Prosecutors in New Jersey are reviewing dozens of cases handled by a defense attorney charged this week in a federal indictment for allegedly plotting to murder prosecution witnesses.
Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow on Friday said her office is examining more than 50 cases in which clients were represented by Paul Bergrin, who was indicted on murder, conspiracy and racketeering counts.
The indictment handed up Wednesday accuses Bergrin of arranging the killing of one witness and trying to hire a hit man to kill another. Dow's office is looking into the other cases based on information gathered during the federal investigation.
A sworn statement by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent offered in support of the government's request to hold Bergrin without bail on the federal charges accuses him of using threats and money to convince witnesses against his clients to lie under oath.
In one case, Bergrin allegedly coached the 8-year-old daughter of a man accused of stabbing his wife 27 times to lie on the witness stand, leading to the man's acquittal.
In another, a witness to a murder who had given a statement to police implicating Bergrin's client allegedly was told Bergrin would represent her in a separate criminal case for free if she changed her statement.
The statement also describes a case in which a murder charge against one of Bergrin's clients was dismissed after one witness was killed and others refused to testify.
Bergrin, who once represented Queen Latifah, Lil' Kim and other rappers but made a reputation representing clients accused of murder and drug trafficking in northern New Jersey, made his first appearance in federal court Wednesday and is being held pending a bail hearing next week.
He also pleaded guilty just this month to conspiring to run the NY Confidential brothel after founder and self-proclaimed "King of all pimps" Jason Itzler got busted. Among the perks that came with Bergrin's gig there was a buffet of $1,000-an-hour hookers, but he was eventually sentenced to three years' probation and sentenced to $50,000.
Bergrin's attorney, Gerald Shargel, said his client is innocent in the current case Dow is investigating, and plans to mount a serious defense.
The details in the indictment and DEA agent's statement, while not yet proved, are particularly troublesome given the difficulties prosecutors already face in getting witnesses to testify in violent crime cases, Dow said.
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"It portrays the whole legal profession in the worst light," she said. "It has negative implications for the criminal judicial process and on whether people ever think they're going to have a fair shake or trust that the prosecutor's office can effectively represent their interests and protect them."
Dow said double jeopardy rules would probably preclude her from retrying defendants represented by Bergrin who were acquitted. But she said her office will take a close look at cases that were dismissed before going to trial.
The review comes at a time when the prosecutor's office already is short-handed due to budget cutbacks. Dow said her detective corps has been reduced by about a dozen, and more than 140 assistant prosecutors she oversees have agreed to six-day voluntary furloughs this year.
Dow's office also will review cases handled by attorney Thomas Moran, who was charged along with Bergrin and faces conspiracy counts in what the government has labeled a racketeering enterprise run out of Bergrin's law office in Newark.
Moran's attorney, John Meringolo, could not be reached for comment at his New York City office Friday.
