No Witness No Case | 4

Summary

Podcast Summary: Criminal Attorney – Episode 4: "No Witness No Case"

Title: No Witness No Case | 4
Release Date: October 7, 2024
Host: Brandon Jinx Jenkins
Author: Wondery

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Introduction

In the fourth installment of Wondery's riveting series Criminal Attorney, listeners delve deeper into the enigmatic world of Paul Bergrin, a renowned criminal defense attorney in Newark, New Jersey. As Paul’s reputation for securing acquittals grows, so do the suspicions surrounding his ethical boundaries. FBI Agent Shawn Brokos intensifies her investigation into Paul, uncovering a web of deceit, corruption, and criminal activities that threaten to unravel Paul's carefully constructed facade.

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The Confession of Anthony Young

The episode opens with Agent Shawn Brokos recounting a pivotal moment in her investigation: her encounter with Anthony Young, a key informant. [00:00]

Shawn Brokos: "Sean had waited 10 months for any information about Keemo McCray's murder. But before Anthony was willing to go any further, before he was willing to give Shawn information she could act on, Anthony wanted something in return." [00:34]

Anthony's detailed account of the murder provided Shawn with critical insights, revealing his involvement as the getaway driver. His graphic descriptions left no doubt about his credibility:

Anthony Young: "He said, yeah, I remember making sure he was dead. And we stood over his body, and he's laying there with a cigarette still between his fingers and his dust mask. And if you look at the crime scene photos, that's exactly what it was." [01:42]

This confession was a significant breakthrough, confirming Anthony’s role in Keemo McCray's murder and linking him directly to Paul Bergrin’s criminal activities.

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Paul's Takeover of New York Confidential

The narrative shifts to November 2003, a week after Thanksgiving, when Hakeem Curry identifies a snitch within his crew. Enter Paul Bergrin, who dramatically asserts his authority:

Paul Bergrin: "With the information Kimo had, if he testified against Will Baskerville, he was never coming home. No chemo, no case." [03:12]

Paul's intervention marks a turning point, as he takes control of New York Confidential, an escort service implicated in various criminal activities. Despite initial successes, the FBI's scrutiny intensifies as Paul's dual life becomes harder to conceal.

A New York Post article highlights Paul's ascendancy:

"Man of the Cat House, Pimp's Lawyer Takes Reins." [13:34]

Paul's management style and overt presence at New York Confidential escalate suspicions, ultimately leading to the establishment of New York Confidential Escorts, Inc., which quickly folded under negative attention.

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The Betrayal of Mary and the Setback

Shawn Brokos faces a significant setback when her informant, Mary, betrays her trust. Initially pivotal in laundering money for Paul, Mary's credibility is shattered when she admits to pocketing funds:

Shawn Brokos: "We brought her right down to the arrest room. I said, 'You stole that money?' And she admitted to it." [22:30]

This betrayal undermines months of investigative work, forcing Shawn to abandon the money laundering angle and reconsider her strategy against Paul Bergrin.

Anthony Young: "I felt furious, like I'm being set up, take the fall, and they're gonna point the fingers and say it was all the black dude's idea. That black guy in his expensive suit, he's the one." [09:42]

Mary's actions not only jeopardize the case but also highlight the precarious nature of relying on informants within such high-stakes investigations.

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New Leads and Renewed Investigation

Undeterred by the setback, Shawn receives a crucial tip from an NYPD detective connected to the New York Confidential case:

NYPD Detective: "He would lock his office door, have sex right there in his office. Not just occasionally, but very frequently. He was keeping the women in business, did a float. He was comping public officials. What defense attorney takes over a brothel?" [23:56]

This revelation reinvigorates Shawn's pursuit, providing the necessary evidence to frame Paul as the mastermind behind a sprawling criminal enterprise. The detective's account underscores Paul's deep entanglement in illicit activities, from money laundering to orchestrating criminal operations.

