Better Call Paul | 2

Summary

Criminal Attorney: Episode 2 – "Better Call Paul"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Criminal Attorney
• Host/Author: Wondery
• Episode: Better Call Paul | 2
• Release Date: September 23, 2024

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Introduction: The Rise of Paul Bergren

In the bustling legal landscape of Newark, New Jersey, Paul Bergren has carved out a reputation as an unstoppable criminal defense attorney known for his unorthodox methods and impressive win rate. However, as his legend grows, so do the suspicions surrounding his practices. Episode 2, titled "Better Call Paul," delves deeper into the complexities of Paul's career, his confrontations with fellow attorneys, and the scrutiny from law enforcement.

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Meeting Paul Bergren: The Beginning of Suspicion

The episode opens with Brandon Jenks Jenkins introducing John Edwards Tiffany, a fresh law school graduate working under Paul Bergren in Newark. John recalls his first encounter with Paul:

John Edwards Tiffany [00:56]: "Paul was well dressed. They looked at him. He cut a good impression."

At this initial meeting, Paul faces serious allegations from the U.S. Attorney's Office, accusing him of witness and evidence tampering. Specifically, they allege that Paul illegally recorded a witness interview and forged the witness's initials on the cassette tape submitted as evidence. The gravity of these charges threatens to derail Paul's career.

John Edwards Tiffany [01:43]: "It was amazing to watch his resolve, his ability to remain calm, cool and collective and never ever let anybody see his sweat."

Despite the severe accusations, Paul vehemently denies all charges. Over the next two years, Paul and his legal team work tirelessly to defend him, showcasing both his professional prowess and his personable nature.

John Edwards Tiffany [02:02]: "Paul is the type of guy that he's going to be thankful to anybody and everybody who had some sort of hand, even if it was someone down in the kitchen of the law firm, you know, cooking food on a Saturday for everybody if we're working on the case."

Unexpectedly, the U.S. Attorney's Office drops the charges, recommending an administrative dismissal. Paul attributes this to a key witness whose testimony swayed the prosecutor.

John Edwards Tiffany [03:48]: "There was no doubt in my mind, or at least very little doubt in my mind that this was retaliation. 100%. This was payback."

This dismissal fuels a vendetta between Paul and the government, setting the stage for future confrontations.

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Paul Bergren's Meteoric Rise and Controversial Cases

Following the dismissal, Paul’s career flourishes. He builds a formidable practice, representing a diverse clientele—from police officers to robbers—often emerging victorious against seemingly insurmountable odds. His knack for winning high-profile cases only intensifies the rumors of his questionable methods.

Notable Case: Tony Gutierrez vs. Paul Bergren

In 2003, Tony Gutierrez, an experienced prosecutor from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, faces Paul in a high-stakes attempted murder trial. The defendant, Norberto Velez, is accused of brutally attacking his estranged wife, leaving her with a collapsed lung. Gutierrez is confident of a conviction, boasting:

Tony Gutierrez [05:55]: "I'd say 90 or 95%. I thought I was gonna win or get a conviction."

However, Paul's strategies soon unravel Gutierrez’s case. A pivotal moment occurs when the key witness, Velez's 10-year-old daughter, alters her testimony under pressure:

Tony Gutierrez [12:35]: "Wait, what? Carolyn was now saying her mom came into her dad's house with her. Maybe she had heard him wrong."

This sudden change shifts the narrative, portraying Velez as acting in self-defense, ultimately resulting in a not guilty verdict against him. Gutierrez is left reeling:

Tony Gutierrez [14:14]: "Verdict, like the drama you see in the jurors. And as to the count, attempted murder, not guilty. As the count to aggravated assault, not guilty. I'm like, ugh, I can't believe it."

Paul’s ability to manipulate testimonies and defenses in seemingly unwinnable cases cements his reputation as a legal powerhouse, but it also attracts darker attention.

