in Venice. The i R s claims
that Paul Flice helped his her hide assets and inflated
his own income when he co signed the loan, that
he listed Heidi as a dependent making thirty three thousand
dollars a year on his tax return, an income he
(05:13):
said he partially furnished. The indictment also claims Heidi had
given checks from clients to her father and younger sister
Shana to deposit for her part. Heidi stars up and
down that her parents truly believed that she was working
as a realtor and counselor, and that they found out
what she actually did for a living at the same
time the rest of the world did. No It's very
(05:36):
possible that Dr Paul Flice didn't know how much money
his daughter was actually making or what exactly she was
doing to make it, so why did he offer to
go in with her on the house. Who knows he
loved his daughter and wanted her to have whatever she wanted.
A lot of rich parents co signed loans for their kids,
(05:56):
especially to buy property, but still wouldn't The crazy price
tag on the house signaled Paul, who was very smart,
that something was up. Shane of Flice thinks her parents
were in denial. They knew, but they didn't want to know.
It was like, we won't ask and you don't have
(06:17):
to tell. Shane of Flice. If Heidi was telling them
she was working as a realtor, maybe they just thought
she was getting a really good deal, but the I
r S disagreed. In August, Heidi and her father, Paul Flice,
plead not guilty to the federal charges of tax evasion
(06:39):
and money laundering. It's just weeks before Heidi's other trial
for pandering. If anyone should be embarrassed by all this,
it should be the government for charging Heidi with a
victimless crime and bringing these very peculiar charges against me.
I don't know why they're bringing this case. I didn't
do anything. Role Pole Flash pediatrician, I don't think Dad
(07:06):
knew what he was getting into. Dad probably said, why
would anyone loan you this money when I'm a doctor
and I couldn't get a loan like that, And it
was probably like, just sign the papers and watch me, Dad,
I'll get the loan. Shane of Flice is not doing
well herself. She has been told she might be called
into the case as well for cashing checks from Heidi.
(07:29):
She loves her sister, but her sister is also the
one who got her in a car wreck that almost
killed her and might now drag her into a criminal case.
As Heidi becomes one of the most notorious women in
the world, her sister Shana starts dabbling with heroin, first snorting,
then smoking it, and finally shooting up. After trying to
(07:49):
go cold turkey twice, she goes to a rehab facility.
She's working a job at a preschool that her dad
helped her get, but emotionally, Shana is still struggling with
the turmoil of her family breaking down so publicly. The
(08:26):
trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is said to happen on
the same day as Heidi's pandering trial on September at
the same place, the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse. Everyone
is salivating over what Summer calling the tabloid super Bowl.
(08:49):
The courthouse says it's a coincidence. Heide's August trial was
postponed because her lawyer had another trial scheduled. Some think
the judges behind the Heidi trial pushed its date to
come verge with the o J trial, figuring the o
J trial will take some of the media glare off
of Heidi. Local journalists agree that o J. Simpson is
(09:09):
a bigger story because he was a national celebrity to
begin with, whereas the Heidi scandal is, in many ways
a small town story that has been blown out to
huge proportions because of its connection to Hollywood. A guy
named Disease Mohammed, selling bootleg The Juice's Loose shirts for
the o J trial outside the courthouse, tells a reporter
(09:30):
he'd consider making T shirts for Heidi too, but Heidi,
of course, already has her own line of T shirts.
In September, Heidi goes to court ordered drug rehab. She's
tested positive six times in the last month in violation
of the terms of her federal case. Her lawyer argues
that the drugs she tested positive for aren't hard drugs.
(09:50):
She has a prescription for valium, but she also tests
positive from me amphetamines. Heidi says someone spiked her Coca
Cola with drugs at a birthday party. She's been in
federal custody in jail, but she's now moved from the
Metropolitan Detention Center to a rehab house in Pasadena called
Impact House. The trial is rescheduled to start on November one.
(10:14):
The l A Times runs a story saying that Heidiflice's
celebrity has already peaked and most people in town have
moved onto the o J case, which is happening two
doors down the hall. One person who does show up
is Norma Geina Almodovar, a former l A p D
officer who became a high end escort. She's there to
(10:35):
promote her new book, From Cop to Call Girl. I'm
here to make sure she gets a fair trial. In California,
there's a tremendous prejudice against people in the sex industry.
Norma Geine Almodovar, sex worker, former cop. On November eleven,
(10:55):
a jury is assembled for the pandering and coke possession trial.