Additionally, John Edwards Tiffany, an associate of Paul, inadvertently reveals the extent of Paul's corruption during a private conversation at a company Christmas party:

John Edwards Tiffany: "As soon as they walked out of the courtroom, bang. The Newark police officer was hit with a grand jury Subpoena to testify for the grand jury on an ongoing investigation regarding New York Confidential." [27:37]

This interaction illustrates the imminent threat Paul faces from federal investigations, signaling that his empire is beginning to crumble under legal pressures.

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Conclusion and Cliffhanger

As the episode concludes, Shawn Brokos stands on the brink of dismantling Paul Bergrin’s criminal network. The convergence of new evidence and relentless investigative efforts positions Paul for potential downfall. However, Paul's resilience and the intricate web of loyalties and betrayals within his circle leave the outcome uncertain.

Anthony Young: "We were able to get her on board and we learned from her how this really worked, who the individuals were that Bergrin worked with, and then we got to see the world of how big this really was." [30:39]

The stage is set for the next episode, promising further exploration into the high-stakes battle between Agent Brokos and the formidable Paul Bergrin.

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Notable Quotes

• Shawn Brokos: "Can you prove this? I mean, your word is not going to suffice. Can you wear a recording device? Can you go in and have these conversations? Can you try and launder money?" [16:59]

• Anthony Young: "That's where she shined. She was able to get into Bergrin. She could talk the talk." [17:15]

• John Edwards Tiffany: "That's when I knew this shit hit the fan in a kind of a significant way." [27:56]

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Key Takeaways

• Paul Bergrin's Dual Life: As a high-profile attorney and a clandestine criminal mastermind, Paul exemplifies the complexities of power and corruption.

• Investigative Challenges: Shawn Brokos navigates the murky waters of informant reliability and the inherent risks in taking down a well-connected adversary.

• Themes of Trust and Betrayal: The episode underscores the fragile nature of alliances within criminal investigations, where trust is a rare commodity.

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Transcript

[Shawn Brokos]

Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of Criminal Attorney early and ad free. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Shawn Brokos was in the FBI restroom, sitting across from Anthony Young. Anthony was a stocky black guy in his early 30s with a shaved head. And that day he seemed on edge.

[Anthony Young]

And we're sitting down in the arrest room, and he's saying, I know who did it. I was there.

[Shawn Brokos]

Sean had waited 10 months for any information about Keemo McCray's murder. But before Anthony was willing to go any further, before he was willing to give Shawn information she could act on, Anthony wanted something in return.

[Anthony Young]

He said, look, the group is trying to out me. They're going to kill me, and I want to cooperate with you. So you. Here's the irony, right? So you can make me safe.

[Shawn Brokos]

Sean agreed that she'd keep Anthony safe, but she needed more details. She needed to know exactly what went down. Shawn had been skeptical when Anthony Young first called in, but as Anthony talked, she quickly realized he was for real.

[Anthony Young]

And he's giving us a very graphic description to the point where we knew he was really there. He wasn't just bullshitting us. This wasn't just a story. We could tell that he was on scene in some capacity. He diagrammed it, gave us so many tidbits that the general public wouldn't.

[Shawn Brokos]

But Anthony did. He said that he knew all of this because he was the one driving the getaway car.

[Anthony Young]

He said, yeah, I remember making sure he was dead. And we stood over his body, and he's laying there with a cigarette still between his fingers and his dust mask. And if you look at the crime scene photos, that's exactly what it was.

[Shawn Brokos]

The kinds of details coming from Anthony were astounding. Sean and her team all had the same thought.

[Anthony Young]

He's our shooter. Like, we all knew there was no way you have that level of detail. He said he was the getaway driver. Obviously, he was the shooter. He got into the getaway car.

[Shawn Brokos]

Later on, Jiha's informants confirmed Shawn's hunch that Anthony Young was the killer. He'd eventually confess and even give her a motive. He said part of the reason he agreed to the hit was because he wanted to use the money to go to Los Angeles for the NBA All Star Game that year. You're sat a matter of feet away from the man who put a bullet in his head. That's our reporter, Matthew Nelson.

[Anthony Young]

Yes.

[Shawn Brokos]

What is that like for you?

[Anthony Young]

Yeah, it's like a bit of climbing into bed. With the devil.