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FBI Agent Shawn Brokos: Scrutiny Intensifies

Parallel to Paul's rising influence, FBI Agent Shawn Brokos becomes increasingly suspicious of Paul's methods. Through her confidential informant, Keemo McCrae, Shawn hears unsettling rumors about Paul's connections and potential corruption:

Shawn Brokos [18:28]: "Kimo said, 'Oh yeah, all the big guys go to Berggren because he gets everybody off.'"

Suspecting bribery and manipulation, Shawn begins to investigate Paul's activities, balancing her primary focus on dismantling Newark’s drug rings. Her investigation gains momentum as she targets drug kingpins like Will Baskerville.

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The Arrest of Will Baskerville: A Turning Point

In November, Shawn orchestrates the arrest of Will Baskerville, a significant drug dealer. The operation unfolds as follows:

Will Baskerville [19:28]: "Well, I was in my home, basically in bed. I heard... somebody laying on my doorbell."

Shawn's team seize evidence of extensive heroin distribution and cash reserves in Will's home, leading to his immediate arrest. During interrogation, Shawn attempts to flip Will into a confidential informant, emphasizing the dire consequences he faces:

Shawn Brokos [21:03]: "We've got you by the balls. We've been investigating you for well over a year. We have you on audio, we have you on video."

Despite these efforts, Will refuses to cooperate without his attorney, Paul Bergren:

Will Baskerville [23:01]: "They gave me a call to be able to call Paul at the time."

Paul steps in, ensuring that Will exercises his right to legal counsel, which complicates Shawn’s investigation.

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Intertwining Fates: Paul's Influence and Brokos' Dilemma

As investigations deepen, Paul’s connections within the criminal underworld become more evident. The episode highlights a critical moment captured through wiretapped conversations between Paul and drug kingpin Hakeem Curry:

Shawn Brokos [26:34]: "Paul Bergeron is talking to Hakeem Curry. They're talking about Will getting arrested and trying to piece together how this happened."

This discovery alarms Shawn, as it suggests Paul may be leveraging his legal prowess to shield his criminal associations. The threat escalates when Paul’s informant, Keemo McCrae, is placed in jeopardy:

Shawn Brokos [27:21]: "They knew that they were unsolved murders. They do not mess around. They will kill people."

Determined to protect Keemo, Shawn acts swiftly to relocate him, but the danger follows:

Shawn Brokos [28:02]: "We kept saying, you can't be in this area. They're gonna find you. You've gotta go somewhere else, you've gotta relocate."

The episode concludes with Shawn and Keemo on high alert, aware that their efforts to dismantle the drug network and uncover Paul's potential corruption are putting them in the crosshairs of a ruthless gang.

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Conclusion: A Web of Deceit and Power

"Better Call Paul" intricately weaves the narrative of Paul Bergren’s legal genius and possible entanglement in criminal activities with Agent Shawn Brokos' relentless pursuit of justice. The episode sets the stage for an escalating conflict between a top-tier defense attorney and federal law enforcement, promising intense developments in the episodes to follow.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• John Edwards Tiffany [01:43]: "It was amazing to watch his resolve, his ability to remain calm, cool and collective and never ever let anybody see his sweat."

• Tony Gutierrez [05:55]: "I'd say 90 or 95%. I thought I was gonna win or get a conviction."

• John Edwards Tiffany [03:48]: "There was no doubt in my mind, or at least very little doubt in my mind that this was retaliation. 100%. This was payback."

• Shawn Brokos [18:28]: "Kimo say, 'Oh yeah, all the big guys go to Berggren because he gets everybody off.'"

• Shawn Brokos [26:34]: "Paul Bergeron is talking to Hakeem Curry. They're talking about Will getting arrested and trying to piece together how this happened."

• Shawn Brokos [28:02]: "We kept saying, you can't be in this area. They're gonna find you. You've gotta go somewhere else, you've gotta relocate."

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Stay Tuned: To follow the unfolding drama between Paul Bergren and FBI Agent Shawn Brokos, subscribe to Criminal Attorney on the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Listen to all episodes early and ad-free with a Wondery+ subscription.

