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Martin Oeser / AFP - Getty Images, file
Paul W. Bergrin at the Legal Center of the U.S. Army's Taylor Barracks in Mannheim, Germany, on 24 August 2004. Bergrin is accused of orchestrating the murder of an FBI informant.
NEWARK, New Jersey -- New Jersey attorney Paul Bergrin facilitated a litany of crimes through his law firm, including drug trafficking, prostitution and the murder of an FBI informant, prosecutors said on Tuesday as his trial began in Newark federal court.
A former federal prosecutor and prominent defense lawyer, Bergrin, 57, faces charges that he orchestrated the 2004 murder of Kemo DeShawn McCray, an FBI informant and witness against one of his clients, as well as 24 other counts ranging from racketeering to conspiring to kill witnesses.
But Bergrin, who has represented rapper L'il Kim and U.S. soldiers accused of crimes in Iraq, said the government's case rests almost entirely on the testimony of career criminals intent on reducing their sentences.
"You'll find in this case conclusively that you can't trust any of the witnesses against me," Bergrin, who is acting as his own attorney, told the jury on Tuesday during opening arguments.
The witnesses include a number of Bergrin's former associates and clients who prosecutors acknowledge were active participants in Bergrin's criminal enterprise.
The trial represents the U.S. Justice Department's second attempt to prosecute Bergrin, dubbed "the baddest lawyer in the history of Jersey" by New York Magazine.
The first trial included only the McCray murder charges, after U.S. District Judge William Martini severed them from the rest of the indictment.
McCray was gunned down in broad daylight on a Newark street, after prosecutors claim Bergrin told a client, "No Kemo, no case," implying that McCray's death would help a gang associate beat criminal charges. A jury deadlocked in November 2011 on whether to convict Bergrin.
Since then, the case has traveled a labyrinthine legal path.
Last June, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia removed Martini from the case and ruled that he had erred in separating the McCray charges from the racketeering counts, which allege that all of Bergrin's crimes can be tied to the criminal enterprise he ran out of his law practice.
With two dozen additional counts to prove, prosecutors plan to introduce new evidence, including a recording of Bergrin allegedly telling a Chicago hit man to murder another witness and make it look like a home invasion.
"It cannot under any circumstances look like a hit," Bergrin allegedly told a Latin Kings gang member secretly working with the government, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gay.
But Bergrin said jurors would see that recording, when taken in context, for what it was: "bluffing" and "gamesmanship" in which Bergrin led the presumed hit man on after he realized the man had no intention of killing anyone.
In addition, prosecutors claim Bergrin was involved in trafficking hundreds of pounds of cocaine, using his law firm to connect suppliers with distributors and allowing cocaine to be stored at a restaurant he owned.
He is accused of tampering with witnesses, including what Gay described as the "brainwashing" of a 9-year-old girl so that she would lie about the brutal stabbing of her mother by her father, a Bergrin client.
"This case is about a lawyer who used his law license to disguise the fact that he was a drug dealer, a pimp and a murderer," Gay said.
Bergrin, however, said the jury would "be unable to separate fact from fiction" thanks to the unreliability of the government's witnesses.
"All I ask is that you keep an open mind," he said.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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scum
What do you want to bet the feds screw this case up and he goes scott free?
Agreed that he is scum. Also, "He who represents himself in court is an idiot who has a fool for a client." Another quote also comes to mind: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." So, this smug jerk has proven himself to be an idiot, a fool, and absolutely corrupted.
He is merely a poster boy for the American 'justice' system. If you have enough money, you can buy a lot of 'justice'. Remember OJ Simpson?
He should have hired Jose Baez to represent him...
A crooked, lying, scumbag lawyer? Really, say it isn't so! Lawyers and politicians are doing everything they can to ruin this country.
Hummmmmmmm ..... He sorta looks like the "Godfather" .. at least the prosecutors have that going for them ...
"A former federal prosecutor.." ...1 strike against his integrity ... we now know that he's deceitful and do anything to get ahead..
"prosecutors claim Bergrin told a client, "No Kemo, no case," .... " Sooooo? lol thats not criminal to say .. it's stating a fact..
Prosecutors say they have evidence "including a recording of Bergrin allegedly telling a Chicago hit man to murder another witness and make it look like a home invasion."
Now we have something that can convince a jury that he's really a bad guy and shouldn't be left on the streets ... if it's true.
Most lawyers are simple thieves liars that carry a briefcase as a license to steal & manipulate the legal system to their advantage .. behind the scenes they sell one innocent client off, to down the river, to free another that they quite well may know is guilty .. they are deal makers .. and will do almost anything for a buck ..
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this guy must be rally bad, ..... " But Bergrin, who has represented rapper L'il Kim and U.S. soldiers accused of crimes in Iraq,..."
Who's really the bad guy here? Lets see what a juries perspective is of this .... I'm willing to bet that he never takes the stand in his own defense ...
Maybe he will make the prosecution a "deal they cannot say no to".
Wonder if he has access to a horses head...
GM Okeeboy,
Just about shot soda pop out my nose and I still recall that scene in the Godfather!