[Shawn Brokos]

So now Sean had him, the guy who killed Keemo.

[Anthony Young]

I'm grateful for Anthony coming forward for telling the story, but also just at some point, looking at him across the table with absolute pure hatred and disdain for everything he stood for. I think that was the hardest part, because this was business.

[Shawn Brokos]

But that day, when Anthony Young first came into the FBI office, he had a lot to say about the lead up to Keemo's murder. In November of 2003, the week after Thanksgiving, Hakeem Curry assembled his crew. He told everyone that there was a problem. They had a snitch. It was a low level guy named Kimo McRae. As they stood there, a Mercedes pulled up and out hopped Paul Bergrin. He told them that with the information Kimo had, if he testified against Will Baskerville, he was never coming home. He told the gang how they should solve this problem. No chemo, no case. Paul pointed his finger in the air, walked back to his luxury car, and drove off. In this moment, everything about her investigation into Keemo's murder changed.

[Anthony Young]

We knew that this now is a Berggren investigation.

[Shawn Brokos]

In giving the gang their marching orders, Paul Bergren had given Shawn and her team theirs. She had a new big fish to catch from wondering. I'm Brandon Jinx Jenkins and this is criminal attorney. Crooked politicians looking over shoulders in opposite position Run, better run, better run Run from the boogeyman. This is episode four. No witness, no case. Around the time Anthony Young came into the FBI office and confessed to shooting Chemo, Ron Sperling was deep in the production of his reality TV show about New York Confidential. Ron had been filming for months. He had hours and hours of tape. He was sitting on gold and he knew it. He set up meetings with interested television networks.

[Ron Sperling]

And I showed them that sizzle reel. I'm watching the executives watching the sizzle reel. I'll never forget. Three minutes in, they were like, are you kidding? This is insane. This is great. This is priceless.

[Shawn Brokos]

Ron was getting exactly the reaction he'd hoped for. From where he sat, it looked like his show was gonna be a hit. He'd make back the money he spent funding it out of his own pocket and more. One of the execs asked Ron to share the first six episodes. Once he put them together, after that, they would make their decision.

[Ron Sperling]

And I was like, let me just explain something to you guys. I've been in this place from day one. If you want to put money on the table, I'm more than happy to listen, but this isn't going to be around for years.

[Shawn Brokos]

He didn't want to waste time putting cuts together when the clock was ticking.

[Ron Sperling]

Just by the drugs, the personalities, the pulpagrins of the world. The Jason Hilt served the world. It's going to implode. The only question is when.

[Shawn Brokos]

That when came sooner than Ron expected. He and his crew showed up to New York Confidential to shoot some night scenes. As they were grabbing their gear and loading in, Ron noticed something on the block.

[Ron Sperling]

There's the old fake Con Edison truck, which is the power company in New York Con Edison. So the fake truck, like they're watching right outside the door.

[Shawn Brokos]

Ron and his crew knew exactly what the truck was doing there.

[Ron Sperling]

Like, my crew guys were like, oh, that's the cops right there.

[Shawn Brokos]

Ron headed inside and let the owners know what was waiting for them.

[Ron Sperling]

And I'm like, you do know the cops are right outside your front door. Like literally right outside your front door.

[Shawn Brokos]

Ron could tell the party was coming to an end at New York Confidential. Jason Itzler and the others inside running the joint had considerably more at stake, and that included Hobart Waldrop.

[Hobart Waldrop]

It was a lot of fun. It was, you know, sexy, sexy, sexy girl.

[Shawn Brokos]

He didn't have an official job title. He was the guy who made sure that all the escorts were safe. Everyone paid up and things ran smoothly. Hobart was a fixer. He was the muscle. He was also an accomplished artist. He painted one of the murals at New York Confidential. And he was Jason Itzler's right hand man to look the part. Paul and Jason put Hobart in a new suit. It was custom made, well fitting, ideal for that polished, classic New York Confidential vibe. Hobert was with a co worker when one of them got a call. The person calling said nobody at New York Confidential was picking up. Hobart knew this was not a good sign. According to an article in New York Magazine, he logged onto a webcam security camera that Jason had installed and he saw them. The police officers were going through the place, tearing it apart. They were gathering the ledgers and files on all the clients. He saw a handful of people sitting on the couch waiting to be taken down to the station. And when the police came for Hobart.

