New Jersey defense attorney Paul Bergrin was arrested today in connection with a 14-count racketeering indictment. Among the charges is that Bergrin arranged the murder of a federal witness in a drug case, the Department of Justice announced. The case was brought by Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., in New Jersey. Read the indictment here.
“The allegations in this indictment make Bergrin no different than a street gangster,” Gerard P. McAleer, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New Jersey, said in the DOJ news release.
Bergrin, 53, of Nutley, is a former Essex County Assistant Prosecutor, the DOJ said. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney between 1985 and 1990.
More from the news release:
“The conduct alleged is simply shocking,” Marra said. “A licensed lawyer, a former prosecutor essentially became one of the criminals he represents, supporting, encouraging, indeed directing a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder and murder conspiracies, drug trafficking and financial fraud. Bergrin can now expect to feel the full weight of the very legal system he turned on its head with his conduct.”
