As Hollywood private eye, he still gets his hands dirty

LOS ANGELES -- It's 10 p.m., and John Nazarian, a burly 53-year-old private eye, is hurtling around Beverly Hills in his red Scion looking for garbage.

Nazarian treats trash as his private archeological site, the detritus of human existence that exposes hidden vulnerabilities: financial documents, prescription bottles, booze bottles, and anything that might sport DNA.

It's a dirty job being a private investigator, but Nazarian is prepared to do it. As he likes to say, he is one of the most expensive private eyes in Los Angeles, charging $10,000 to $20,000 as a retainer and $400 an hour for his services.

Nazarian is part of a long tradition of Hollywood private eyes, from fictional antiheroes such as Sam Spade and ``Chinatown's" Jake Gittes, to real-life swaggerer Fred Otash , and Anthony Pellicano, the infamous gumshoe who sits in jail awaiting trial on more than 100 counts of wiretapping and witness intimidation.

This is why Nazarian keeps no records. Nothing. Tonight's game plan merely consists of a 3-by-5 card with an address. ``We've had our documents requested, and I said I don't have 'em."

Nazarian employs experts to do what he can't: a former Beverly Hills cop for handwriting analysis, a forensic accountant, a lab guy, tech guys for debugging or to apply Global Positioning System tracking devices to cars , a European detective to handle cases that go continental.

For this particular jaunt , Nazarian has opted for a black shirt and sweats. He is dressed down, having left what he calls his costume at home. That includes a hat, oversize designer shades, and bling. He designed the idiosyncratic cut of his dyed black beard , which looks as if it sprouted two slender butterfly wings. He shaves what's left of his hair, like Kojak. The look suggests menace, and that's the point.

``As a private detective, the more bad things you say about me, the more valuable my trade becomes," he said.