May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Paul Bergrin, a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey and defense attorney for rappers and U.S. soldiers, was arrested and charged with conspiring to kill a witness in a drug case.

Bergrin, 53, a former Essex County assistant prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney, was indicted in the five-year-old murder by a grand jury in Newark, New Jersey. He was charged in the death of an informant who was preparing to testify against a client.

The attorney was also accused of trying to hire a Chicago hit man to kill a witness in another federal drug case. The assassin recorded their conversations and is cooperating in the case, prosecutors said. If convicted, Bergrin faces the death penalty or a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

“Bergrin was directly involved in the successful plot to murder a federal informant,” Michael Smith, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, said in court papers. The lawyer “has used his law firm to carry out a pattern of criminal activities.”

The attorney was arrested with three others, including another lawyer with an office at his law firm. The four and a man already in jail were indicted on racketeering and conspiracy charges tied to an alleged criminal enterprise run out of the firm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said yesterday in a statement.

Bergrin pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy to promote a Manhattan prostitution ring once led by a client. He was fined $50,000 and put on probation for three years. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau secured Bergrin’s indictment on the call-girl charges in 2007.

‘Serious Allegations’

Bergrin’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, said yesterday in an interview that his client denies all of the allegations.

“These are serious allegations, and I intend to mount a serious defense,” Shargel said.

The government plans to oppose Bergin’s bail request at a hearing scheduled for next week, said Michael Drewniak, a prosecution spokesman.

Bergrin has represented Queen Latifah, the actor and singer, and Lil’ Kim, the rap performer whose real name is Kimberly Jones, according to Shargel. He also represented a soldier accused of mistreating prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, his lawyer said.

Bergrin grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and is the son of a New York police officer, the Star-Ledger in Newark said. He worked on homicides as a New Jersey prosecutor and was an assistant U.S. attorney in Newark, the paper said.

Murder in 2004

The murder at the center of yesterday’s indictment took place in March 2004, when a drug informant was shot three times in the back of the head while crossing a street in Newark, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra said in the statement.

The government said the gunman was Anthony Young, who is now in prison. The victim was identified by authorities by the nickname Kemo. He was to be a witness against an accused drug dealer represented by Bergrin named William Baskerville, prosecutors said.

Bergrin told Young the informant’s death would ruin the prosecution of Baskerville for distributing crack cocaine, according to the statement.

“No Kemo, no case,” Bergrin is quoted in the government’s statement as telling Young.

Young pleaded guilty to the killing, testified against Baskerville and is serving a 30-year prison sentence, the prosecutors said. Young’s testimony implicated Bergrin and triggered the investigation, Drewniak said.

Also charged yesterday were Thomas Moran, identified as a lawyer, and Vincente Esteves, who prosecutors said is accused of drug dealing.

Racketeering, Conspiracy

Moran, Esteves and Bergrin were charged with racketeering and conspiracy. Yolanda Jauregui and Sundiata Koontz were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy in an alleged mortgage fraud.

Bergrin represented Esteves after he was charged with drug trafficking a year ago in Monmouth County, New Jersey, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Esteves, Bergrin and Moran schemed to locate and kill witnesses who they thought intended to testify against Esteves.

Bergrin, Moran and Esteves allegedly schemed to locate and kill “a number of witnesses” that they believed would cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Esteves, according to the statement. The trio allegedly asked the hit man to kill a possible informant known as “Junior the Panamanian.”

Prosecutors claim Bergrin traveled to Chicago to meet with the killer, and that Moran arranged for Esteves to get a mobile phone in jail so he could communicate directly with the assassin.

Gun for Killer

“Moran agreed to obtain a gun for the hit man so that the hit man could kill Junior the Panamanian,” prosecutors said.

All were arrested yesterday except Esteves, who was already in jail.

“The conduct alleged is simply shocking,” Marra said in the statement. “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 is accused of using his law firm to launder proceeds from his clients’ criminal activities and encouraging witnesses to lie on the stand or flee to avoid testifying.

“Bergrin used his position as criminal defense attorney to manipulate and disrupt lawful court proceedings on behalf of his clients,” Smith of the DEA said in the court filing

Bergrin also allegedly used evidence shared by prosecutors to identify witnesses against his clients to pay them off or intimidate them. He used his status as a lawyer to have private meetings with clients to discuss future criminal acts, according to the indictment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 21, 2009 00:01 EDT