One perspective of juror believes prostitutions should be legal. Another
thanks the Bible forbids it, which to me says they
didn't close read the Bible. The religious potential juror is
cut loose. Heidi has a team of lawyers that includes
Anthony Brooklyre and Donald Marks, who are looking into whether
(11:16):
Detective Sammy Lee's sting was conducted illegally. The four girls
who are expected to testify against Heidi after being busted
in the staying are Kimberly Birch, Peggy Schenk, Samantha Burdette,
and Brandy McClain. Brandy has still been living with Heidi
on and off while working as a clerk at the
Heidi Wear store. On November fift the courtroom, here's a
(11:38):
tape of the sting that reveals what an absolute slapstick
fiasco it was. Heidi appears in court in a blue
suit with gold buttons furnished by her new outfitters, Dulce
and Gabana. Her whole family is there, but Heidi can
barely face them. One of Heidi's lawyers, Donald Marks, makes
an opening argument that the staying was entrappedmant He says
(12:01):
the cops pursued Heidi and coerced her into committing a
criminal act. Heidi's lawyers file emotion with the judge, arguing
the case should be dropped because the John's aren't being prosecuted. November,
Heidi wears a black suit with velvet cuffs. Alan Carter
and Anthony Brooklyar examined Sammy Lee on the stand. Each
(12:24):
officer asked the young lady basically, for dollars, what would
they get. The answers ranged from straight sex, to oral
sex to what they wouldn't do. Detective Sammy Lee, Beverly
Hills Police Department. The girls said, for that amount of money,
you could get oral or straight sacks, but no anal sex.
(12:48):
Heidi Flies didn't ask to be introduced to you. Correct,
it was your idea. You asked for her telephone number,
she didn't offer it. Correct. If you don't count checked her,
she probably never calls you, but you do call. Correct.
Anthony Brookelyer, Hidi Flice's defense attorney. On November, Judge Judith L.
(13:13):
Champagne rules that it's irrelevant whether the John's are charged.
Later that day Samantha Burdette takes the stand in a miniskirt.
Hidie is wearing a gray pinstripe Kilchain Gabana suit and
appears to be miserable. Burdette tells the story of the
night of the bust. She was offered d dollars to
(13:33):
meet some Hawaiian businessmen. She said she received anywhere between
one and ten thousand dollars for a job involving quote
sexual favors. Sammy Lee undercover, asked for some cocaine, and
Burdette sold the officers two small bags of coke and
received cash for that. On top of the d the
(13:54):
men wanted her to do a dance, so she started
a strip tease, at which point Sammy Lee burst back
into the room to bust her. On November nineteen, the
case rests. Heidi appears in court in a bone white
mini skirt suit again by Delta and Gabanna. In Oldtown
Pasadena at the Highlywear store, business is brisk. According to
(14:17):
a Highywear store employee who goes by the nicknames Squirrel,
Highywear is quote moving like hotcakes. Novembery, The l A
Times runs a real estate story about how a venice
condo were Heidi lived after moving out of the Beverly
Hills mansion has sold for three hundred thousand dollars. The
Venice condo was owned by Paul Flice. They run this
(14:39):
alongside a story about how the condo in Brentwood were
Nicole Brown Simpson and We're on Goldman were murdered. Has
been put back on the market for seven hundred and
ninety five thousand dollars. The four bedroom condo can also
be rented for five thousand dollars a month. Absolute ghoulish ship,
but what else would you expect from the California housing market.
(15:02):
November twenty two, the trial resumes with Heidi's team showing
the video of the hotel room sing in its entirety,
complete with the undercover Asian American police officers speaking in
terrible fake Japanese accents. When Samantha Burdette gets on the
bed in her Red Song lingerie, the smoke alarm goes
off in the next room from the cups, who are
(15:24):
watching the action from a camera feed remotely in the
room next door while chain smoking cigarettes. The video is
often accidentally funny and people start laughing in the courtroom,
including Heidi, who was wearing glasses and another suit. After
the video, Anthony Brooklyer cross examines Detective Sammy Lee. This
(15:48):
whole thing was a setup. Correct. Correct, It was all
arranged with the people in the next room. Correct. Why
did you need to hide a video camera in the
bedroom where Burdette disrobed? Anytime you have a vice operation,
the videotape is good both as evidence and regarding the
(16:10):
conduct of the officer. Of the four girls busted, all
of whom flipped for immunity, only two are called to
the stand. Brandy McLean is absent, as is Peggy Shank,
who has fled with her young kid. Samantha Burdette and
(16:31):
Kimberly Birch both testified that they were offered each to
go out on the job, that this was a normal
lower end rate for them, and that Heidi took her cut.
They were shocked when the job turned out to be
a set up. Despite everyone in Hollywood freaking out that
they'll be named, no names of John's come out in court.
