Editorial Board Newark Star-Ledger In its hunt for terrorists, the New York Police Department hid moles in Newark mosques and sent agents into Paterson bodegas. The spying stayed secret until boxes of documents were leaked to the Associated Press. Here’s what was exposed: The NYPD’s surveillance of New Jersey Muslims never turned up a useful…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Prominent New Jersey attorney Paul Bergrin, who is accused of using his law firm to commit crimes, including drug trafficking, prostitution and the murder of an FBI informant, is on trial in Newark federal court, Reuters reports. The trial began Tuesday and is the prosecution’s second attempt at landing a conviction against…
By Jason Grant The Star Ledger NEWARK — The head of the Newark Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will retire from government service on Dec. 31, the agency announced today. Michael Ward had not indicated in recent weeks or months that he would be leaving the post and retiring from government service. A…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com An ex-FBI agent pleaded guilty Friday to obtaining information about an undercover law enforcement operation in Newark and giving it to a close friend, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark announced. In June 2011, Ivan Stantchev was asked by a friend to obtain confidential information in connection with four telephone numbers…
By Douglas B. Brill The Express-Time The Barry Lee Bush that Joseph Douress remembers isn’t the FBI agent who investigated gangs in Newark and the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya. Douress remembers a friend who would sit on a floor and stuff envelopes with invitations for a charity golf tournament, a neighbor who would plop…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com More than a year after being nominated by the White House, the Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Thomas Harrigan as the number two person at DEA. “I cannot think of a better, more qualified, or more honorable person to have at my side than Special Agent Tom Harrigan as…
Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The day before Thanksgiving, Paul Bergrin, the ex-fed prosecutor who became a high-profile defense attorney representing rappers and gangbangers, had plenty to be thankful for. That’s because a federal judge on Wednesday declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked over whether Bergrin, 55, helped orchestrate a 2004 murder of an FBI witness…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com An FBI agent and a body shop owners are scheduled to testify Friday in the ongoing murder trial in federal court in Newark of ex-fed prosecutor Paul Bergrin, who once represented rap stars and drug kingpins, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. Bergin, 55, is accused of orchestrating the 2004 murder of a…