Transcript

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of Criminal Attorney early and ad free. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. John Edwards Tiffany was fresh out of law school and working for a top federal defense lawyer in newark. It was 1992 and he was at the bottom of the pecking order. And that meant he could get pulled into new cases at a moment's notice. Like when his boss called him into a meeting involving a lawyer who had recently been hit with some pretty serious charges.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I didn't know anything about the meeting. I didn't know who we were meeting with. I figured it was going to be being part of, you know, preparing pretrial motions.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

John dropped what he was doing, got up and headed to the meeting.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I go downstairs and walked into the conference room.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The lawyer in question was Paul Bergrin. This was the first time John and Paul met.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

Paul was well dressed. They looked at him. He cut a good impression.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul was now in his mid-30s. He had been at his private practice for a few years, but his style and aggressiveness had not changed. As John sat there and listened, he got a sense of what Paul was up against. Paul's former office, the U.S. attorney's office in Newark, was now accusing him of witness and evidence tampering. Specifically, they said he'd recorded an interview illegally with a witness and then forged the witnesses initials on the cassette tape that Paul submitted. If the U.S. attorney could win the case, it would ruin Paul's career. Paul could be disbarred. Then what? Does he go back and do hotel security full time? But if Paul was feeling the pressure, he did not let it show.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

It was amazing to watch his resolve, his ability to. To remain calm, cool and collective and never ever let anybody see his sweat.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul categorically denied the charges, top to bottom. So John and the other lawyers got to work defending him. And he got to see Paul's warmer side.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

Paul is the type of guy that he's going to be thankful to anybody and everybody who had some sort of hand, even if it was someone down in the kitchen of the law firm, you know, cooking food on a Saturday for everybody if we're working on the case.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The case dragged on for nearly two years. It wound its way through the legal system without a resolution. But Paul said his law firm suffered hugely. No one wanted a lawyer accused of witness and evidence tampering. Then one day, Paul's case caught a break. John and his boss were told to meet at the U.S. attorney's office in Newark. John picked up his boss's car and they headed downtown.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

Mike had one of these old sedan, Mercedes Benz. It was like a dark blue color. I drove while he sat in the seat. And he may have been making phone calls, taking notes or getting squared away.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

When they got to the U.S. attorney's office, John waited in the car.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I don't know how long he was gone. Maybe it was a half an hour. And then he gets in the car and he says, you know, he's pretty shocked. And he said, shapiro is going to recommend for an administrative dismissal.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul and his legal team did not expect this. They'd been prepping for years, and now it was over. Paul would later say the case got thrown out because he'd proved his innocence. John said he had a key witness on his side who may have swayed the lead prosecutor.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I think he thought that it would be difficult for a Newark jury to get over that particular witness.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

But it was done. Paul no longer had a career killing case hanging over him.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I mean, he's ecstatic.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

He was also pissed because Paul suspected the true motivation behind the charges. Punishment by his old colleagues for crossing the aisle. John agreed.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

There was no doubt in my mind, or at least very little doubt in my mind that this was retaliation. 100%. This was payback.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The government had now made an enemy of Paul Bergrand. He'd soon make it his mission to crush them whenever he got the chance. But the vendetta went both ways. And this wouldn't be the last time the government tried to crush Paul either. From wondering. I'm Brandon Jenks Jenkins, and this is Criminal Attorney. Better run Run from the Boogeyman this is Episode two Better Call Paul. Paul Berggren could only guess at why the U.S. attorney's office dropped the witness tampering charges. They must have thought the case wouldn't hold. But it was a lucky break for Paul. And in the decade that followed, he'd built up his practice. You could say he became a bit of a legend. Paul defended cops. He defended robbers and sometimes clients who were both like the five police officers who stole guns from a local buyback program. And every time he successfully defended a case against a government prosecutor, it was like he scored a little piece of payback for what they put him through. There's even a rumor that Paul kept a notebook in his desk drawer listing all of his wins. Paul was getting a reputation for being able to win against even the most open and shut cases.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I thought I got a great case.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

In 2003, Tony Gutierrez was preparing for an attempted murder trial. Tony was an Experienced attorney at the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. He'd been at the prosecutor's office for six years and worked mostly domestic violence and juvenile cases. When he read through the file on this new case, he was more than confident.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I'd say 90 or 95%. I thought I was gonna win or get a conviction.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The man being tried had literally been caught red handed. There were numerous witnesses who saw him stabbing his estranged wife. There was a mountain of evidence.