@max^108 the last time i checked OJ was found NOT GUILTY...also i remember the crooked LAPD planting evidence and lying on the stand under oath...
no one seems to remember this thing about the trial...JUST THAT A BLACK MAN WAS FOUND NOT GUILT OF THE MURDER OF A WHITE WOMAN...
but i can put up a link about the 100s of murders that whites have walked scott free from after murdering blacks...hell half admitted to the muder, but the white DA wouldnt prosecute or the jury was all white..hell last year they tried to pull the samething in FLORIDA but we aint having it.
COME OFF OF IT
Corrupt garbage. To the rest of the corrupt garbage out there, your turn is coming.
MoreJustice; Justice comes at the end of the trial (we hope), so far all we have is someone accused of crimes. The first two posts show how powerful to you two the press is, just the suggestion someone is accused of a crime is reason to be concerned and tuned in, but certainly not be so trigger happy to convict.
I hope he beats the rap. He will make a great Gov. of Illinois.
Lawyers are not protected from the law.
At what point does a lawyer cease acting as legal counsel and become part of the criminal enterprise his client is operating? Though he wasn't himself prosecuted, attorney Bruce Cutler was disqualified from continuing to represent the late John Gotti on exactly those grounds, and the "Teflon Don" died in a federal prison.
This character is representing himself in court. B-i-i-i-g mistake, counselor!
Q.How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?
A.Their lips are moving.
Q: What do you call a thousand lawyers on the bottom of the sea?
A: A good start.
Q: What do you call ten thousand lawyers at ground zero for a nuclear air burst?
A: Ash-holes.
Q: What do you call 535 lawyers f_cking 300 million people?
A: Congress
Q. What's black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?
A. A doberman.
Dodermans have been known to lick their AZZ.
their were 3 lawyers walking through the woods, they came acroos some tracks, the 1st lawyer said "HEY LOOK AT THOSE BEAR TRACKS"
the 2nd lawyer said "THOSE ARENT BEAR TRACKS, THOSE ARE WOLF TRACKS"
what did the 3rd lawyer say?
he didnt say anything because the dumb @!$%#s got hit by a TRAIN
If he did indeed do that to a 9 yr old, put him away forever.
You have to admire the lies an indicted lawyer comes up with to explain away hard evidence. It seems unbelievable, but the prosecutors will have a hell of a time gaining a conviction.
Perhaps that is why they have spent 10 years preparing their case against him?
Why is it so hard to imagine Paul Bergrin playing a game with Oscar the Informant? There were many conversations over the course of 6 months and I expect prosecutors to enter each and EVERY tape into evidence, and not just the one tape with an isolated statement. With all conversations included it will reveal that Bergrin was playing a game with the informant that wouldn't leave him alone.
Vicky Gallas, you mean, why is it so hard to imagine that, since Paul Bergrin spotted the informant he decided to make incriminating statements he knew would be recorded?
Yeah, that sounds likely. The Feds are watching me, so I should do whatever I can to help them manufacture evidence against me.
Sorry, to suggest that a practicing lawyer would intentionally make false, incriminating statements in a taped recording is not believable. If I were on the jury, I would certainly want to listen to the entire conversation, not to just a few utterances which might be taken out of context. But unless, there was punch line occurring shortly after the "cannot ...look like a hit." statement, that recording is game, set and match to my thinking, and Mr. Bergrin would be going away for a long, long time.
"used his law license to disguise he was a drug dealer, pimp and a murderer" I'm sure he's been called worse.
Agreed, he has also been called a lawyer.
Good one.
I say we give this liar....oops....I meant lawyer a fair trial, and then hang him!
We have to try him in a court of his peers does that mean the jury has to be made of lawyers! I see a fix here, or an appeal. No one understands a lawyer like a liar. Sorry I mean a politician! no thats a used car salespeerson, no a real estate agent, geez who are we gonna put on this jury the Mafia.
Can this guy look any more like a criminal? Look at that greasy hair, cheesy mustache and crooked mouth.
Jeez, under "slimeball" in the dictionary, they use this guy's picture.
But seriously, I'm wondering how many jurors he's already bribed (or threatened)?
Im not convinced he is guilty and I don't believe everything the FBI or government prosecutors say they only use scum to testify so they can get off free so don't you think they have an agenda and the truth may not be one of their good points.
A crooked lawyer in Jersey....nah
I had to kickback the local building department in Jersey when I lived there, for every real mob guy you knew there were 20 wanna be "Goombah's" who swore they where "connected".
I walked by a town sign that read "Town Council meeting Tuesday 10 AM" and then realized they had to meet in jail because they were all IN JAIL at the time LMAO.To this day that is still a running joke between my friends and I.
It was common knowledge who the local bookies where and for 2 grand.. yes only 2 grand you could get a guy whacked. Times where hard I guess, guys worked cheap. I grew up in Jersey it is the most corrupt place I have ever seen in my 50+ years of life. There are a lot of good things too don't get me wrong..not Jersey bashing just RayRay's post made me think :)
Two grand for a hit? That's not where the contract ends. In fact, it never does, and you might find yourself being asked to do a "favor" or two from that point on. Things like, "I need you to hold onto this package for me.", or "I need you to pick up a friend of mine at Newark Airport and take him where he tells you.", etc. And of course, there's that simple rule. "Got questions? Time to go! Nothing personal."