[Hobart Waldrop]

You know, some of the inmates were making jokes that somebody's attorney had gotten arrested. He thought I was an attorney. There's not many people go to jail wearing a suit and tie. You know what I mean?

[Shawn Brokos]

Jason Itzler was arrested. Natalia was arrested as well. They were all facing serious charges and the potential for a lot of jail time. Still, Hobart had one good Reason not to panic. After a night in the cells, he was taken across town to the courthouse knowing that he had the best defense attorney on his side.

[Hobart Waldrop]

You know, at my arraignment, thinking, okay, Paul Berent is going to come in the door at any moment.

[Shawn Brokos]

Hobert knew Paul was on retainer for this exact situation to make troubles like this go away. But Hobert waited and waited. He says Paul Bergren never showed. Hobert had his girlfriend call Paul up to find out what the hell was going on.

[Hobart Waldrop]

No, he wants 10 grand to defend me to start with. And I said, hell no, because he still won't come. You cannot trust this guy. 30 days go past, still no one shows up. Judge postpones, okay, we'll give it another 30 days. You have counsel? Yes, of course. No one ever showed up.

[Shawn Brokos]

Hobert sat in Rikers island for eight months. During that time, a narrative solidified in his mind about how he'd been thrown under the bus.

[Hobart Waldrop]

I felt furious, like I'm being set up, take the fall, and they're gonna point the fingers and say it was all the black dude's idea. That black guy in his expensive suit, he's the one.

[Shawn Brokos]

After the raid and the arrest, journalist Marc Jacobson was writing a story about New York Confidential. But the more he reported on it, the more he began to suspect that the better story might be the one about its increasingly infamous lawyer. So he put in an interview request with Paul. Paul was down to meet, but then he threw Mark a curve ball.

[Mark Jacobson]

I get this phone call from Paul Berggren out of nowhere, right? He says, I'll meet with you, but I'm going to medical school now, so it's gotta be up near Mount Sinai. Can you do that? I said, yeah, whatever you want, man.

[Shawn Brokos]

Mark thought medical school weird. He wondered how Paul had the time to do all that work and also defend his clients. Mark drove up to meet Paul outside the pale brick campus of the famous New York Hospital. When Paul showed, he wore a fancy blue suit and a bright red tie. His hair was slicked back and dyed jet black.

[Mark Jacobson]

I mean, he's a streetwise guy. He's really sharp. I mean, he's like Sam Spade or something like that.

[Shawn Brokos]

He didn't look like a med student. He looked more like the hard boiled private detective from the Maltese Falcon. At their meeting, Paul told Mark that he'd grown tired of law. He said that he could better help people in his community if he was a doctor.

[Mark Jacobson]

The way he presented it was. It wasn't like his first semester. He'd been going to medical school for a period of time. You'd figure that people would. If he was a third year medical student, he still had a law practice.

[Shawn Brokos]

But Mark wasn't there to talk about med school or Paul's newfound commitment to the Hippocratic oath. Mark wanted to know more about New York Confidential. Paul obliged.

[Mark Jacobson]

And Bertrand is talking about this, and he's giving me the telephone numbers of all the girls, you know, if I want to talk to them.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul shared a few seedy stories.

[Mark Jacobson]

This is kind of boy talk, you know, kind of crap.

[Shawn Brokos]

But he seemed distracted.

[Mark Jacobson]

We're having this conversation at. He's like, looking at his watch because now he's got to get there in time for his class, his medical school class, you know. And I said, okay, man, we could talk again, you know, blah, blah, you know, it's fine. You have to go. Go.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul hurried off to his class. Mark was left with very little to go on, journalistically speaking. But he kept reporting. And that's when he found out something surprising from a source. Paul Bergrin was never enrolled at Mount Sinai.

[Mark Jacobson]

It was completely made up. Like, why would you make up a story like that?

