NEWARK, N.J. - North Jersey defense lawyer Paul Bergrin pleaded not guilty yesterday to racketeering charges, including the murder of a witness, in a possible death-penalty case.
Bergrin and seven codefendants entered not-guilty pleas through their attorneys during a hearing before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini.
Martini tentatively set a trial date of June 1 and asked federal prosecutors to determine by March 1 whether they intend to try Bergrin on a capital-murder charge. Such a decision would have to be approved by U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
Bergrin, dressed in a white T-shirt and blue sweatpants, his hands cuffed at his waist, showed little emotion during the 30-minute hearing.
The once-prominent defense lawyer was arrested in May and remained in solitary confinement in a federal prison until early this month, when his lawyers persuaded Martini to order prison officials to allow him into the general prison population.
Bergrin and most of his codefendants have been held without bail since their arrest on charges detailed in a 14-count indictment. This month, a federal grand jury returned a 39-count superseding indictment that expanded the charges.
Prosecutors allege that Bergrin used his Park Place law office here as the center for a criminal enterprise that routinely engaged in bribery and intimidation, including murder, to silence witnesses against his clients.
"No witness, no case" was Bergrin's oft-stated approach to his legal practice, investigators say.
A former federal prosecutor, Bergrin began his defense practice in 1991 and has represented dozens of North Jersey drug dealers and gang members during the last two decades.
He is charged with arranging the murder of a witness against one reputed drug kingpin and plotting the murder of another.
Bergrin and Vicente Esteves, 36, the reputed head of a multimillion-dollar cocaine network based in Monmouth County, are charged in the murder conspiracy.
Bergrin was representing Esteves, authorities say, when they contacted a hit man from Chicago to kill a witness in the Monmouth County case.
The hit man was, in fact, a cooperating government witness who recorded dozens of conversations in which the murder plot was set in motion.
Bergrin also is charged with drug dealing, running a $1,000-a-hour call-girl ring for another jailed client, and engaging in mortgage fraud.
His business partner and girlfriend, Yolanda Jauregui, 37, also faces drug, fraud, and murder-conspiracy charges.
Authorities allege she and Bergrin opened a restaurant, Isabela's, on Summer Street here that served as a stash house for their cocaine network.
In the superseding indictment, prosecutors expanded the charges against Jauregui, alleging she also was part of the murder plot. They further allege she became suspicious of the Chicago hit man after running a background check on him and threatened to have him "boxed and sent home" if he were a government informant.
Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
MOST POPULAR PHILLY.COM PHOTOS
Philly.com news blogs
Philly.com Promotions
