Paul Barresi (born 12 January 1949[1]) is an American actor, pornographic film director, private investigator[2][3], and media personality. Barresi has also been involved in several high-profile celebrity scandals.[4][5]
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Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, when Barresi was 12 his family moved to Annapolis, Maryland for his father's job at the United States Naval Academy. Barresi was offered a wrestling scholarship to the University of Maryland but opted to instead enlist in the United States Air Force during the height of the Vietnam War. Barresi served at bases in the United States and the Philippines, and he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1973 after completing his tour at March Air Force Base.[6] Upon returning to civilian life, he soon began working as a fitness trainer at a gym in nearby Riverside, California.[6]
During filming in Riverside, Barresi worked as an production assistant for Raquel Welch[7] and had a small role as a bartender in The Wild Party, released in 1975. In March 1974, Barresi appeared with a pre-Elvira, Mistress of the Dark Cassandra Peterson in a Playgirl pictorial. Barresi was selected by Rip Colt as an early Colt model,[8] and was featured on the cover of the November 1975 Mandate. Barresi was featured on the December 1978 cover of Hustler, making him "the first man ever to appear on the cover of Hustler."[9]
The print modeling led to dozens of appearances in adult film,[10] starting with "Co-ed Fever" in 1980.[6][11][12]
Barresi went on to write, produce and direct a number of award-winning adult films. In 1992 Barresi, using the name "Joe Hammer", won the Gay Video Guide Award in the Best Specialty Release category for the fetish video, "Razor Close".[13] Barresi has been nominated for several other AVN Awards, including 8 nominations for the 1998 gay mafia epic which he wrote, directed, and produced, titled GoodFellas/BadFellas, and featuring him in a non-sexual role. Barresi earned a 2003 GayVN Awards nomination for "Best Non-Sex Performance — Gay or Bi" for Long Strokes, noting he got the nod "just for taking my shirt off; if I knew they wanted more, I'd have done more."[14][15] Barresi also won the 2007 GayVN award and a 2007 Grabby award for "Best Non-Sex Performance" for his work in Velvet Mafia (parts 1 and 2).[16][17] And in 2008, Barresi was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame.[18]
Barresi continued to direct adult films, including several popular titles for the gay market, and was particularly noted for his military themes. Adult Video News has said Barresi's directorial efforts make him "undisputedly the king of military-themed videos."[8]
In addition to his work in pornographic film and video, Barresi toured in a 1980 summer stock suite of scenes from Neil Simon plays, headlined by Paul Lynde.[19] Barresi had several roles in mainstream film and television projects, including Perfect,[20] Spontaneous Combustion,[21] JAG and Father Dowling Mysteries. Barresi told Entertainment Tonight of the difficulty crossing over into mainstream film: "No one really takes a porn actor seriously ... and no one really respects a porn actor."[22]
In 1990, The National Enquirer ran a front-page story describing Barresi's claim that he'd had a two-year love affair with John Travolta.[23][24][25] Barresi told the tabloid he'd met Travolta in 1982 when the actor followed him into the shower room of an L.A. health club.[24] Barresi asked for and received $100,000 from The Enquirer in exchange for the details of his relationship with Travolta.[26] Several months later, Barresi retracted his story, saying in a letter to Travolta's attorney that he'd never engaged in homosexual activity with Travolta.[24]
In the wake of 1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson, Barresi attempted to sell tabloid gossip in 1994 after secretly taping two accusers in order to scoop them.[27][28] Barresi claimed he met and dated Stella LeMarque, then surnamed "Marcroft," before she and husband Philippe married. The LeMarques tried to cash in on their story after being dismissed in 1991 as workers at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, claiming they had witnessed Jackson inappropriately touching Macaulay Culkin.[29] When their asking price was $100,000, Barresi said "'the hand was outside the kid's pants' ... As soon as their price went up to $500,000, the hand went inside the pants."[30]
Barresi appeared in a PBS Frontline documentary about the incident and described his involvement:
According to Maureen Orth of Vanity Fair, Barresi had arranged the $15,000 deal with The Globe, but he got impatient and contracted tabloid broker Kevin Smith of Splash News Service, who placed it with The Daily Mirror for $2,400. When the Globe deal came through, Smith couldn't undo the Mirror deal, and the Mirror scoop kept Barresi from getting paid by The Globe. Smith claims Barresi came to his office "with a gun and a huge bodyguard," and Smith arranged for Barresi to get $1,000.[31] In the end, the DA decided that the stories of the LeMarques and that of the Quindoys (who also sold their story to the tabloids) could not be used. Barresi ended up making $30,000 in total on the Jackson story.[4]