(16:52):
Not only are the powerful men who bought sex from
Heidi protected from the consequences, they don't even have to
suffer the mild embarrass sman of being outed as her clients.
November closing arguments, Heidi wears a gray Dulce and Gabbana
suit and another pair of glasses. Carter argues against the
(17:13):
idea of entrapment, saying it's not entrapment if they would
otherwise go about committing this crime. Sure, the cops asked
Heidi for girls, but she could have gone off the
strange vibe in her gut that she was getting from
Sammy Lee and said now that she readily agreed to
procure girls for quote. Nico Akai speaks to the fact
(17:34):
that this was something she does regularly. He compares Heidi
to a luxury car dealer hawking her wares. If Miss
Flice was on trial for a speeding ticket, the defense
would say it's the government's fault because the government built
the highway. All detectively did was open up the road.
Ms Flice sped right down the road. Alan Carter. Prosecutor
(18:00):
Anthony Brooklyer brings the focus back out to the fact
that Heidi is being prosecuted at all when violent crimes
constantly go unsolved in the city of Los Angeles. This
is hypocrisy at its best. This is so serious, isn't it?
How serious does the prosecution or the law really think
this is when they never prosecute the mail customer. Prostitution
(18:23):
is legal in Nevada, just two and fifty miles away.
It's a function of where you live as to whether
or not this is illegal. Yes, this is technically a crime.
So is spitting on the sidewalk. It's not appropriate for
law enforcement to induce the commission of a crime. They're
going to make this happen, come what may. Brooklyar calls
(18:46):
the case an abuse of power by the cops, a
show of force for a victimless crime. Maybe not the
best use of twenty armed police officers and the l
a city budget. And he is absolute lutely right. Alan
Carter almost gets it. Recently, there's been a new twist.
(19:08):
It's a bad twist. I did it, but it's somebody
else's fault. Yeah, I arranged for those women, but it's
Detective Lee's fault. If we travel down that road, you
all better buckle up and lock up real type. Now,
all of a sudden, defendant is no longer on trial.
It's the police officers who are on trial. Heidi is
(19:30):
facing a sentence of eleven years for pandering. The jury
is made up of five women and seven men. They
go off to deliberate on the last day of November,
when Heidi World returns. How the jurors deliberated. Welcome back
(20:13):
to Heidi World December three. One of the jurors is
a woman named Sheila Mitrowski, a forty eight year old
phone company worker from Bell Gardens. Mitrowski says the jury
was evenly split it first on Heidi's guilt. Four of
the women and two of the men initially believed Heidi
(20:34):
should be acquitted. Nobody on the jury really buys Tony
Brooklyer's argument about the staying being entrapped meant. Four days later,
the jury comes back with their decision. Heidi is convicted
on three counts of pandering. They find her not guilty
of supplying the police with cocaine and reached a checkmate
(20:55):
on the other two pandering counts. Heidi puts her head
on the table as the judge reads the first and
second guilty verdicts, then sits back up and slams the
table with her fists. As the judge reads the third
guilty verdict. Her father in the front row of the courtroom,
also drops his head and starts weeping. Alan Carter declares
(21:17):
the trial of success a triumph of morality. People who
go into the prostitution business are usually pretty sad souls,
and they're exploited by Pandora's Judge, Judith L. Champagne, sets
a sentencing date of January one. Jerry four Woman Sheila
(21:40):
Mitrowski is informed that Heidi could get as many as
eight years in jail with a mandatory minimum of three.
Oh no, that's way too much. You've got kids out
on the streets dealing drugs for crying out loud, and
they get probation, Sheila Mitrowski, Jury four woman, so close, Sheila,
(22:03):
You're so close. Maria Campos, a thirty eight year old
hospital receptionist from Northeast l A, says that Jerry watched
tapes of the sting repeatedly and argued a lot. Juror
Nancy Reyes, a four year old secretary from Monterey Park,
also seems regretful about the guilty verdict. When she learns
that Heidi will go to jail. She even calls the
(22:25):
cops overbearing. I don't think she should go to jail
for it. I just don't think it's fair that she
has to do time for something like this. It's upsetting.
I mean, hey, she didn't kill anybody. Nancy Reyes, another jerror,
comments to the press under a promise of anonymity, that
(22:48):
several jurors did feel that Flights had been entrapped by
the cops, but chose to bargain with the jurors who
could not be convinced rather than come out with a
hung jury. They didn't realize that if Heidi had been
died on the coke charge but not on pandering, she
would have been ulgible for probation. Pandering, it turns out,
is a much more serious charge given the nondescriptively elegant
(23:11):
name that they use instead of pimping. I heard some
of them talking afterward on TV, and I couldn't believe it.
