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San Francisco P.I. Jack Palladino on life support after robbery attempt

His clients have included Bill Clinton, Courtney Love and the Hearst family.

A San Francisco private investigator who worked for the Black Panthers, Bill Clinton and other well-known figures was on life support after he was badly injured during an attempted robbery, his family and authorities said Sunday.

The man, Jack Palladino, 76, fell on the pavement and suffered a life-threatening head injury after someone jumped from a car and tried to steal his camera Thursday afternoon, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing police, witnesses and Palladino's stepson, Nick Chapman.

A grandchild, Ash Ivanov, confirmed Sunday that the attempted robbery occurred in the city's Haight-Ashbury district, where Palladino lives. The Chronicle reported that he is not expected to survive.

San Francisco police said in a statement that two suspects, Lawrence Thomas, 24, and Tyjone Flournoy, 23, were arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, aggravated kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes.

It wasn't immediately clear whether they had attorneys.

The Associated Press reported that Palladino's career began in the 1970s after he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and was hired by the family of the newspaper heiress Patty Hearst to investigate her kidnapping by militant leftists.

He later worked for Black Panthers leader Huey Newton, Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and Courtney Love, the AP reported. The Chronicle reported that Harvey Weinstein also hired Palladino to try to quell allegations of sexual misconduct.