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He used a restaurant in Newark, N.J., as a front for a cocaine-distribution network.
He traveled to New York City to oversee a $1,000-an-hour call-girl ring.
He had a witness killed in one drug case and hired a hit man to rub out another.
And he did it all out of his law office.
That’s the picture federal authorities have painted in a 39-count racketeering indictment charging prominent New Jersey defense lawyer Paul Bergrin with being the leader of a criminal enterprise that used violence, intimidation, and deceit to generate millions of dollars.
Bergrin, a former federal prosecutor, arraigned today with seven codefendants in U.S. District Court in Newark…
He was “no different than a street gangster,” added Gerald P. McAleer, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in New Jersey.
Both the DEA and the FBI worked the Bergrin case. In the months since the arrest, court papers have fleshed out their allegations.
Though the indictment includes one murder and one murder conspiracy, investigators contend that witnesses have linked Bergrin to at least three other homicides.
They also say Bergrin routinely bribed witnesses to win cases. And, they contend, when bribery wasn’t an option, he resorted to violence.
“No witness, no case” was the phrase he used repeatedly in his criminal-defense work, authorities say.
RTFA. Long, detailed resume of the corruption that someone charged with public responsibility for justice – may come to.