They thought they were doing me a favor by convicting
me of pandering rather than the drug charge. They thought
I'd just get a ticket or something. Heidi Flice. Other jurors,
(23:36):
like forty two year old Department of Water and Power
worker Darryl Kitagawa, believe firmly that justice was served and
that the police did not act in appropriately. After the conviction,
Heidi's bail is set at seventy dollars would. She posts
and flees to a condo in Santa Monica. There is
no more hoping for a good outcome. Her entire world shattered.
(24:02):
I'm still in shock. Oh my heart has never beaten
so fast. I heard them say guilty on the first count,
and then I just couldn't hear anymore. I just went blank.
My father was crying. He said to me, be strong
and think of something positive that I can't even think.
(24:25):
Her mother, Alyssa, gives a comment to the press about
how Hidi is being punished too harshly, referencing the Menendez
brothers and the cops who beat Rodney King. There's something
flawed about people who can't decide about the guilt or
innocence of admitted parent killers and people shown on cam
I smashing the head of someone else and then find
(24:47):
Heidi guilty. I just don't believe the good of society
has been served by putting Heidi in jail. Alyssa Hidie's mother.
I don't care about anything but what's happening right now.
Even if the guys were going down to that wouldn't
help me what. The media is disappointed by the lack
(25:12):
of big names revealed in the case. No new movie
stars were mentioned, or even any rich idiots. The only
names that ever came out were the ones blurted out
to Vanity Fair by Heidi Felice herself, which she immediately
tried to redact. The newspapers are inundated with letters, people
calling for the legalization of sex work, people calling for
(25:33):
the l a p d To focus on things like
carjacking instead of watching women undressed in hotel rooms. Some
of the jurors go on Horaldo to talk about the verdict,
and Sheila Mitrowski realizes when a legal expert explains entrappedman
that she did not actually know what entrapment was during
the trial. After I flew back home and I was
(25:58):
sitting there watching Horaldo on TV, I thought, holy cow,
I did that wrong. Mittrowski also starts thinking about sex
work and that commission. She tries to put herself in
Heidi Flice's black leather boots to me, there really and
(26:21):
truly is that possibility. A lot of people will do
a lot of things for that kind of money. I
feel very badly. I feel I'm in a mistake when
I found her guilty of those three counts. There's also
gossip that Heidi has a new bow. Frank Sinatra's son,
Frank Sinatra Jr. I don't know how all this stuff
(26:45):
gets started. Heidi flies I befriended because she and I
went through something of the same nature, and when word
reached the tabloids, bless their little hearts, they decided here
was something they could make money with. They even had
it in one of the papers last weekend that she
and I were going to run off to Vegas and
get married. That's a lot of horse dump. Do you
know what would happen if she left l A right now?
(27:07):
They'd lock her up and throw away the key. She
knows that, and so do I. Frank Sinatra Jr. Singer
December a ray of hope for Heidi. Five jurors sign
a statement saying they discussed the case and properly outside
the courtroom and didn't fully understand what they were doing.
(27:29):
Anthony Brooklyer wants to get Heidi's conviction overturned With this statement,
gil Garcetti says, even if the verdict is overturned, Heidi
will be prosecuted again thanks a lot. Gil Anthony Brooklyer
is on the case. There were juror irregularities that occurred
during the course of the trial which deprived our client
(27:52):
of a fair trial and a true verdict. Though inadvertent,
a real injustice has unfolded. But jurors changing their minds
after a case ends isn't enough to overturn it. It's
the talking about the case outside the courtroom that was
more blatantly against protocol. The jurors who were sympathetic to Heidi,
(28:14):
like a man named Joseph Lichuga, were concerned a retrial
might give Heidi an even worse sentence rather than a
lighter one. But Heidi is elated. My future was so bleak,
so so bleak, and now maybe there's another way. God
(28:36):
am I happy. It takes a lot of courage for
anybody to come forward and admit they did something wrong.
It's a very hard thing to do. The mid nineties
are here, and with them Heidi's fate. Gil Garcetti is
(28:57):
upset about Ellie's reputation as a place tawdry scandals involving
famous people is all the media cares about, so he
invites local public television legend Huelhauser to the l A
courthouse to show him what it's really like boring, mostly
incredibly boring. The episode airs as part of Huelhauser's show
(29:18):
Visiting on the night before the O. J. Simpson trial begins. December,
Heidi turns twenty nine years old. Happy Birthday, Heidi. January,
Victorias Sellers catches a felony drug charge for that traffic
stop where she asked the cops to fetch her person
they searched it. She's booked for possession of meth amphetamine
(29:39):
for sale and also for having the downer diazepam. She
has brought to court in Van Nuys and sentenced to
thirteen days in jail and three years probation. January one.
