A renowned San Francisco private investigator’s final case was inadvertently helping police find the suspects in a crime outside his own home.Two men were arrested on Sunday in connection with an attempted robbery that left Jack Palladino, 76, in critical condition leading to his death Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Police made the arrests after recovering photographs from a camera the suspects unsuccessfully tried to steal from Palladino as he stood outside his house on San Francisco’s Page Street. The veteran PI fell and sustained head injuries, according to his wife and fellow investigator, Sandra Sutherland.
Lawrence Thomas, 24, of Pittsburg, and Tyjone Flournoy, 23, of San Francisco were jailed Sunday, police said.
"Those of us who knew Jack are mourning his death but chuckling that it is a fitting way for him to go.”
Since the 1980s, Palladino and Sutherland conducted investigations out of their Victorian home in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
High-profile cases include the Jonestown mass suicides in the 1970s and a counter-investigation to the tobacco industry’s campaign to smear whistleblower, Jeffrey Wigand in the 1990s. The latter was showcased in the 1999 movie, The Insider, in which Palladino played himself. Clients included former President Bill Clinton, musician Courtney Love and, most recently, film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Palladino's attorney, Mel Honowitz, said his client was "daunting and scrupulous in his profession" and led with "intellect, experience and passion for the truth". He added: “He investigated his own murder. Those of us who knew Jack are mourning his death but chuckling that it is a fitting way for him to go.”