[Tony Gutierrez]

He literally took a kitchen knife from his house, let himself into her car and tried to stab at her 8, 9, 10 times, hitting her at one point, getting the knife between two of the ribs and puncturing her lung.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The attack was brutal, but it wasn't fatal.

[Tony Gutierrez]

By some miracle, she managed to pull open the door, fall out of the car. Like one foot still hanging in the car. The rest of her body is out on the street and people are looking at this blood covered woman thinking, oh my God, she must be dead or something.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The wife ended up having a collapsed lung from the stab wound. After the attack, the husband got out of the car holding the knife. One witness sprung into action and, and intervened.

[Tony Gutierrez]

There was an off duty police officer who just walked right over, put his hand on his shoulder and said, sit down right here. And he was arrested right there in the scene.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

An off duty police officer as a witness. Tony had an unbeatable case, right? Not necessarily. When the attorney he was going up against was Paul Berggren.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I never had any problems with Mr. Berggren.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Tony had gone up against Paul plenty of times. He didn't expect much. In Tony's experience, Paul would cut plea deals for his clients. And that's what Paul tried this time, too, to get his client a deal that would keep him out of jail. But this wasn't a low level drug charge. This was an attempted murder. Tony had no reason to accept a deal. He was certain that he would win a trial. He also believed the husband should do jail time, significant jail time. So he said no. Paul had let Tony know that the guy he was defending, Norberto Velez, was a close personal friend of his. And one evening, Tony called Paul. Paul picked up the phone. It sounded like he was at dinner.

[Tony Gutierrez]

He said, oh, I'm glad you're calling. I have a friend here who wants, who wants to say hello. And he hands the phone over.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The person on the other end of the line was Norberto, the man who stabbed his wife. The defendant. Tony was in the middle of prosecuting.

[Tony Gutierrez]

And I'm like, he did not just hand the phone over to have me talk to his client. I think at that time it might have been the first time I've ever had that happen.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul's next move was to try to get the trial pushed back, which is a common practice for a defense attorney. The judge denied Paul's request. But what is less common is what Paul did next. There was a meeting set with the judge, but Paul didn't show up to it. Instead, the judge received a letter from one of Paul's partners.

[Tony Gutierrez]

A doctor's note. The doctor's note is Mr. Berggren's doctor saying that he has too much stress and too much anxiety and that he is being ordered to not exert himself. He's to rest for at least the next 30 days.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The judge had no choice but to delay the trial.

[Tony Gutierrez]

And I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

A few days later, Tony said someone from his office saw Paul at the jail.

[Tony Gutierrez]

He was there obviously to go visit a client or something.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

What was a supposedly convalescing Paul doing at work? Tony wrote to the judge, who swiftly ended the delay. When the trial finally started, Tony was confident he had strong evidence, a clear motive and compelling witnesses. Paul, Tony, the defendant all showed up at the Essex county courthouse, A grand columned building in the heart of Newark. As Paul and his defendants settled in, Tony prepared to tell the jury a very simple story he felt could get him his conviction. The husband was a jilted lover, he never wanted a divorce. And in a rage, he brutally attacked his estranged wife, intending to kill her. A key witness, their 10 year old daughter, would be there to testify for him about everything that happened leading up to the knife attack. To start, he put a physician on the stand. He asked the doctor, what are the potential consequences of someone stabbing you in the chest?