Judge Champagne agrees to hear the jurors testimony. February four.
The jury gets limited immune d from being prosecuted for misconduct.
(30:03):
February twenty four. With immunity granted, the jurors cop to
what is called quote unquote horse trading, dealing behind closed doors,
and bargaining on votes. Five of the jurors wrongly thought
that the drug charge was a heavier charge than pandering
and thought they were helping Heidi get a lighter sentence
by voting not guilty on the drug charges. They were wrong,
(30:24):
but furthermore, they were clearly all completely confused. Judge Champagne
gets mad at Jerry four woman Sheila Mactrowski for not
reporting this to her when it was actually happening. Heidi
is at the courthouse watching wearing a gray turtleneck and
a gray skirt suit. It's really hard, very very hard.
(30:51):
March on. Bernie Cornfeld dies. He had suffered a stroke
in December during a trip to Israel and dies of
pneumonia in a London hospital at the age of sixty six.
Cornfeld and Heidi kept in touch long after their breakup,
and Heidi regarded him as both the mentor and perhaps
her great love. He was a hustler's hustler, which appealed
(31:12):
to Heidi sense for moneymaking. Although he had moved to
Europe in the late eighties to evade the I R
S over a twelve million dollar debt, he was still
trying to do crazy deals, like trying to buy MGM
Studios with five hundred million dollars in cash. There is
also some evidence that he may have allegedly been a
(31:32):
CIA plant, fake rich guy, sort of like Jeffrey Epstein,
and I couldn't prove this obviously, but let's just say
the rabbit hole exists. March, Judge Judith L. Champagne rejects
the bid for a retrial and sets Heidi sentencing for May.
She is dubious about juror's claims that they swapped votes.
(31:56):
It is a parent to the court that with each
opportunity to describe their acts of misconduct, these acts of
misconducts seemed to grow a little like Pinocchio's notes Judge
Judith L. Champagne, So we got a little comedian on
the bench. Sounded like she didn't believe us. But we
wouldn't have put ourselves on a limb to make the
(32:17):
statements we did if we weren't telling the truth. I
feel it's very unfair to Heidi. It's really tough. As
desperate as Heidi might be, at least Heidiware is doing well.
Chrissy Teagan, who followed me for some reason, responded to
(32:39):
one of my posts on Twitter announcing this podcast, saying
that her mom took her to the old Town Pasadena
Hidiwear store when she was a kid to get Heidi's autograph,
which might make an impression on you about how celebrity works.
Hidiwere is selling like crazy, and Heidi even wants to
open a second Hidiwear store, but her pesky meddling trials
(33:02):
keep getting in the way. On May eleven, Paul Flice
takes a plea bargain. After refusing previous offers. He agrees
to plead guilty to lesser charges to get his sentence reduced.
He wears a gray pinstripe suit in court and has
a nervous habit of smiling and tapping his fingers. I
was aware that she had a misdemeanor gambling conviction. I
(33:26):
was aware that she had income, but I had no
special knowledge. With the plea bargain, he is up for
only four to ten months in jail, which could conceivably
be served at home with an electronic bracelet. In his
plea bargain, Paul fly says he was aware that Heidi
was working in the sex business. According to the court,
(33:48):
Dr Flie admitted that he knew Heidi was making money
illegally from a bookie business. A third party, possibly his
daughter Shana, told him Heidi was running a call ural
ray in the year he led her deposit seventy dollars
and two of his bank accounts. I love Heidi. She's
(34:09):
my daughter. I love her very much. I'm still quite
worried about my daughter. I have my own problems. I
have so many problems. This is just another example of
Paul's lovingness and is concerned for the family. Paul did
(34:30):
nothing wrong. He was just doing the expedient thing for
the sake of the family. In the Plea Bargain, Paul
Flice admits to helping his daughter even when he knew
she was running an illegal business. He helped her get
a car loan to buy her corvette by taking the
loan out in his name and taking cash from Heidi
(34:50):
to pay it off. And he also helped her get
the million dollar home loan for the Tower Grove estate
by filling out the loan application with falsified information. And
it's very difficult for a twenty five year old girl
to get a loan or insurance on a corvette. He
(35:13):
was doing what a lot of parents with money do
for their kids, for better or worse, almost always for worse,
and he didn't care about the possible illegality of the
money because he's a man of the seventies. You can
look at it as he just wanted to help his daughter,
or that he was spoiling her and enabling her, helping
her get the material goods that would ensure her downfall,
(35:37):
or both. It's complicated. On May nineteen, Heide's lawyer in
the I R. S case tries one last time to
get the charges dismissed. He argues that they're treating his
client like she's al capone. It does not work. She's
also up for sentencing in the pandering case. For somewhere
between eighteen months and eight years, she has trapped in
(35:59):
a reality that is genuinely cough ga ask. She knows
she's being used by the City of l A, by
the cops and the courts and the District Attorney to
make it look like they take action on crime, but
she's well aware that the seriousness of her crimes pales
in comparison to a billion other things, and from her
previous experiences with the cops after her friend Wendy Tar
(36:21):
was murdered, she knows that the l A. P D
don't really do ship, especially for victims of sexual assault.
