Playboy Interview: Melvin Belli

June, 1965

"The mad genius of the San Francisco bar" ... "a court jester" ... "a publicity-mad pettifogger" ... "the S. Hurok of the legal profession"—these are among the kinder things said about San Francisco attorney Melvin Mouron Belli (Pronounced "bell-eye"). That he is unquestionably among the greatest living trial lawyers, however, is conceded even by Belli's legion of enemies, including no few as formidable in stature as the American Bar Association,...

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