A former federal prosecutor who became a high-powered criminal defense lawyer was charged today in connection with the slaying of an FBI informant.
Paul Bergrin, 53, of Marlboro, was indicted along with three others by a federal grand jury in Newark with running a racketeering operation that also included wire fraud, money laundering and attempts to shield criminal clients from prosecution, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra.
His former clients include Queen Latifah, rap mogul Lil' Kim, and William Baskerville, who was convicted of ordering the execution of a secret FBI informant, Kemo Deshawn McCray.
During Baskerville's 2007 trial, federal prosecutors alleged that Bergrin had disclosed McCray's identity to Baskerville's cousins, who hired a hit man to gun him down on a Newark street.
"No Kemo, no case," Bergrin allegedly told his client's cousins. He later denied the conversation transpired.
The indictment also accuses Bergrin of hiring a hit man from Chicago to kill at least one witness in a Monmouth County drug case. The slaying never transpired because the hit man was a government informant, authorities said.
Bergrin was arrested this morning. He is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge at 2:30 p.m.
The federal charges against the one-time Army major come two weeks after he pleaded guilty in New York to helping run an exclusive Manhattan call-girl ring.
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