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John Hollenhorst Reporting Imagine rummaging around in some of Michael and Janet Jackson's most valuable and highly personal treasures. Tonight we have a taste of what that would be like thanks to a Utah photographer and a New Jersey businessman.
They're going public after sitting on a big Jackson family secret for more than a year.
This involves what would seem to be some of the most prized possessions of Michael Jackson and his family, and some of their most private documents. The kind of stuff you'd expect to find hidden in a family attic. But incredibly, the Jacksons allowed it to fall into the hands of an enemy.
There may be no family in show business so haunted by controversy, so mired in financial difficulty, so shadowed by legal troubles. Good reasons to keep family stuff private.
New Jersey businessman Henry Vaccaro has the Jackson's stuff, two full semi-loads. And he's no friend of the family. He battled the Jacksons in court for years over a sour business deal. In an amazing legal twist, Vaccaro wound up owning Jackson family possessions.
They range from the highly public to the intensely private. Yes, there are tubes of skin whitener for the cosmetically obsessed Michael Jackson.
Bill Francis/The Imagination Company: “At the beginning I just didn't believe it, it was just too unbelievable.”
Part-time KSL photographer Bill Francis met Henry Vaccaro two years ago.He flew to New Jersey to video-tape Vaccarro's mother-lode of Jackson memorabilia.
Bill Francis: “My jaw was dragging. The whole way through there I just couldn't believe it.”
Some of the stuff looks very familiar, like some of Jackson's costumes. There are many highlights of a public life.
Henry Vaccard: "A formal invitation for a royal command performance before the queen of england."
Instruments from the original Jackson Five. Janet's homework. Michael's artwork. Dozens of boxes reflect Michael's passion for collecting. Open a box at random and you might find a photo autographed by the Beatles.
Many items are personal.
Bill Francis: “Yeah, very personal. There's banking statements, financial statements, letters, pretty much everything you could ever think of.”
Even Janet Jackson's marriage license when she eloped as a teenager, plus a family letter warning her to keep it secret.
So how did Vaccaro get all this? He sued the Jacksons for an unpaid debt and won. The Jacksons refused to pay so a judge seized family assets. Vaccaro was allowed to bid for the stuff after the Jacksons failed to pay storage fees.
Bill Francis: “Yeah, I believe the amount was about $60,000. They just had to pay the fee for the warehouse and the Jackson's would have had it all back.”
Henry Vaccaro: "And I think the real story here is how this family is so out of touch with the real world that they could let a total stranger get their hands on all their personal property and family secrets."
Bill Francis hopes to sell his video to a network; there's a lot of national interest of course. Henry Vaccaro has already worked his own deal; you can expect most of the Jackson stuff to turn up for sale on the internet later this year.
