Wednesday, May 8, 1996

Informer explains his motivation; TV station paid him $6,000

DALLAS (AP) - A Dallas Cowboys "hanger-on" says he clandestinely filmed Michael Irvin and got him to talk about drug use because after all he'd done for the players, it became clear they had no respect for him.

Dennis Pedini, 31, who once worked for the Cowboys, said he did many favors for Irvin and other players, including setting up a house in which players could party with women without their wives knowing about it.

Yet when he himself finally reached out to the players, especially Irvin, "he wasn't there for me," Pedini said.

KXAS-TV on Tuesday night aired an interview with Pedini during the Fort Worth station's third installment of a "Tarnished Star" investigative series on Irvin, who was indicted April 1 for possession of drugs.

The first two installments showed Irvin - purportedly two days before his indictment and a couple of weeks after - in a car driven by Pedini after what Pedini said were cocaine buys in a neighborhood not far from the Cowboys' practice facility in Valley Ranch.

Pedini drew Irvin into discussions about the drug buy, about his handling of the NFL's inquiry into his alleged drug use, and other idle chitchat regarding cocaine.

"Have you talked with the NFL guy yet, or is it taken care of," Pedini asked Irvin in new footage shown Tuesday night.

"No, I still ain't taken a drug test. They so dumb," Irvin replied.

"He called me up, but he just said, you know ... to evaluate you. I want to do an evaluation, but, you know, my lawyer said (bleep) him, he ain't evaluating (bleep). (Bleep) talking with him. Because if my evaluation is to sit down and talk with one man, and then ... and it's a trick test. Everything is a trick."

Irvin's attorney, Kevin Clancy, issued a subpoena Tuesday ordering Pedini to appear at 9 a.m. today before state District Judge Manny Alvarez and be sworn in as a potential witness in the pending drug case against Irvin.

Irvin is scheduled to go on trial June 24 on charges stemming from a raid of an Irving motel room on March 4 where cocaine and marijuana were confiscated.

"I just would like to have him sworn in as a witness," Clancy said. "I don't want him off in the country somewhere" if he's needed for testimony. "And I'm certainly not going to vouch for his character" if he simply agrees informally to show up for the trial.

KXAS-TV revealed Tuesday night that it paid Pedini $6,000 "for licensing and assigning rights" for his secretly recorded footage.

Meanwhile, KXAS came under attack from other media accusing it of checkbook journalism, designed primarily to inflate ratings during a "sweeps" month.

Unlike Sunday and Monday night, Pedini was identified by his full name Tuesday night and he was shown clearly on camera, not blurred. Dallas station WFAA-TV revealed his identity Monday, describing him as someone who worked for the Cowboys briefly before he was fired.

The Cowboys said they had used Pedini as a contract laborer in the past to install security cameras at their Valley Ranch headquarters.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he doesn't know much about Pedini.

"The only thing I really know about his background is that he fraudulently made passes for ... a football game, and he counterfeited those passes and we took them away from him," Jones said.

WFAA also said Pedini ran out on a building lease without paying what he owed.

"We are watching a little nobody becoming a Judas-somebody by selling a soul he never had," said Mickey Spagnola, a former writer for the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald who now writes for "The Insider," a sports fax service in Dallas.

"The guy is known out at The Ranch as a scam-artist, one of those wannabes, a hanger-on who will do anything to rub scenes with the stars," Spagnola said.

Since its investigative series on Irvin began, KXAS said, Pedini has reported receiving death threats.
The station did not elaborate.

Pedini said he needed the money because his company failed and he found himself out of a job.
Pedini said he took advice from Irvin and other players, but that didn't work and now he's looking out for himself.

Pedini told KXAS he made the secret videotape because he was tired of seeing the drug abuse and because of the general lack of respect that Irvin and other Cowboys players were showing him.

He said one player whom he didn't identify owes him thousands of dollars for his renting an apartment so the player's wife wouldn't know. He said he took out a car loan for another player who never reimbursed him.

Then there was the so-called "White House," a residence in Valley Ranch, which has been alluded to nationally in recent weeks - a place that players could take women without the knowledge of their wives or girlfriends.

The "White House" was in his company's name, Pedini said. Several players brought drugs and partied with countless women, he said.

Asked if the players used cocaine there, Pedini said yes. "And they'd mix cocaine and marijuana, and smoke it that way."

When the house closed, it was in his name, and he lost money, Pedini said. Then his company went out of business.

He said he asked several players, particularly Irvin, for financial help, but they wouldn't help. "I'm there for him, but he wasn't there for me. It became a problem," Pedini said.
Irvin and the other players seemed to worry at times because of how much he knew about their activities, Pedini said.

"A lot of times, he (Irvin) would look at me and say, 'You hold all the power.' He said, 'You hold all the power because you can change everything.' "

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