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul had lied to Mark about medical school. But maybe he was getting tired of law. Because Paul Bergren's role at New York Confidential was not over. It was evolving. When Hobert Waldrop got out of jail, he got in touch with Jason Itzler. Jason told him the shocking news.

[Hobart Waldrop]

Paul ber grand stole New York Confidential from me.

[Shawn Brokos]

New York Confidential was not shut down for good the day the cops came busting through the front doors and carting its employees off to jail. It was merely under new management. Just three days after the raid, Paul had taken the entire business, the escorts, the clients, the books, and set up shop at a new location in Kips Bay on Manhattan's east side. They occupied three floors. And he had totally frozen Jason out of the business he had created.

[Hobart Waldrop]

It's not like he was going to give Jason the money when Jason got out of jail. No, no, no, no. It doesn't work like that.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul had barely bothered to tweak the name of the business. It was now called New York Confidential Escorts, Inc. One thing that I saw.

[Hobart Waldrop]

Is that there's no honor among thieves. There is none.

[Shawn Brokos]

Something else was different. With Jason Itzler out of the way, Paul Bergren couldn't help but become the de facto face of the outfit. Shortly after he reopened New York Confidential. Excuse me. New York Confidential Escorts, Inc. A reporter for the New York Post wrote a story with the headline, man of the Cat House, Pimp's Lawyer Takes reins. The article notes that a revolving cast of characters could be seen buzzing around the new location at all hours. There were beautiful, glamorous women and guys who looked like they just stepped off the trading floor on Wall Street. So the clientele was similar, but the operation was notably less clandestine. One resident of the building complained about stumbling to a couple having sex in the hallway. Another says, quote, it's a family building, not a red light district building, and it's pretty obvious what's going on here. The New New York Confidential only lasted a matter of weeks before it folded. Business wasn't great and the company dissolved, which makes sense with all the negative attention the place was getting. Paul Bergren denied any involvement. That was, of course, a lie. And it wasn't just reporters from the New York Post who could see through it. Run from the boogeyman. For Shawn Brokos, Chemo's death cast a shadow over every day and everything.

[Anthony Young]

You start thinking, am I doing everything I can? I thought, I've lost my ability to see things clearly. I no longer know what I'm doing. And it became a very helpless feeling. And that's not something you want to have on the job. And I really wrestled with that, like, could I have done better? Should I have done better? What could I have done better?

[Shawn Brokos]

But Shawn didn't have a chance to stop, not when she was in the middle of an investigation. Because Shawn was once again sitting across from someone who had information about Paul Begrant. This time it was a woman.

[Anthony Young]

As with all things married, it was never straightforward.

[Shawn Brokos]

Mary is not her real name. She's still alive, so Sean can't talk about her in detail. We don't even know what she looks like. She had come to the FBI office because she had some information she thought the FBI could use about Paul Bergrin and his money laundering operation.

[Anthony Young]

She initially told us that this was all through her boyfriend providing this information.

[Shawn Brokos]

But Shawn quickly learned that Mary was involved herself.

[Anthony Young]

She also had some firsthand information and was able to tell us that Berggren was involved with selling drugs and helping to launder money.

[Shawn Brokos]

As an FBI agent, Shawn knew informants sometimes had secret or conflicting agendas of their own. Even Keemo had lied to her. It was difficult to know who to trust.

[Anthony Young]

I think the first rule of operating informant is you never take anything they say at face value.

[Shawn Brokos]

But Shawn had to keep doing the job the way she knew how to do it. Trust was a big part of the hustle. So Sean asked her a couple questions about Mary's information.

[Anthony Young]

Can you prove this? I mean, your word is not going to suffice. Can you wear a recording device? Can you go in and have these conversations? Can you try and launder money?

[Shawn Brokos]

Turns out she could.

[Anthony Young]

That's where she shined.

[Shawn Brokos]

Just like chemo. Mary was wired up and given a set of instructions like, take this money to Paul Bergrin, tell him it's drug money.

[Anthony Young]

She was great. She was able to get into Berggren. She could talk the talk. She has this drug money that she's making and she needs to launder it. And, you know, we'd send her in.