[Tony Gutierrez]

If somebody stabs at you and hits you in the chest area, you could die because it could hit a major artery or blood vessel or by the aorta and all that, and then you could bleed out. I'm like, oh, thank you.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Tony felt it was clear the wife could have easily died from her husband's attack. Attempted murder. Then Paul stepped up to cross examine.

[Tony Gutierrez]

The doctor and he was like, what's the percentage of somebody dying from a collapsed lung? And he's like very low, like I've never heard of somebody dying. I'm like, thank you doctor. I was like, man, you did a good job of cross examining. My expert almost made him into his expert.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul's version of what happened told a very different story. Paul presented the husband as a model citizen with no previous criminal convictions, Paul alleged that the wife had abused her estranged husband and their daughter. According to Paul, it was only a matter of time until he lashed out after the wife's constant threats to take his children away and never allow him to see them again. He argued that the husband suffered from temporary insanity, but Paul could tell any story he wanted. Tony wasn't worried the jury would buy it because he still had his key witness, Carolyn Velez, who he was certain would put her father behind bars. The young girl walked up to take the stand.

[Tony Gutierrez]

She was tiny. She probably looked more like she was 8 or 9. She was very skinny, blonde hair, cute little girl. I wouldn't say she seemed scared. Probably nervous because she knew what she had to do.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Toni started off by walking her through the events of the day of the attack. She had told detectives that her mom had taken her to her father's house to pick up her backpack. Her mom stayed in the car. Her mother then drove her the short distance to school before the daughter walked inside. Her father showed up unexpectedly. He told her he would get her after school. She headed into her class. That's when the attack took place. They'd gone over this stuff multiple times. They just had to run through it one more time here in front of the judge, her parents, the jury, and Paul Bergren.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I'm like, oh, and then you went to your father's house to get your book or your book bag? Yes. And your mom stayed in the car. No.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Wait, what? Carolyn was now saying her mom came into her dad's house with her. Maybe she had heard him wrong. So he asked her again.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I was like, your mom stayed in the car. Correct. And you went in. No, my mom came in also.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Now, Tony was starting to panic what was happening with his witness. He reminded her, but that's not what.

[Tony Gutierrez]

You told my detective. Do you remember? She's like, but no, she did come in. And I'm like, and then what happened next? And I was like, oh, boy. And then she says she goes to the kitchen and she sees her doing something, like putting something up her wrist to make it sound like she brought the knife.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

She brought the knife, meaning that it was her mom, not her dad, who was the aggressor. It's an entirely different story and an entirely different victim.

[Tony Gutierrez]

And I'm like, but you didn't say this to my detective, right? You didn't say this. And then I trying to then bring out. Remember when you talked to the detective and you said to the detective that you just went in and Your mom stayed in the car that she never went in. She's like, no, I lied.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

And in that instant, Tony's case had fallen apart. No key witness, no case. The change in the girl's testimony shifted the blame away from the husband. Now the jury might believe that the wife was actually the one who brought the knife to the scene. It didn't matter if an off duty police officer saw it go down. Paul went on to say that his client had defensive wounds on his hands, and the only reason the wife was injured was because he was defending himself. All that was left was the final.

[Tony Gutierrez]

Verdict, like the drama you see in the jurors. And as to the count, attempted murder, not guilty. As the count to aggravated assault, not guilty. I'm like, ugh, I can't believe it. As I'm checking off the boxes on my jury verdict sheet. Not guilty, not guilty. Not guilty. I felt defeated.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Paul Berg had done it. He had won a case that should have been impossible to win. Tony kept turning the trial and the daughter's testimony over in his head. He checked in with her before her testimony to do a practice round and make sure she was okay.

[Tony Gutierrez]

And then she said, yeah, so do you want to go over it again? She's like, no, I already know what I have to do.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

What happened? What made her flip?

[Tony Gutierrez]

I was thinking the father must have gotten to her.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The most likely scenario. Her father had influenced her, made it clear that if she stuck to her story, he'd be going away for a very long time and she'd have to grow up without him. But there was another possibility. Maybe it wasn't the father pressuring his daughter. Maybe it was his lawyer.

