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TAMPA — It's a "black book" you won't find at the local library.
An X-rated list with names and sexual preferences of 30,000 clients of what prosecutors call an international, high-end prostitution ring is Tampa bound. An attorney for a man charged in the case needs to see the list to prepare a defense.
Though it's actually a massive spreadsheet on a computer disc, lawyers have taken to calling it the "black book."
Nobody, aside from federal prosecutors, knows the names of the supposedly well-heeled clientele. Tampa defense attorney Paul DeCailly is about to learn them.
But don't ask him for names: A judge has ordered him not to tell a soul.
"I'm not going to dial for dollars and pick names on the list and call people," DeCailly said on Monday. "It's sensitive thing for a lot of people."
Federal prosecutors in Michigan in July charged DeCailly's client, Gregory L. Carr, 44, and his ex-wife of collecting more than $4 million through a Web-based ring headquartered in Miami that charged $500 an hour for sex with prostitutes.
One of the ring's Web sites was operated from a Tampa Bay-area Web server, DeCailly said, though information about the server or the company that may have operated it was not available late Monday.
Authorities are concentrating their case on clients out of Michigan and Ohio, where Carr's company, Miami Companions, appears to have been particularly busy, prosecutors have said.
But the escort service is considered one the largest in the nation, and clients may be located anywhere. Asked if the list may contain local names, DeCailly said, "I never thought of Tampa Bay. I never gave it any consideration."
Federal prosecutors didn't want DeCailly to get the entire list of names.
"It is quite conceivable that the sole purpose of this request is not to adequately prepare for trial, but only to intimidate, threaten or harass potential witnesses for the government," prosecutors said in a motion opposing access.
DeCailly said that is not the case, and a judge in Michigan agreed to allow him to review the list. In court papers, DeCailly said he wants to interview potential witnesses and determine if any have criminal records.
DeCailly knows the "black book" is a hot piece of property. He can't make copies. In fact, he doesn't want to see the thing anywhere near his office.
Instead, he has agreed to review it at the Tampa offices of the FBI just in case someone later leaks a portion of the list to reporters.
"I don't want anyone to blame me for it," DeCailly said.
William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3432.
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