Frank DiLeo on Larry King Live

Frank DiLeo was a long-time friend and former associate of Michael’s. He went back to work for Michael as his manager in March.

Here he speaks to Larry King about the day Michael died.

There are a few interesting anomalies about what DiLeo tells King. We invite you to read the article first:

CNN LARRY KING LIVE | Aired August 4, 2009

We now welcome to LARRY KING LIVE, finally, Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s manager. He worked for Michael from 1984 to 1989 and was rehired by Michael earlier this year, calling you out of retirement.

Why did he bring you back?

FRANK DILEO, MICHAEL JACKSON’S MANAGER: Well, first of all, you should understand that Michael and I have been speaking for the last couple of years when he came back from (INAUDIBLE). We were talking primarily about movie projects. And then he just called me and said, listen, man, would you like to manage me again?

He says, I need somebody that understands the music business and the touring business. And I said, sure, love to.

KING: The day he died, tell us how you first learned.

DILEO: I was having lunch at the Beverly Hilton. And I got a phone call from a fan who was…

KING: A fan?

DILEO: A fan who said, Frank, do you know there’s an ambulance in front of Michael’s house?

And I said, no, I don’t, but I’m going to look right into it. And I hung up. I called Michael’s assistant. And I said — his name is Michael, also.

I said Michael, is there an ambulance at the house?

He said, that’s what I heard. He said, I’m on my way. And I said, well, I’ll be there in one second. I went in to get my ticket for the car. And I called Randi Phillips and said look, you’re closer…

KING: Randi of…

DILEO: AEG.

KING: Right.

DILEO: I said you’re closer to Michael’s house than I am at this moment. Go there right away, I’ll meet you there. Drove there, the ambulance had already left, asked Randy. He turned around. I came from the other direction. I went to pull in, they said, Frank, he left. I said where did he go? To the hospital. I drove to UCLA.

KING: What was the scene like? Where were the children?

DILEO: The children were in another room down the hall. They brought Randy and I back. We were the first two people there. And they were working on him in the room.

KING: They were still working on him?

DILEO: Yes.

KING: He was alive at that point?

DILEO: I don’t know. I said to Randy, geez, I think he’s alive. We have a shot here he’ll be OK. When the nurse came out and I looked at her and she looked at me, I almost fainted.

KING: Because she said –

DILEO: She just looked at me and said he’s not going to make it. He’s gone. But we’ll keep working on him until his mother gets here.

KING: Who finally told you he was dead?

DILEO: That nurse did.

KING: You had to tell the children?

DILEO: I had to tell Katherine first. And I told her with a doctor and a social worker. And it was pretty emotional. She grabbed me and cried and we hugged and cried together. And then I had to tell the children.

In the meantime, I called Joe Jackson in between. But he’d already known. I gave him my sympathy, and I went in and told the children.

KING: How do you do something like that? No experience is there?

DILEO: No, I’ve never lost somebody like that. It was very difficult. I went in with a social worker and a doctor. And just had to say — they knew, they knew. And they got up and I said, I’m sorry, but your father’s passed away. And they hung on to me for a while. We all cried.

KING: How did you take it?

DILEO: Very bad. I mean, I’ve cried for days, and it’s a lonely feeling, because I’m not family, but I’m a friend.

KING: You were more than a manager?

DILEO: Oh, yes, he was my friend. Forget the manager part. He was my friend. And we were close. We talked a lot. Not as often as I wanted to. But we worked well together years before and we were working well now.

KING: Did he seem physically OK?

DILEO: Yes, he was physically OK.

KING: He was rehearsing, right?

DILEO: He was rehearsing well, eating well. We were making sure that he had the right protein shakes, the right food. We gave him chicken. You know, we brought him food to eat. He ate it. He’d say I’m not hungry, but he’d eat it.

KING: Was he insured, by the way?

DILEO: Yes, there’s insurance, not on him, but on non- performance. Although, it’s AEG and Michael Jackson’s company.

KING: So they get money?

DILEO: They get — the company goes towards the estate.

KING: Does the dispute –

DILEO: When it pays off. It hasn’t paid off yet.

KING: There’s a dispute, Frank, about how many shows he agreed to perform. Here’s what Leonard Rowe, the long time friend of Joe Jackson, told us a few weeks ago, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEONARD ROWE, FRIEND OF JOE JACKSON: Larry, the first conversation I had with Michael Jackson the night — it was a Friday night, the night he asked me to come and go to work for him. This is what he told me. He said, I only agreed to do 10 shows for AEG. I never agreed to do 50.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Is that true, Frank?

DILEO: No. Michael knew there was more than ten shows. He knew there were 50 shows. Sometimes Michael would like to say, gee, I’m only doing ten. I woke up, now I’m doing 40 more.

