A former federal prosecutor who was charged with arranging the murder of a federal witness in a drug case will not face the death penalty if convicted, The Associated Press reported Sunday.

In May 2009, New Jersey defense attorney Paul Bergrin was arrested in connection with a 14-count racketeering indictment.  Bergrin is a former Essex County assistant prosecutor, the DOJ said. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1985-1990.

The charges included arranging the murder of a witness. The case was brought in New Jersey by then-acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, who is now the office’s First Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Federal prosecutors say Bergrin used threats, bribes and murder to discourage witnesses from testifying. In addition, Bergrin passed the name of an informant to associates of a client in a drug case. The informant was fatally shot in Newark, N.J., in 2004.

The decision not to seek the death penalty in the case was made by Attorney General Eric Holder, according to the AP. The New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office run by Paul Fishman did not comment on the decision.

Lawrence Lustberg, one of Bergrin’s attorneys, told the Asbury Park Press, “Obviously, he’s relieved.”

“He still recognizes that while the death penalty is off the table, his life is on the line. If he is convicted of a number of these allegations, he could spend the rest of his life in prison,” Lustberg added.

In an unrelated case in October 2009, Bergrin was sentenced to time served in connection with running a Manhattan brothel.

A former Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey has been sentenced in connection with running a Manhattan brothel, The Associated Press reported. Although New Jersey defense attorney Paul Bergrin was sentenced to time served in the misdemeanor prostitution case, he will remain in jail as he awaits trial on charges of arranging the murder of a federal witness in a drug case, The AP reported.

In May, Bergrin was arrested in connection with a 14-count racketeering indictment.  The charges included arranging the murder of a witness. The case was brought in New Jersey by then-acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, who is now the office’s First Assistant U.S. Attorney. Federal prosecutors say Bergrin used threats, bribes and murder to discourage witnesses from testifying, The AP reported. In addition, Bergrin passed the name of an informant to associates of a client in a drug case, The AP reported. The informant was fatally shot in Newark, N.J., in 2004.

Bergrin has pleaded not guilty. Bergrin, a former Essex County, N.J., county assistant prosecutor, served as an assistant U.S. Attorney between 1985 and 1990.

Justice Department prosecutors used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for the first time to bring charges against alleged human traffickers in the United States, The Associated Press reported Sunday night.

The Western District of Missouri U.S. Attorney’s Office handed down in May a 45-count indictment, which accuses eight Uzbekistan nationals and four others of turning foreign workers into slaves, according to The AP.  The workers were allegedly forced into housekeeping jobs and required to live with other laborers in cramped apartments with high rents, the news wire reported. A trial date hasn’t been set, according to The AP.

RICO, which is usually associated with mafia cases, was amended in 1995 to include language that addresses slavery. Those convicted of racketeering could face up to 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The charge of fraud in foreign labor contracting was also used for the first time since it was added to the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protections Act last year, according to The AP. The Trafficking Victims Protections Act was the first bill to comprehensively prosecute human traffickers when it became law.

Acting U.S. Attorney Matt Whitworth told The AP that the Bush administration started to pay significant attention to human trafficking after the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but the Obama administration has gone further.

“(Attorney General) Eric Holder is encouraging U.S. Attorneys offices to pursue these cases and has shown a great deal of interest in more and more of this type of prosecution,” Whitworth said. “I think we’re making an impact, and the Department of Justice is encouraging us to do that.”

The government’s case against John A. (Junior) Gotti may be in trouble, reports the New York Daily News.

John A. (Junior) Gotti

Last week, at a pre-trial hearing, Federal Judge Kevin Castel grilled Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Honig on the lack of details regarding the crimes Gotti allegedly committed in the five years before he was indicted (2008).

At one point, Castel asked “Is that it?”  He also noted that “I’m not finding very much that’s new.”

Honig has until Tuesday, June 22 to come up with more details on Gotti’s most recent crimes.  Gotti’s attorney Charles Carnesi said he plans to ask Castel to free Gotti on bail while awaiting his Sept. 14 trial if the government can’t find any more evidence.

Gotti also ran into an old acquaintance as he left:

On the way out, Gotti turned to the audience and appeared to tell his lawyers, “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Radio host and Gotti nemesis Curtis Sliwa, sitting in the back row, thought Gotti told him, “You’re going down.” Sliwa muttered some expletives about Gotti in return.

The charges against Gotti includes the allegation that in June 1992 he sent two henchmen to kidnap Sliwa as revenge for his on-air rants about the Gotti clan.

Despite being shot twice, Sliwa survived the kidnapping by jumping out of a speeding cab with doors that had been rigged shut.

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.”