The whole thing is so ridiculous, especially right now with
everything going on in the world, like the prison overcrowding,
the bombing in Oklahoma City. To spend this much time
and money on me, it is crazy. I think I've
(36:44):
been punished enough. When Heidi World returns, Heidi faces sentencing
and her future. Welcome back to Heidi World. May Judgment day.
(37:26):
Heidi appears in court wearing a gray miniskirt suit. Judge
Judith L. Champagne has weighed the arguments made by Alan
Carter for the prosecution and Anthony Brooklyer and his team
for her defense. We're dealing with someone who prays on
the young, the naive. She steers impressionable people in the
(37:49):
wrong direction. That kind of conduct needs to be punished,
your honor. No one was hurt in this case, no
one was coerced, and no one operated under duress. All
my client did was arranged consensual sex between consenting adults.
(38:13):
Judge Champagne sentences Heidi to three years for pandering and
finds her dollars. Heidi shows no emotion in court, numb.
It's like sex. It's the worst crime on earth. It's ridiculous.
No one lost money, no one got hurt. This was
(38:37):
a highly sophisticated and lucrative criminal enterprise. It cannot be
called a victimless crime. It's very degrading and it does
take its toll. Alan Carter had asked for four years
for Heidi. Judge Champaigne opted for three, which is the
shortest mandatory sentence for pandering. Heidi's family is horrified seeing
(38:59):
this as a miscarriage of justice. Seeing your child locked
up is a nightmare. That's what happens when they make
laws one size fits all. They indict people where it
really isn't appropriate. Hi do you thinks Alan Carter is
(39:21):
a total hypocrite who infantilizes women for choosing sex work.
He said they're stupid and I degraded them. He's the
one who's really bashing them. Hi do you? Posts a
two hundred thousand dollar bond and files an appeal. She's
(39:41):
allowed out on bail during the appeal, which can take
up to a year. May Hid he opens a second
Hide Wear store in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade.
The first Hide Wear store has moved to a prime
location in Old Town Pasadena, which is an open air
mall that's like the grove for people from the past.
(40:03):
The best selling item at both Hide Wear stores is
the boxer shorts with the condom pocket. June two, The
l A Times publishes some letters from people who are
angry about the city budget being spent on the Heidi
Fly's trial at a time when hospitals are in danger
of closing down due to lack of funds. People right
into support Heidi, saying it's outrageous that she might go
(40:26):
to prison while the men who got her in trouble
walk away without a scratch. June nine, the judge in
the federal case refuses to drop Heidi's charges. June the
opening day of the federal I. R. S trial. I'm
scared as hell, but I've got turning optimistic this time,
(40:51):
some of the witnesses called our clients. The first John
to take the stand in the federal trial is film
and TV producer Howard Schlinker, former owner and stakeholder in
sports teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets.
He cops to writing five checks for a total of
seventeen thousand dollars to Heidi for sexual services rendered. Manuel Santos,
(41:13):
president of Bibisco, Mexico and real estate developer from Monterey
also testifies that he wrote checks totaling forty thou dollars
for prostitutes from Heidi all through. He said on the
stand that he often sent his private jet to pick
up the Heidi girls and fly them to Mexico. Christina Watkins,
(41:34):
an actress from the San Fernando Valley who worked for Heidi,
testifies that she had sex with clients in Las Vegas, Paris,
and Greece. Two girls confirmed that the money was often
dispensed in cash envelopes, which they'd bring to Heidi's house,
where she'd take her for cut and give them the rest.
Samantha Burdett testifies that her first client wrote her a
(41:56):
check for seven thousand dollars for sex July eleven. I
had a good run, Alex Fleming Madam Madam Alex is
laid up at Cedar Sinai Hospital in her beloved Beverly Hills.
(42:17):
She is only sixty years old, but she is dying.
Complications from heart surgery put her on life support. Despite
their contentious relationship, Heidi is devastated, as is another one
of Alex's longtime f enemies, it's like losing a friend.