KING: He might have said that to Leonard?

DILEO: Yes, but what he was saying was what by popular demand I have to do 40. And incidentally, there were enough ticket requests to do 85.

KING: Eighty five?

DILEO: Eighty five. And you have to understand this also, the manager at the time and three attorneys read the contract to him. He knew how many shows he had to do.

KING: You read that contract?

DILEO: I read it too. And I know what’s in the contract. And there was a minimum and a maximum.

KING: What’s the minimum?

DILEO: You have to ask AEG. I’m not allowed to divulge. Not from AEG, but Michael’s sake.

KING: We’ll be right back. Friday night, Jermaine Jackson’s here. Don’t go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We’re with Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s manager. You wanted to add something about the dates.

DILEO: Just the fact that it came out to 50 was because he wanted to beat Prince’s record of 21, and be in the Guinness Book of World Records. He wanted to do 50 to put it out of touch.

KING: Really, he was competitive that way?

DILEO: Michael’s a very competitive person in everything he does.

KING: All right. Frank, what about this dispute now? You know Mr. Branca. Who gets to be the handler of the funds? Katherine is the — she’s in charge, but they’ve got 60 days. How do you read it?

DILEO: Well, I read it this way. Branca and Maclaine are in charge.

KING: For 60 days?

DILEO: For 60 days. I’m sure something will be worked out with Mrs. Jackson. It may be her. She may want to appoint somebody. I think they’re going to try to work that out. Mrs. Jackson is one of the loveliest women in the world. I think she’s going to make the greatest grandmother ever.

I had two grandmothers. If I can pick another one, I’d want to be her grandchild. Whether she wants to personally haggle with movie companies and record companies is another thing.

KING: What do you think of the Branca companies?

DILEO: Yes, Michael liked them. He wouldn’t have put them in there if he didn’t like them.

KING: Do you think they can work together with Mrs. Jackson?

DILEO: Yes, absolutely, absolutely. They can work with her.

KING: Joe Jackson and Leonard Rowe were on this show. And Joe said that they seemed to have — not imply, they said that Michael was being controlled. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWE: Michael Jackson’s life at the end was being controlled and manipulated. Michael Jackson was not allowed to make his own decisions. He was not allowed to hire who he wanted to hire to work for him. Michael Jackson was being told what to do. And people were controlling Michael Jackson. The same people that were controlling Michael Jackson financially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Want to comment on that?

DILEO: Absolutely. That is as false as they get. Michael Jackson has done and always did what he wanted to do.

KING: No one controlled him?

DILEO: No one controlled him. Listen, when I worked from 1984, you want to see Michael, call up. Is Michael available? What time? You come over. Same thing now. You want to see Michael Jackson? What time? You come over.

If he wants to see you, he’s seeing you. If he doesn’t want to see you –

KING: was not controlling him?

DILEO: How could they control him?

KING: Or out to harm him?

DILEO: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Listen, this is a devastating thing for everybody. You think AEG’s happy they’ve got 50 empty dates? They’re not going to fill them this year.

KING: The family also, father Joe and sister Latoya, have suggested foul play. Here’s what Joe Jackson told me in July. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Do you frankly think that drugs were involved in your son’s life?

JOE JACKSON, FATHER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: Something happened there, Larry. It wasn’t only drugs. There’s something else behind all of that.

KING: What do you mean? Where is — what are you thinking?

JACKSON: Well, I’m thinking that there’s foul play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Frank?

DILEO: Listen, something happened to Michael Jackson. We really don’t know until the toxicology reports.

KING: We don’t know at all. DILEO: We don’t know at all. We weren’t in the room. No one was sent up there to do any harm to Michael that we know of. I’m not sure what he’s talking about. Did the doctor make a mistake? I don’t know. You know, that has to come out.

KING: You don’t think there was some plot?

DILEO: No. Absolutely not.

KING: Did you know about Michael’s drug problem?

DILEO: I knew about it in the past. I didn’t know if anything was going on now and I still don’t. Because you have to remember something, to get the Lloyds of London to give you an insurance policy, you have to pass an exam. It was a four-hour exam with an outside doctor that they picked. They sent the doctor from New York. They examined him.

KING: They did that at the home?

DILEO: They did it somewhere. I wasn’t here for that, but they have the results. They’re not allowed to give them to anybody. But they said he was in great health. Now, you know, I asked them. I asked them in March, are you doing anything? He got a dig. Why would you ask me that? I said I want to be sure –

KING: What do you make of the doctor in the house full-time, Diprivan, stories like that?