Following a 1997 incident involving Eddie Murphy and a transgender prostitute, Barresi collected statements from other sex workers alleging encounters with Murphy.[9] With the exception of the person with whom Murphy was found, Barresi said, "In less than 10 days, I got them all to sign sworn, videotaped depositions, stating it wasn't Murphy himself, but rather a look-alike, who they'd encountered."[32]
Barresi began working with private investigator Anthony Pellicano around the time of the 1994 Jackson incident. According to Barresi, Pellicano would purchase tabloid reporters' celebrity gossip before it became public. He then would offer to do damage control for $25,000 or more. "He says these people pursue him to hire him, when in fact, he pursues them," said Barresi.[33] Barresi says he also assisted Pellicano in a 1994 investigation of paternity claims involving Barry Bonds and a porn actress.[34]
Barresi told ABC News about his work with Pellicano, "Whenever there was a damaging story involving a celebrity client that involved sex, then I was involved." Barresi said that Pellicano hired him to "get dirt on" Pellicano's former client Sylvester Stallone.[2] The actor's phone was allegedly bugged by Pellicano during a lawsuit over Planet Hollywood.[35] Barresi told Vanity Fair that Pellicano had a vendetta against Stallone after the two had a falling-out: "Pellicano hired me on two occasions to find dirt on Stallone.The first time was in 1995 or '96 and then again in late 2001."[36]
Barresi told LA Weekly that Pellicano hired him when Arnold Schwarzenegger was considering running for governor in 2001, "to look for information that may be of good use to Schwarzenegger’s detractors," so Schwartzenegger's team could prepare for any damage control.[37][2] Barresi submitted 27 pages but could not say who requested the probe.[38]
Barresi gave information to journalist and biographer, Andrew Morton, which alluded to an event of June 2001. According to Barresi, a male pornographic performer had approached him on the set in hopes to sell a story about a sexual encounter with Tom Cruise. This encounter allegedly took place in London, U.K. in 1999. Barresi arranged a meeting for himself and said performer to review the matter in Pellicano’s office. [39][40] Despite personally taking the performer to Pellicano and despite the fact that Pellicano demonstrated keen interest in the story, Barresi stated to Morton that he always felt the performer’s story was not a credible one.[33] Nevertheless, per Barresi’s words, Pellicano pressed the issue to a higher level and soon the New York Times followed-up with a report indicating that Pellicano had informed Cruise’s Lawyer, Bertram Fields.[33] The New York Times further stated that upon reviewing the narration of a personal memoir which said performer provided to Pellicano, Attorney Fields admonished the performer to drop the matter in a letter of cease and desist. [41] In the end, Barresi added a claim that he received a sum of $5,000 for his efforts in bringing this account to the attention of Attorney Fields; Barresi concluded this statement indicating that the pornographic performer had fled to Europe after being seriously advised, by Barresi himself, to go into hiding. [33] [39]
Barresi was bequeathed illegally taped phone conversations made by Jim Mitteager, the Los Angeles bureau chief of tabloid The Globe. after Mitteager died of throat cancer in 1997.[42] Barresi told reporter Drew Griffin "[Mitteager] indicated to the person who gave them to me that I would know what to do with them," and Barresi arranged for KCBS-TV to air them in a multi-part series in 2004.[43] The tapes aired by KCBS include a conversation where Pellicano offers Mitteager a story about his new client Jean-Claude Van Damme in return for Mitteager's dropping one about client Whoopi Goldberg.[44]
In 1999, Barresi says he was assigned by Pellicano to investigate a model who named Chris Rock in a paternity suit.[45] Barresi also says he was hired to look into the sexual orientation of Gavin de Becker, a successful security consultant of whom Pellicano was jealous.[46]
Barresi also claims that he has been sought out for comment by the press as the 2002-2008 Pellicano criminal-defense case unfolded. Barresi told the New York Times he has been aiding the defense team for entertainment lawyer Bertram Fields, a long-term client of Pellicano's who is now under investigation, in hopes of a later payday.[33] Barresi also reportedly worked with attorneys for producer Jules Nasso in 2006. As part of a lawsuit, they seek Pellicano's wiretapped calls for any evidence that Steven Seagal ordered Pellicano to terrorize former Variety reporter Anita Busch[47] In May 2006, Barresi turned over tapes from Mitteager with transcriptions to the FBI.[48]
Pellicano was sentenced in December 2008 to 15 additional years in prison for wire taping and racketeering. He had previously served for illegal firearms and homemade grenades. Pelicano was further ordered (with two other defendants) to forfeit $2 million. [49][50][51]