And all the years we've played cat and mouse, she
(42:40):
never once tried to corrupt me. Fred Clapp retired lp
D Vice Officer. Madam Alex's health, which has been terrible
for years, deteriorated further and she ended up in the
hospital and her deathbed. Heidi, who despite it all, really
did care her from Adam Alex in some way, went
(43:02):
to visit her when she heard that she was dying.
When Alex was dying in the hospital, she listed me
as a family member. The hospital called me every day
at my hide wear store and wanted to know when
I was coming by. I stayed with her as much
as I could. I went out of my way to
make her laugh and feel better. And then something happened
(43:24):
that brought back all the terrible things that she had
done to me. On my way in the head nurse
and the I see you showed me a list of
people who have been there that day. The name Detective
Sammy Lee was on the list, and it made me
rethink what I was doing there. On the day that
(43:45):
Heidi's federal trial begins, Madam Alex dies when her life
support is disconnected. Heidi has conflicting feelings about her mentors death.
In her book Pandering, she writes an open letter about Alex.
I always loved and respected her, although at times she
(44:06):
made it difficult. I have said things in the past
that were unkind, but it was always a reaction to
some unbelievable act of betrayal on her part. Time after
time I would call her on the phone and forgive her.
I would actually nothing had happened between us. I learned
to understand that her extreme verbal abuse, paranoia, and backstabbing
(44:26):
was just who she was. I think Alex had a
bizarre kind of love for me, which justified the terrible
things she did to me. We had a close relationship
because of our business and complex lifestyles. No other person
could relate to the things we dealt with. We spoke
on the phone for hours and hours and hours every
(44:48):
day for five years. The only time we would not
speak was when Alex would do or say something evil
to me, and I would have to take a break
to deal with my feelings. How do you then RecA
on something incredibly anti semitic? Alex said to her that
I do not have to repeat here, but feel free
to read the book She says Alex was a mass
of contradictions. She demanded loyalty and silence, but she was
(45:11):
a paid police informant who talked about her trade with
the tabloids. In court, the federal judge orders to the stand.
Mr Charlie Sheen Judy Geller is a USC grad whose
father is a prestigious San Francisco lawyer. She was also
a Heidi girl who went on fifty plus out calls.
She estimates Heidi's take at sixty thousand a month and
(45:35):
testifies that Charlie Sheen was a major customer. She was
sent out on calls to Schlenker, Santos, and Sheen. Charlie
Sheen is shooting a movie called Shadow Conspiracy in Washington,
d C. And plans to give his deposition on videotape.
He has granted immunity for testifying. July, an FBI handwriting
(45:59):
expert says he forged her father and sister signatures on
escrow documents and checks from clients. Special Agent William Hellman
compared handwriting samples and says that Heidi didn't even attempt
to hide her handwriting while forging the checks. July, the
checks were for sexual services heterost sexual services. Charlie Sheen actor.
(46:27):
The jurors watched the Charlie Sheen tape. No, not the
sex tape of Charlie Sheen with Heidi girls that also
existed the deposition he taped while filming on location in DC.
A sweaty, fidgety Sheen SIPs ice water on screen while
he admits to ordering girls from Heidi that he paid
for in cash at least twenty seven times from the
(46:52):
seven checks used in court total fifty thou dollars. Sheen
says he is now engaged to a model named Dona Peal.
He claims under oath he cannot remember the names of
any of the Heidi girls he spent time with, even
the ones he repeatedly proposed to. He also says he
never gave money to Heidi, just her employees. He puts
(47:14):
out a statement, I apologize to my family, my future wife,
my close friends for all embarrassment these incidents may have cussed.
I offer no other explanation from my actions, only the truth,
which is contained in every detail within my tistama. I
(47:37):
wouldn't call it the past if it wasn't. Shane of
Flice is also called to the stand to testify against
her sister, but starts weeping. Shana tries to make eye
contact with Heidi, who stares down at her feet and
can't look at her sister in the eye. Shana says
(47:58):
she's incapable of testify ying against her sister, striking a
blow to the prosecution who were expecting her to be
a star witness. Blood is thicker than water. District Judge
Consuelo B. Marshall, who is presiding over the federal trial,
holds Shane of Flye in contempt of court and puts
(48:20):
her on house arrested. July, Heidi's mother, Alyssa Ash testifies
that the Fly's family is so close they share money
and bank accounts pretty freely, the way people now share
Netflix accounts. Sometimes we forget who owes what to whom.
(48:43):
The I r S doesn't care. Assistant U S Attorney
Alejandro Majorca says Heidi needs to quote pull her load,
which is an amazing choice of words. Majorca says Flice
should work as hard at paying her tax debt to
the U. S. Government as she did at building her
prostitution business. August eleven, Heidi is convicted in her federal trial.