DILEO: I never heard of Diprivan until I heard it on your show, to be honest with you. And I didn’t know the doctor was staying overnight. Because at the end of the night, he went to his house, I went to my residence.

KING: Back with more of Frank Delco. We certainly thank him for being with us tonight. Clearing up some things. Back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We’re back. Were you going to go on the tour?

DILEO: Yes.

KING: As manager, you’d have to go.

DILEO: Absolutely. I was going for eight months.

KING: Do you know if Dr. Murray was going to go?

DILEO: Yes, Michael wanted Dr. Murray to go. When I came in March, he said, Frank, make sure they get a doctor for us.

KING: Didn’t you question that?

DILEO: I said, why do you need a doctor? He said because after the shows I want to make sure that I get the right fluids, you know, and I eat right, and I want somebody to help my health.

KING: Do you know Dr. Murray?

DILEO: No, I never met him until one day we had a meeting.

KING: For the record, by the way, a spokesman for Dr. Murray has told us previously we’re not going to respond to any statements made by the Jackson family or anyone else at this time. Dr. Murray continues to cooperate with Los Angeles investigators in their efforts to determine the cause of Michael Jackson’s death.

What do you make of raiding his house, though?

DILEO: Well, I’m sure they should have done it. The cops should find out. I’m curious too. But to this — this communication here is that — that was Michael’s doctor. AEG, we asked AEG to pay for it while we were in Europe. He didn’t even have a contract. He’s never gotten a check.

KING: AEG was going to pay the doctor?

DILEO: Well, they were going to give the advance. It would be an advance against Michael’s earnings, because Michael demanded that. It wasn’t like he was on AEG’s payroll. But there was the contract was being negotiated. He wasn’t –

KING: While you were his manager, did you ever feel the sense to have to warn him about medications and stuff?

DILEO: No, because in the first time there wasn’t any.

KING: In ’84?

DILEO: Right.

KING: We’ll be right back with Frank DeLeo and my good friend Jim Moret will join us, as well. We thank Frank for being with us tonight. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, Frank.

DILEO: Thank you.

KING: Don’t go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

KING: Frank DiLeo is our special guest with us tonight, exclusive with us. Michael Jackson’s manager; he worked for Michael from ’84 through ’89 and was rehired earlier this year. Joining us now, a man atop this case from the get go, Jim Moret. He’s chief correspondent for “Inside Edition.” He also on many occasions has hosted this program. Has Frank DiLeo impressed you tonight?

JIM MORET, “INSIDE EDITION”: Yes, he has. He’s really done a good job of explaining what happened that day. We never really got inside.

Frank, we just discovered, had to break the news to Michael’s children, to his mother.

He also said something interesting earlier, that Katherine can work with the executors, opening the door to perhaps a deal to be worked out. There is no question that the two administrators are very well qualified to do this job. They guided Michael Jackson’s career.

I talked to one biographer of Michael Jackson today and said — he said, without John Branca, there wouldn’t even be an estate to deal with. That is how good these people are.

KING: Do you think they will work it out, Frank?

DILEO: Very optimistic. Mrs. Jackson is very level headed. Our attorneys are very level headed. There will be a resolution.

KING: Was Michael difficult to manage?

DILEO: No.

KING: All talent has some quirks.

DILEO: They all have some quirks. But Michael was great to manage. He would have a wild idea and I would have maybe a different idea. He would be like Steven Spielberg and I’m Martin Scorcesi. In some way we would blend and then it would work out. He used to laugh about that. He enjoyed that.

KING: How did you feel during the accusation period, with little boys and that story?

DILEO: I know that’s not true.

KING: Know it?

DILEO: I know it. I know Michael. I know what he felt about people. He was a kind soul that wouldn’t touch or harm a child. In that first one, I told him to fight it. If he was alive today, he would tell you. He told — Frank DiLeo told me to fight it. I should have listen to him.

When the second time came around, I knew he was innocent. I knew what happened. The people were moochers.

KING: Jim, has that gone away?

MORET: The allegations.

KING: The story itself sort of faded.

MORET: I think that what we’re seeing when you hear people like Frank talk, and you hear from Brooke Shields, you hear from his own daughter at the memorial — we are seeing a different side of Michael Jackson. We clearly saw him as a strange guy, odd. He was odd. But he was very talented and we are seeing more of a human side to him.

DILEO: Sometimes odd can be confused with he was a great marketer of himself. You should look at it from that point of view.

MORET: He was unusual.

DILEO: He knew what he was doing, and he knew what would cause publicity.

KING: He did?

DILEO: I think so.

KING: In the Madonna vein, knowing how to sell tickets.

DILEO: Absolutely. I learned a lot of things from Michael.

KING: Was he a — some people say a terrific businessman.

