DOCUMENT: Crime

A Smokescreen From 'The Insider'

The Insider

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A Smokescreen From 'The Insider'

First, Andy Kaufman is dead.

In other Hollywood news, "The Insider" has just racked up a bunch of Golden Globe nominations and was named Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Starring Al Pacino, the film purports to tell the story of whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand's battle against tobacco kingpin Brown & Williamson.

The movie paints a dark portrait of B&W, suggesting at one point that the firm tried to intimidate Wigand, a former employee, by placing a threatening letter and a bullet in his mailbox. But when the FBI first investigated this episode in 1996, agents suspected that Wigand himself fabricated this threat.

This FBI search warrant affidavit describes the bureau's suspicions about Wigand, who was never charged. (11pages)

Still, Big Tobacco really sucks.