http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/01012347299-limier-d-amerique
07/06/11
PORTRAIT
Darrin Giglio. The boss of a private investigation agency in New York, saw his profession highlighted by the case of DSK.
React
By FABRICE ROUSSELOT From our correspondent in New York
Among private investigators, we know the myth. In his office in Long Island, Darrin Giglio hung a Sherlock Holmes hat and coat on, down the hall, he placed a statue of the Maltese Falcon on the cabinet. ”It’s true, he says, there is a fantasy that goes with the profession. But do not believe everything you see on TV, it’s a job that requires discipline and seriousness. We work for clients who are often in dramatic situations, and try to get to the truth. ”
Cropped hair and broad shoulders of former Marine he was, Darrin Giglio is, 43 years at the helm of one of the largest private detective agencies in New York, North American Investigations. He has thirty PI (private investigators) under his command, and deals with “thousands of cases per year.” Private mills or on behalf of large companies, cases of missing persons and criminal cases, such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
By using one of these agencies, the “security company” Guidepost Solutions for delve into the past of the alleged victim who accused the former head of the IMF of sexual assault in a room at the Sofitel in Manhattan, lawyers for DSK highlighted a profession that generally prefers to work in the background. France has suddenly discovered the key role of private investigators in the U.S. judicial system. Of sleuths who are more than 50,000 U.S. and whose number is increasing, mainly because of insurance fraud and cybercrime. Not necessarily all of Philip Marlowe, rather meticulous and persevering investigators who operate discreetly.
Secrets, Giglio has a ton, but it is not ready to give way. He prefers to leave his office for the interview, “because there are too many things going on and it’s not a place for the press.” He does get into any details of its business and is reluctant to talk about his methods. ”Every detective has a way of doing things, he learned on the ground, he let go after long minutes of thinking, but let’s just say that the police have the same training. They generally know a way to get information. And they have to deal with the bureaucracy. We are ten ways to achieve the same information, and much faster. ”
If any “private” has a respectable degree awarded after a review that consists of some questions about the rules laid down in the profession, it does indeed no particular law. The PI must rely on its own ability to persuade. ”Often, it is useless to show his muscles, says Darrin, you have to ask the same questions again and again, listen to people talk about their family or their children to build confidence, and suddenly they will unleash an information. One would think also that just strum on the Internet to do the job, but it’s true. A good detective spends a lot of time analyzing every detail. He must learn to blend into an environment, to the actor, dye their hair red to go to a punk bar or put on his leather suit for sadomasos boxes. “Sometimes,” talent “is not enoughand money is an effective way to solve certain puzzles. Giglio: “There is nothing illegal in there, it pays people for their time in us.”
The majority of PI were spent in a police or law enforcement. But, in Giglio was totally spinning in the blood. It is the father, an Italian from Brooklyn, who first responded to an ad when he was 19 years. He started part-time, continuing his studies and quickly developed a passion for the business and founded his own company investigation, in the 60′s.
Darrin, he presents the ideal of the perfect CV PI. After four years in the Marines, he began studying criminal justice at St. Johns University in New York. There he is recruited by the famous Secret Service, the unit assigned to the United States for the protection of U.S. presidents and heads of state. It is not supposed to talk about, but still says he “took care” of George Bush. It was also a bodyguard for Donald Trump or Yannick Noah, when he came to play at Flushing Meadows. But “the pay is not good enough” and in 1992 he finally decided to buy the company from his father and establish his own, North American Investigations. ”I benefited from the experience of my father who always helps me in some cases. The detective meets a real demand in the United States. Lawyers and relatives of victims or the accused contact us because the investigation by prosecutors is not always complete and that the police are overwhelmed. ”
In New York, many lawyers point out that some cases may radically change the turn after the work of a good society investigation. If Darrin Giglio refuses to comment on the case of DSK, he nevertheless cautions that “often when we try a little, the version presented by the police is not always that which corresponds to reality.” A few weeks ago, he has discovered that a murder between two offenders did not fall under self-defense, as claimed by the police. The prosecutor’s office was forced to reopen the case.
Throughout the interview, the detective becomes a little less private. It says its prices between 10 000 and 15 000 dollars [6 500-10 000] for a survey week. He speaks of the “thrill” that he still has the spinning or “completely crazy things” he has seen in his career. As the boss of a large U.S. company that his wife had asked him to follow, and he found a club a little special, on all fours and attached to a leash … Giglio, for its part single without children, not having found “the right person.”
The detective is also left to describe the perfect case of PI, with binoculars, GPS, which is placed under the car under surveillance or cameras with zoom lenses oversized. It opens a black box, which is a camera hidden behind a shirt button, to bear testimony in the case of sensitive and difficult to obtain … “For me, it’s the best job in the world, ensures there I truly believe that I contribute to a fairer justice.Obviously, things are not always glamorous and everything is good to hear, but if I feel I have advanced an investigation, so I’m satisfied. “At the time of the photo, Darrinaccept even get into a car, as if in hideout. One of his neighbors, apparently fervent admiration, has the last word. ”He’s a character. A real James Bond. “