DILEO: He was very smart. When you get back to the number of shows; Michael Jackson knew that if you spent 27 million dollars to create a stage and a production, ten shows weren’t going to cover it.

MORET: To that point, Michael Jackson knew there were 31 shows originally. AEG told me there were 31 shows. They rolled out the first ten. They said this is going so well, we’ve got to add more. They agreed to 19 more. That is how they got to 50.

KING: We’ll be back with more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We’re back with Michael Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo, in our exclusive appearance. Jim Moret, chief correspondent of “Inside Edition.” What can you tell us about a meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel, attended by Michael and his father Joe, before the concert tour? What was that all about?

DILEO: Here is what happened. That was the one day I happened to be out of town. Joseph wanted to have a meeting with Leonard Rowe, Michael, Randy Phillips and me, and Paul Gumbaway (ph). Katherine came to the meeting. It was at the Beverly Hills Hotel in a bungalow.

They got there early. Michael stayed in his car until Randy and Paul came. I was out of town. They went in. They had a meeting. Joe asked all these questions, him and Leonard. Randy answered them.

KING: You heard all this from Randy?

DILEO: I heard it from Michael.

KING: Oh.

DILEO: OK. This is May 15th. That is a Friday. I get back Sunday or Monday. Michael says, we have to get rid of Rowe. I said OK. He tells me everything that happened. May 20th — KING: That letter went out.

DILEO: That letter went out and he received it.

KING: He said he didn’t.

DILEO: I know he did. He got it. He also said that that meeting was three weeks before Michael died and that’s not true. His timeline is way off.

KING: So Michael was kicked after that meeting?

DILEO: He forgot that he signed it. He signed it under pressure. But he forgot to send a letter out earlier. When they had the meeting and he saw how they acted, he said, Frank, we forgot. We have to remove Leonard. I said OK.

KING: Is this ever going to go away, Jim?

MORET: Not for a while. The criminal aspect –

KING: Where is that going?

MORET: Well, you know, with Anna Nicole, you didn’t see charges for more than a year after she died. I think you may see a similar situation here. The attorney general is involved. The DEA is involved, the LAPD. It could take months before we see criminal charges.

KING: Anything you want to ask Frank?

DILEO: I’m just curious why it is that there seems to be these two camps between the family and the management? It seems like you all have the same interests at heart, really that’s to grow what is now an estate.

DILEO: Right. It’s not as big as people make it out to be. But the one thing you have to remember, Michael liked to have his business separate from his family. He didn’t like his family interfering in his business.

KING: Really? Any of the family?

DILEO: Any of the family. Now, he did put Katherine as a trustee on certain things, because he trusted her. He didn’t want them knowing what he was doing.

KING: Wasn’t he close with his brothers and sisters?

DILEO: They are close as brothers and sisters. That has nothing to do with business. You could be close with your brother. You don’t want him to looking at your contract.

KING: Do you think Michael’s kids are going to go in business?

DILEO: I think they are very talented. KING: They’ve got good genes, right?

DILEO: Absolutely. They are very well mannered. They’re very polite. They are very smart. I wish I could read as good as they do.

KING: Any idea where he is going to be buried?

DILEO: No.

KING: Why the mystery?

MORET: The mystery, because the toxicology report is not done and that brain tissue has not been released back to the family. They can’t really bury him until he is whole. Simple as that. I think there is still a division in the family between Neverland and somewhere else.

KING: Yes. That’s going to go on.

MORET: That’s going to go on.

KING: Ad infinitum, Frank. Are you now back to being retired?

DILEO: No. I’m not going to stay retired very long.

KING: Thank so much for being with us. Thank you, Jim. Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s manager and Jim Moret.

And now for the anomalies we have spotted in this interview:

- DiLeo resumed his position as Michael’s manager in March. Dr Tohme Tohme was fired as Michael’s manager in May. The person who gave the press conference about Michael’s passing was Tohme Tohme, not DiLeo. And yet there is absolutely no mention of Tohme Tohme throughout this entire interview.

- DiLeo got a phonecall from a fan to tell him there was an ambulance at Michael’s house. A fan?

- DiLeo claims that a nurse told him, “he’s not going to make it. He’s gone. But we’ll keep working on him until his mother gets here”. And then that same nurse told him Michael was dead. Firstly, why would you keep working on someone if he’s “gone”? and secondly – A NURSE gave DiLeo all this information? Doctors are the only ones who give out information about a patient, and only to members of the family.

- DiLeo says, “Michael’s a very competitive person in everything he does”. – he’s speaking about Michael in the present tense, as if he’s still alive.

All in all, a very interesting interview. It certainly raises more questions than it answers.

Transcripts CNN

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