[Shawn Brokos]

The office, Paul's actual legal office. The money she gave Paul there would get put through a shell company that he set up. When it came back, it was clean. No way to trace it, no way to tell it had been dirty.

[Anthony Young]

And we laundered I don't know how many thousands of dollars like we were laundering 5, 10, $20,000 at a time.

[Shawn Brokos]

And this was absolutely huge for Sean's case. She was gathering on tape hard proof that Paul wasn't just a Newark lawyer. Sean was building a case against Paul using the RICO Act. RICO stands for Racketeering Influenced and corrupt organizations. Prosecutors in the 1970s started using RICO to take down crime syndicates like the Gambino crime family and the Hell's Angels. But you might recognize it today from other big name trials like Young thug and former President Donald Trump. Essentially, they wanted to show that Paul was the boss. He ran an organization that was responsible for all the crimes, the drugs, witness tampering, and most importantly for Sean, murder. But this time around, with this confidential informant, Sean wasn't taking any chances. She wanted to avoid another chemo situation. In many ways.

[Anthony Young]

I would double check everything. I would make sure that, you know, we didn't just have one recording device on her, we had two or three. In case there was any confusion or one didn't work.

[Shawn Brokos]

Some days Mary would go in to see Paul on one of these FBI rigged money laundering exchanges. And things wouldn't go as planned, like.

[Anthony Young]

He would physically grab her.

[Shawn Brokos]

Mary was wired, but Paul wasn't looking for a recording device. That's not why he was feeling her up.

[Anthony Young]

He would ask her to lift up her shirt. He wanted to see her chest, like he was just very handsy with her.

[Shawn Brokos]

Shawn listened to see if Mary would use her safe word, if she'd have to barge in. But Mary played it cool. It was painful for Shawn to listen to. She'd put Mary in This position. Sean felt her blood pressure rising.

[Anthony Young]

He thinks he's entitled to just grope her and treat her like a piece of shit just because she's a female. He thought he was entitled to everything. And he thought he could do whatever he wanted and that the law didn't pertain to him.

[Shawn Brokos]

Shawn really wanted to nail Paul. And with the evidence she'd gotten through Mary, it seemed like she might be able to. Mary had even become friends with his longtime girlfriend, Yolanda Outegwe. Paul was still married to his wife, but shared a condo with Yolanda. Paul and Yolanda weren't just romantic and domestic partners. They owned a restaurant in Newark named Isabella's, a restaurant that was suspected of being a drug front. Yolanda ran the place. With Mary's help, Sean hoped to flip Yolanda and get her to testify against her boyfriend. The plan was to send Mary to Yolanda with a pile of cash and see if she could get her to launder it through the restaurant.

[Anthony Young]

And Yolanda agreed. And we did a recording.

[Shawn Brokos]

Mary set up a meeting with Yolanda at a local hair salon. Yolanda got her hair done while they chatted about laundering $10,000 Mary had gotten from the FBI.

[Anthony Young]

Yolanda will then turn around and write a check from the restaurant to Mary for, let's just say, cleaning expenses or equipment. Purchase something, right? That makes it look like clean money.

[Shawn Brokos]

But the salon was noisy, and the recording of their conversation wasn't very clear.

[Anthony Young]

My gut was telling me as soon as I heard the recording, there was obviously another piece of the conversation I had missed.

[Shawn Brokos]

Listening back, Sean thought she caught Mary going off script. Mary had said, hey, can you hold.

[Anthony Young]

This money for me, Yolanda? I'll come back and get it in a couple days.

[Shawn Brokos]

Yolanda was supposed to turn the dirty money into a check, but it never happened. Days went by, then weeks. No word and no clean money. Shawn didn't know what was taking so long. She finally decided to force the issue with Mary.

[Anthony Young]

I'll never forget. We scooped her up. I said, you have a conversation with Yolanda right now.

[Shawn Brokos]

She coached Mary to demand the money back from Yolanda. Shawn wired Mary up and sent her back in. Shawn listened while Mary and Yolanda talked. And then Mary asked the question. What is the clock time on that money?