Most of you have convicted this man based solely on the few words of an NBC article. The FBI and Justice Department are as big as liars as politicians. Then the witnesses for the prosecution are worth spit as well. The entire court room will be filled with the liars club.
Although not admissible in court, each witness and the prosecutor should be hooked up to a polygraph machine to see how they register on the machines.
Pal of yours?
@Anon,
Naw, I am basing it on what I have heard about this @!$%#ball in the past, his chosen clients he services, sources of news and data that are way more reliable than any of the networks and lets face it, I am just avoiding the rush by calling this pile of oxygen thieving dung what I believe he is now instead of waiting for everyone else to chime in. Any questions?
Land o Goshen! What a rarity---a scumbag lawyer with a few redeeming qualities. Most lawyers I know have no redeeming qualities. (rat-killing being considered as a redeeming quality.) Set that man free and send him to the senate.
New Jersey corruption, corruption and now more corruption. New Jersey is making Chicago look like angels.
There is a reason why people hold the legal profession in contempt.
Until you need one....
Skip, I still don't like them, even if I do have to have one. I have family member that are liar for a living we just don't talk about their chosen professions. I am sure some have redeeming qualities, but a large part are nothing but leeches on society. I can give you a laundry list of examples if you like.
This is how our Government acts--go after the lawyer if he gets to good at proving them to be liars and idiots. And if they need to let the people they KNOW are guilty go free in the process, they are more than willing to do so.
A lost case hurts their sense of power. Encourages other innocent people to go to trial. Makes the public realize they are not our saviours. If to get the attorney they let a few drug dealer go free--well, not like the dealer did anything to them, eh?
You people need to do a Google search for Prosecutorial Misconduct, and educate yourself as to all the times these scum who work for the Government are more than happy to railroad innocent people.
And keep in mind they will eventually, to keep their numbers up and get promotions and pay raises, be coming for a member of your family one day.
Hope he ends up in Prison with some of his clients he failed to get free.
It's counsel like this that often block women out of a legal career.
Mr. "Baddest Lawyer" had better rethink his approach. He might think he's the 'worst there ever was' and that he's something to be regarded. At the end of the day - if most Americans knew his conduct, they'd shun him from society which is even worse than losing a court case. From what I understand (and it's pretty severe - you can't even get food stamps when that happens).
Plus the additional fact that on any given day, the Pentagon is sitting and waiting for him to move just an inch one way or another in the wrong direction.
So, you go ahead and move, Mr. Bad Ass Lawyer and keep up the negative influence on our judicial system. Some of us intend to clean things up in that department. Jerks like you keeping the filth sitting on the bench and blocking our decent moral justices and attorneys. Preventing equal protection of the law in local courts. That "brick wall" is about to be dismantled one brick at a time or pummeled. I suppose it all depends on how we are feeling at that particular moment.
Enjoy your prison cell.
You 'ain't so cool' as you think you are, dude.
yes,well, where are the law society and or the BAR when all this is going down?,, hiding?..It is astonishing how many so called "legal" proffessionals learn that proffession for the sole purpose of defeating justice[often but not always for personal gains$],..this is but one example, they tend to "use the law to defeat justice",.. smart mouthed game players with zero empathy and no conscience whatsoever,,I am with Gibbon on Lawyers in general,"when they reach positions of power in the state? they are Noxious",.. yes indeed!!,..anyone who stands up there and profess,s warmth and conviction for whichever side has paid him the most is not a usefull member of society[also Gibbon btw],..true there are some who are honourable and do very good work,, but they are self regulating and that does not work, at all!!,..I repeat! where is the law society and or the Bar! when it comes to law proffessionals crossing the line?.. they cant be found,, at all!!,.Did you know there is no legal tool to deal with criminals acting as advocates?,how many more have to die or have their lives destroyed before we do something about this problem?..a thousand? a million?.. a billion?.. how many?. anyone?
. . Who best to break the law but someone who studied it . - a lawyer ...
( how can you tell when a lawyer is lying - - his lips are moving )
> > > THE TRUTH IS OFTEN SAID IN JEST. . . . . . .
"Bergrin, a former federal prosecuter, is accused of drug trafficking, prostitution, and racketeering"....that says a lot about the caliber of prosecutorial attorney that the Federal government employs. These prosecutors (think US Attorney Ortiz in the Aaron Schwartz case) are nothing but criminals themselves. Try prosecuting yourselves once in a while, US Attorneys...those are "sure win" cases!
Former federal prosecutor...............enough said......READY, AIM , FIRE.!
Welcome to New Jersey. You just thought the mob went underground, but it has always been here hiding in plain sight. It just became 'respectable' by gathering behind a lawyer -- a crooked and corrupt lawyer, but a lawyer, nonetheless. Of course, what comes to mind here is "Do you know what is black and brown and looks good on a lawyer? A Doberman!"
I hope the Camp Gitmo detainees never hear of the guy.
He just chose the wrong career path, should have ran for office.
A lawyer being dishonest? Gaming the system? Can't be!