[Tony Gutierrez]

I guess I didn't really want to think it was Bergman. I didn't even think about Berggren at that point.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

But Tawny would have a reason to think about Paul Berggren again. Sometime after he lost to Paul, another case came into his office.

[Tony Gutierrez]

There was one case that I do remember where my supervisor had either an aggravated assault or robbery case, and they were getting it ready for trial.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

But there was a problem with the prosecution's preparation for this trial.

[Tony Gutierrez]

The victim doesn't show up. We send our detectives from my office to go see if they can find the victim to testify.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

When the detectives get to the victim's house, they knock on the door, and.

[Tony Gutierrez]

There'S no answer at his apartment.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

They knock some more, and nothing. They start to wonder, could something have happened to the victim? Something bad?

[Tony Gutierrez]

They're worried, hey, maybe something's wrong. Or maybe the person's hiding. They get the landlord to open the door.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The detectives head inside and search the apartment, but the victim is nowhere to be found. Then they find something. A receipt for a flight the week the victim is supposed to testify. And one more clue that seemed to hold the answer.

[Tony Gutierrez]

A business card from Mr. Bergman. That's just one of the things I had heard.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The pattern of how Paul managed to get his clients out of some very tight spots was becoming known in the courtrooms, the prosecutor's offices, and out in the streets. A decade earlier, Paul was accused of witness and evidence tampering. The charges didn't stick, and he kept going. But maybe that was where the problem started, because where there was smoke, there was fire. And in one of Paul's next cases, he'd take it one step further. Word was getting around about Paul Berggren and the incredible things he could do for his clients. Plenty of people in Newark knew of it, including Shawn Broko's confidential informant, Keemo McCrae. While Paul had been pulling off miracles for his defendants, over at the FBI, agent Shawn Brokos had been working to get more informants in the streets. This was 2003, and the FBI was focused on reaching Newark's higher level dealers in kingpins. Sean had been at the FBI for about seven years, and the job definitely came first.

[Shawn Brokos]

A lot of us were on the younger side, and we would work really hard during the week, but come Friday night, we'd go have a couple drinks at a local bar right in Newark called Bellows.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

And while Keemo was supplying info about those dealers, he also had some things to say about Paul Bergrand.

[Shawn Brokos]

Kimo say, oh, yeah, all the big guys go to Berggren because he gets everybody off.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

He gets everybody off every now and again. When Shawn and Kimo were talking in the van after one of their wired buys, Paul would come up in conversation. Keemo had a suspicion as to why Paul was winning so much.

[Shawn Brokos]

Kimo did tell me that, you know, they would pay Berggren all kinds of cash to do this and that Berggren might be able to pay people off. So from a public corruption aspect, I thought, this is something we need to start looking at. You know, is Berggren paying off judges? Is he paying off lawyers? What's he doing?

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

But Sean was primarily focused on gangs and drugs. She didn't have a lot of bandwidth to get preoccupied with some lawyer.

[Shawn Brokos]

I never really vetted that out more than to say, you know, how is he winning all these cases? What is it that he's got going on?

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

So Sean for the time being, stayed focused on her own plan, which at the moment involved Will Baskerville, a pretty major drug dealer. Through his hand to hand drug buys, Keemo had lured Will to their trap.

[Will Baskerville]

The FBI came in November 25th and arrested me.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

The sun was rising over the nice, quiet middle class neighborhood where Will and his family lived. But it wasn't going to stay quiet for long.

[Will Baskerville]

Well, I was in my home, basically in bed. I heard. I started hearing somebody basically laying on my doorbell.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Will got up from bed to see who was causing all the noise.

[Will Baskerville]

I looked out the window and I seen a bunch of cars. I assumed that it was, you know what I'm saying, the authorities, he assumed.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Right outside his door, Shawn Brokos and.