[Anthony Young]

The conversation caught Yolanda off guard. She was confused by it. Because it's Mary trying to force a conversation for something that doesn't make sense. Yolanda said, I gave you that money back.

[Shawn Brokos]

Shawn realized she'd gotten played by her informant yet again.

[Anthony Young]

She lied and actually pocketed the money. Not surprising, but it's gut wrenching.

[Shawn Brokos]

They drove Mary straight to the FBI offices.

[Anthony Young]

We brought her right down to the arrest room. I said, you stole that money? And she admitted to it.

[Shawn Brokos]

Shawn wanted to arrest Mary on the spot. She was furious. But the team decided against it. Sean had gotten so much information from Mary. She was critical in their effort to build a money laundering case against Paul Bergrin, which she figured would show that Paul was running illegal activity out of his office. But now all that evidence was pretty much unusable. How could Mary ever be a credible witness?

[Anthony Young]

I then had to tell the prosecutors, and it's like, you know, that almost negated everything else she did. And I thought, all these months and over a year of all this hard work, and it's all gone because she's no longer credible. And that was devastating.

[Shawn Brokos]

Shawn wouldn't be able to use anything she got from Mary in court. That angle was totally blown. Shawn was still reeling from this massive setback when she got a surprising tip.

[Anthony Young]

I'm on the phone in my squad area, FBI Newark. A detective with NYPD called me and he said, we've got to talk about Paul Berggren. I said, what do you mean? And I'm thinking, who is this guy? And is this just a bunch of bullshit?

[Shawn Brokos]

The New York detective on the other end of the line wanted to talk to Sean about New York Confidential. The cop told her the whole story. Paul's involvement with Jason, the raid, and Paul taking the reins at New York Confidential.

[Anthony Young]

But there were all kinds of crazy stories from this brothel. I mean, some of the things. Just the craziest things I've ever heard. He would lock his office door, have sex right there in his office. Not just occasionally, but very frequently. He was keeping the women in business, did a float. He was comping public officials does that. What defense attorney takes over a brothel?

[Shawn Brokos]

When she hung up the phone, Sean was re energized running an illegal escort service. This was exactly what she needed to show that Paul was at the helm of a criminal empire. This could be the key to taking Paul down, sticking him with Keemo's murder.

[Anthony Young]

And so we were able to fold that into our investigation.

[Shawn Brokos]

And pretty soon, that investigation would have Paul feeling the heat. Later that fall, John Edwards Tiffany said he was working when Paul Bergrin came into his office.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

And he says, hey, brother, you got a second?

[Shawn Brokos]

Earlier that year, Paul had given John an office in the same building he worked in the Robert Treat center in downtown Newark. It was a beautiful building with Murals on the walls. All he would have to do is help Paul out every once in a while, maybe cover a case or two, represent a co defendant. Paul said John could use his staff and didn't have to pay rent. It was the kind of thing you'd do for a friend, a very loyal friend. So when Paul requested to talk, it seemed like the right thing to do.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I said, sure. We walked down the hall and he goes, let's go up the roof.

[Shawn Brokos]

Now that was unusual. Usually the pair would talk in an office or a conference room.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

He wants to be up on the roof because he wants to have ultimate privacy.

[Shawn Brokos]

Clearly something was up and it was serious.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

There's no furniture. It's a gravel type roof. You're up there, I mean, you're having a conversation that it's going to be private. You know, you got to discuss the situation. You're by yourself, you're free from just scratch. There's no furniture out there. It's like driving out to a remote wooded place and meeting somebody.

[Shawn Brokos]

The lights of the city shone beneath him. The office blocks, the red brick housing projects and the Pasaic river slowly snaking out to the New York Harbor.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

He goes, listen, I have a headache and maybe you can help me out.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul explained that a Newark police officer had been charged for soliciting a prostitute at New York Confidential, and he had.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

To appear in criminal court in New York next couple days.

[Shawn Brokos]

This was a problem for Paul. He was now much more than just a lawyer when it came to New York Confidential, and he could be implicated in the tangle of felonies that came with it. Paul wanted to make this go away before it turned into something bigger. But he couldn't represent the cop himself. His association with New York Confidential was already drawing too much attention. He needed someone else to take care of this case.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

And Paul says, do you know anybody we can send there? This really wouldn't be a good look.