(49:08):
On six counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy,
and one count of tax evasion. Wearing another Tandel Chancabana suit,
Heidi starts weeping when the verdict is announced. Once again,
the jury seems unsure of what exactly they're doing. A
journey named Diona Watson feels immediate regret, saying that John
(49:30):
should have at least been prosecuted. To Jay Leno, who
is at the peak of his run of O. J.
Simpson material during the other Big l A trial, makes
time for one last joke about Heidi Fleiss, whose truthfulness stings.
I think the woman of the point. When a woman
at the red of her prostitution, she's jailed, you know
(49:52):
what happens to a man he's reelected. September one, Hidi
is having dinner with friends at the Ivy at the Shore.
One of her friends is Dr. Stephen Houghlin, who is
Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon. After dinner, they take a walk
(50:13):
down the Santa Monica Pier when they hear a loud
splash followed by a man screaming for his life in
the water. Steve Houghlin jumps in the water and rescues
the suicidal drowning man Will Heidi runs the call nine
one one from a pay phone. Ste didn't even think twice.
He dove in with his wallet and beeper and everything.
(50:37):
Hidi runs into the piers arcade and finds the harbor
patrol who take a rescue boat out and are able
to save the suicidal man's life. Also in September, Charlie
Sheen gets married. He weds down appeal in Malibu at
(50:57):
Paul Flice is hearing in a courthouse packed with his
friends and supporters. Dr Paul Flice receives word he will
get a one day sentence with probation. Now for yet
another crazy story about another crazy guy that will make
sense why I'm telling it when I get to the
(51:18):
very end. A music executive known as good Time Charlie
Minor is shot to death by a spurned girlfriend at
his beach house in Malibu. Charlie Miner is known for
hosting all night parties every Saturday and for his constant
revolving door of beautiful young women in bikinis. He's the
(51:38):
king of what's called Paola, where record companies ply radio
programmers with money and sometimes even drugs, and call girls
if they agree to play certain records on the air.
Miner helped promote stars like Janet Jackson and Sting to
the top of the charts, but he had fallen in
status and was now working for the music Paola magazine Hits,
(51:59):
where coincidentally, I had my first ever internship in the
media business. At age forty seven. Good Time Charlie was
allegedly trying to cut back on his hard partying lifestyle.
He quit doing drugs and cut down on drinking, but
he had one remaining vice sex. His friends called him
(52:19):
a womanizer and a natural promoter who enjoyed his life
to the very fullest, and like Heidie and Madam Alex,
Charlie Miner was known for his ability to work the phones.
Suzette McClure was a twenty seven year old exotic dancer
who Charlie Miner met at a West Side strip club
called Bailey's Gentleman's Club when he was there taking out
(52:41):
some radio programmers. One night, Susantte McClure showed up at
the Beach House without calling first and found Miner with
another woman. When he said he didn't want to see
her again, she shot him in the head. Nine times.
McClure's friends say that she was a smart, sensitive cal
poly Pomona graph to it who became a topless dancer
(53:02):
when her aerospace job at the Howard Hughes Aircraft Plant
in Long Beach was downsized by post Cold War budget cuts.
Why am I telling you the story, you might wonder
yet again, because good Time Charlie Minor allegedly also had
Heidi Flice's number in his rolodex. The focus of the
Heidi Flights investigation was mostly the film industry, but would
(53:25):
it be even a little bit surprising if music industry
exacts were also involved. Anyway, the death had nothing to
do with Heidi's operation. It was just connected back to
everyone knowing each other. October, BBC producer director Nick Broomfield's
documentary about Heidi, called Heidi Flice Hollywood Madam airs on Cinemax.
(53:50):
Heidi attends the runway shows at California's Fashion Expo to
promote Heidi Wear in advance of her jail sentence. She
sits for a show from a line called misk short
from Miscellaneous, where one of the outfits is modeled by
another woman who used the fact that she was once
the center of a big scandal in l A to
(54:10):
forge a career as a sort of professional celebrity and actress.
Tracy Lord's Heidi Flice is now thirty years old and
headed to jail. Even her family can't help her now
as she prepares to face her fate, but there remains
(54:34):
a lingering sense among the public that justice has not
really been served here. The show trial of Heidi Flics
has backfired on the l A p D when it
comes to the court of public opinion, but it has
achieved its ultimate goal to scare and silence sex workers. Yeah.
(55:02):
Next time on Heidi World, Heidi gets out of jail
and finds new fame in the burgeoning genre of reality television. Meanwhile,
her cousin Mike Flice invents and gets rich off creating
a new reality show about choosing a beautiful woman out
of a lineup of beautiful women called The Bachelor.
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