[Will Baskerville]

Her team basically came down and let them in, you know what I'm saying? They stormed through my house, basically paraded through my house. Whatever the case may be, I guess her and her team, you know, they scoured through the crib or whatever.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

They went from room to room. They opened a closet door and found a stash of heroin neatly packed into bricks and stacked on top of each other. There were also bundles of cash and never worn designer clothes, the price tag still hanging on them. Will was arrested immediately. They handcuffed him and put him into a cop car.

[Will Baskerville]

Basically, I was carted off to FBI.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Headquarters downtown Newark, the same office where Shawn flipped chemo. And just like chemo, her goal was to turn Will into a confidential informant. She offered to go get Will a coffee or a soda.

[Shawn Brokos]

I think he declined.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Then the questioning started.

[Shawn Brokos]

Do you know why you're here? And then it's kind of that soft approach. You're under arrest today in violation of drug conspiracy charges. We've had an investigation that's gone on for the past year. We know you've been involved in selling drugs.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

After warming him up with the soft approach, Sean got a bit more direct.

[Will Baskerville]

She said, well, we got you. We really got you.

[Shawn Brokos]

We've got you. We've got you by the balls. We've been investigating you for well over a year. We have you on audio, we have you on video.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Sean kept pressing, trying to get Will to talk.

[Shawn Brokos]

I told him we had taken both cars because both had been used to distribute and transport drugs. He was very upset about that because he wanted his wife and kids to be able to get around because they weren't part of this. And, you know, she shouldn't be affected by this. I said, well, you know, this is your profession you chose. Your whole family's being affected by this. And I said, because the amount of drugs you've sold, you're looking at, you know, could be close to 20 years.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

If he decided to flip, that would be huge for Sean. Even though Will was a bit of a one man show and a big fish himself, he was still connected. He was getting his drugs from a guy named Hakeem Curry, who the Feds had been investigating for a while. Curry grew up in the projects in Newark, but now he was a kingpin, living in a luxury apartment, driving a Benz and a Land Rover, and showing off thousands of dollars worth of custom jewelry. But he wasn't on the Fed's radar simply for being ostentatious. Back then, Curry's crew ran the drug trade in Newark. In fact, Will's brother was Curry's right hand man. So Sean was giving him the choice. Help us bring down Curry and the rest of the crew or go away for a very, very long time. Sean gave Will about five minutes to decide. When the time was up, she came back into the interrogation room for her answer.

[Shawn Brokos]

Okay, what are your thoughts? He was, nope, I don't have anything.

[Will Baskerville]

To say under the Fifth Amendment without my attorney being present.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

What worked with Chemo would not work with Will. His mother would not be the one sitting next to him helping him decide whether or not to take Shawn's deal.

[Shawn Brokos]

I want a lawyer. I want a lawyer.

[Will Baskerville]

They gave me a call to be able to call Paul at the time.

[Shawn Brokos]

So that's when he called Paul.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

After Will got off the phone with Paul, his answer was clear. No deal. A federal agent like Sean Banks on the streets, talking. And thanks to that talk, she was able to arrest Will. But the free flow of information goes in all different directions, and not always the way the Feds would like it to see. Will wasn't about to talk to the FBI, at least not until he talked to his lawyer first. But he was willing to talk with someone else. That fateful exchange would become a big problem for Sean and even more so for Chemo. Around the same time Sean and her FBI agents came looking for Will, she'd been eyeing another drug dealer named Richard Hostin. Richard had been through this kind of thing a few times before. So when he learned that the Feds were looking for him, he gave into the inevitable and turned himself in. Following his arrest, the marshal stashed him in a holding cell in the federal court building. Just a small room with two metal benches. Eventually, another man was ushered in to share the space with them. It was Will. The two got to chatting a bit. They Spent the night in the cell, and in the morning were taken to court. Same courtroom, different charges. The men heard the charges against him. Will was able to read his complaint, which had a lot of information in it, maybe too much.