[Shawn Brokos]

John recommended a lawyer he'd worked with in the past. He was a good guy. John trusted him. When they left the roof that evening and went back downstairs, John called his friend who took over the case for Paul. John didn't hear about it again until a few months later. During the holidays, his lawyer friend called to give him some news. The case against a police officer was being dismissed.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I'm thinking this is the easiest appearance and easiest money I've ever made.

[Shawn Brokos]

But then his friend told him what happened next.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

As soon as they walked out of the courtroom, bang. The Newark police officer was hit with a grand jury Subpoena to testify for the grand jury on an ongoing investigation regarding New York Confidential.

[Shawn Brokos]

Ongoing investigation. That did not sound good to John. It looked like the feds were involved in this case.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

They're investing money. And it is likely that at some point down the road, some indictment's going to come down and it may very well involve Paul.

[Shawn Brokos]

The cop's testimony would presumably point to Paul as the real culprit.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

That's when I knew this shit hit the fan in a kind of a significant way.

[Shawn Brokos]

The next time John got a chance to talk to Paul was at the office Christmas party. Paul at this party every year. This time he'd reserved a restaurant in Little Italy, not too far from the New York Confidential loft. People were milling about, having drinks, having a good time. The office staff had been invited, other local attorneys and clients, too.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

There were people that. That Paul mixed with, that he had maybe represented, but not, you know, we're not talking about gang bangers or, you know, former alleged unlicensed pharmacists, you know what I mean?

[Shawn Brokos]

John saw Paul across the room that night. He wasn't wearing one of his signature designer suits. Instead, he had on a brown leather biker jacket.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

He was a little bit more casual, but certainly, you know, right and tight. That's Paul.

[Shawn Brokos]

As soon as he got the chance, John pulled Paul to the side to tell him that the newer cop had been subpoenaed. A big case was coming.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

Paul's sitting there going, well, you know, maybe this, maybe that, you know, trying to surmise. I said, no, no, no, no. This, this is a headache. He was trying to downplay it a little bit. And I was trying to explain to him, I don't think this is anything to downplay. This is problematic.

[Shawn Brokos]

They kept getting interrupted by the partygoers.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

And people are having a good time and, you know, hey, Paul, how you doing? Hey, thanks. Great. You know, his outward demeanor is not one of panic. He certainly is serious, but he's not, like, coming apart at the seams. And it was almost like he seemed unmoved. It was like there was no reaction. I mean, if the guy ever played poker, he probably be a world champion.

[Shawn Brokos]

John left Paul with one last piece of advice.

[John Edwards Tiffany]

I said, you know, listen, you may want to consult a lawyer, you know, to get some sort of guidance.

[Shawn Brokos]

Paul was vulnerable on both sides of the river. He was knee deep in money laundering in Newark and promoting prostitution in Manhattan. The feds were at his heels. Loyalty was everything to Paul, but everyone has a price, even someone very, very close to him.

[Anthony Young]

We were able to get her on board and we learned from her how this really worked, who the individuals were that Berggren worked with, and then we got to see the world of how big this really was.

[Shawn Brokos]

That's on the next episode of Criminal Attorney. 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 and 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 four of six of Criminal Attorney. Criminal Attorney is hosted by me, Brandon Jenks Jenkins. This series is recorded and written by Matthew Nelson. Senior producers are Chris Segal and Stephanie Wachneen. Senior story editor is Rachel V. Doyle Associate producer is Malachi Wade Consulting producer is David Fox with additional writing from Neil Drumming Fact checking by Anika Robbins Sound design and mixing by Jeff Schmidt Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez Sound supervisor is Marcelino Vialpando Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freeson Sync Senior Managing Producer is Lata Pandya Managing Producer is Heather Baloga Development producer is Olivia Weber Executive Producer is Matthew Nelson Executive producers are Nidri Eaton, George Lavender, Marshall Louie and Jen Sargent for Wondry.