[Shawn Brokos]

We weren't so worried because he was delivering crack all day long to different people. So we thought, he probably can't piece this together. But in hindsight, yes, it was probably more detailed than it should have been.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Then they were returned to the small room in the metal benches. Will was trying to figure out exactly how he ended up arrested by the FBI, who was a snitch with more time to kill. Richard and Will chatted a bit more. Turns out they had a lot in common. Not only had they been arrested around the same time, but they'd also been arrested by the same agents. Oh, and one other thing.

[Shawn Brokos]

I don't know how they ended up being together in the same holding facility. And I think they both talked about being jammed up. And the person they sold to was.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Chemo Kimo McCray, Shawn's informant. Sean knew about both of these arrests, Will and Richard, but she said in court testimony that they had done so much planning in preparation for Will's arrest, they decided not to call it off. And that's the rub. The FBI put so much time and care into the arrest, but in the end, when it came to Chemo's safety, they wouldn't do the same. Even delaying the arrest by a day would have made it much less likely that these two would end up together in the same holding cell, talking about who bought drugs from them. But here we are. Will put two and two together. And as soon as the two prisoners were moved to the county jail, he found a payphone. He called Paul and gave him the name of the man he now knew had set him up. Shawn practically witnessed his intel passing through the criminal transom in real time. She was at the U.S. attorney's office just across the street from the holding facility.

[Shawn Brokos]

And I'm there in a conference room, and One of the AUSAs comes in.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

AUSA, Assistant U.S. attorney. He'd been listening in on the kingpin Hakeem Curry's phone calls via wiretap. One call in particular had just caught the attorney's attention.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul Bergeron is talking to Hakeem Curry. They're talking about Will getting arrested and trying to piece together how this happened. How did this happen? What happened? And Paul said it was some kid by the name of Camo.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Camo. Paul had gotten the name wrong, but Curry knew exactly who he was talking.

[Shawn Brokos]

About Hakeem Curry said, chemo. You mean chemo? And Paul said, yeah, yeah, somebody, chemo. It was definitely a panic moment. What are we going to do?

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

Chemo had been made, and at that point, they weren't worried about Paul Bergrint, but maybe they should have been. Sean knew enough about Hakeem Curry's gang to know their threat level. Keemo was in serious danger.

[Shawn Brokos]

Yeah, it's. Oh, shit. Because these are the real deal. Look, this group had killed other people who had snitched on them. We knew that they were unsolved murders. They do not mess around. They will kill people.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

She had to get Kemo to safety and she needed to do so quickly.

[Shawn Brokos]

So I called him. I said, get yourself ready. Pack a bag. I don't know how long you'll be gone. I'm not screwing around. This is not a joke. We're going to meet you at this street corner in 10 minutes, whatever, 15 minutes. And we ended up getting him checked into a hotel room where we kept him, just so we could learn a little bit more about this and what we needed to do. But the quick reaction was get him out of pocket immediately.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

From then on, Shawn and Kimo could never let their guard down.

[Shawn Brokos]

We kept saying, you can't be in this area. They're gonna find you. You've gotta go somewhere else, you've gotta relocate. And we were able to do that.

[Brandon Jenks Jenkins]

For some time until one day they found him. That's when the next episode of Criminal Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey from Wondery. This is episode two of six of Criminal Attorney. Criminal Attorney is hosted by me and Brandon Jenks Jenkins. This series is reported and written by Matthew Nelson. Senior producers are Chris Segal and Stephanie Waheen. Senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Associate producer is Malachi Wade. Consulting producer is David Fox with additional writing from Neil Drumming. Fact checking by Annika Robbins. Sound design and mixing by Jeff Schmidt. Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez. Sound supervisor is Marcelino Villalpando. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freeson Sync. Senior managing producer is Lakhta Pandya. Managing producer is Heather Beloga. Development producer is Olivia Weber. Executive producer is Matthew Nelson. Executive producers are Nydri Eaton, George Lavender, Marshall Louie and Jen Sargent for Wondry.