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| Gerald Shargel, Bruce Cutler, John Gotti |
I checked the NYT obits online yesterday and was surprised to learn that Gerald Shargel, a New York criminal defense attorney described in the obit headline as being a "Lawyer for the Mob" because of his many defenses of John Gotti and other family members, had passed away at 77. I'm 73 now, and realized that we're not that much different in age. And paying attention to the obit, we learn that Gerry's mother survives him!
Mr. Shargel didn't always defend mobsters. I came to interact with him when I testified for the prosecution in 2001 as he was defending an ob-gyn, Dr. Niels H. Lauersen for deceiving health insurance companies into paying for in-vitro-fertilization procedures—usually not covered under most policies—by reporting his work as something that was covered, thereby securing payments that would have otherwise been rejected.
Dr. Lauersen did this for years, securing reimbursements that totaled over $1 million. I worked for one of those insurance companies, and my contribution was to present evidence as to the frequency of this for the company I worked for.
I wound up being one of the many witnesses the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District government presented in what amounted to be two trials. Dr. Lauersen's first trial ended in a hung jury, and the government sought a second trial.
Dr. L's first attorney, Ted Wells, was no less a light than Gerald Shargel, when he later defended "Scooter Libby" in 2005, Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, "for five felony counts of making false statements to federal investigators, perjury for lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice for impeding the course of a federal grand jury investigation concerned with the possible leaking by government officials of the classified identity of a covert agent for the CIA, Valerie Plame Wilson." Scooter was convicted and later pardoned by President Trump.
In the 1990s and early 2000s Gerry Shargel was famous for defending John Gotti and other members of his family, as well other high profile miscreants. As Sam Roberts reports in the NYT obituary, Geraldo Rivera, a long-time New York television journalist and a classmate of Gerry's at Brooklyn Law School, is quoted as saying of Gerry, "Suffice it to say, he put the Teflon in the Don." John Gotti was acquitted so many times that the tabloids took to calling him the "Teflon Don." Nothing stuck.
When it was apparent that the U.S. Attorney was still interested in pursuing a trial against Dr. Lauersen after the hung jury, I remember commenting to anyone who would listen to me at the office that Niels needs a "mob lawyer" now. It was no surprise to me that he retained Gerry Shargel.
What I did learn from these experiences is that the government has vast resources to prosecute you, especially the Federal government. When Martha Stewart decided to go to trial I knew then that she was making a mistake by not settling, a mistake later admitted by her defense attorney. (Who got paid, nonetheless, I'm sure.) She was found guilty of lying to the F.B.I. and was made to wear orange for a while, vowing she was going to help other prisoners. How that turned out for her I have no idea. But she has to live with whatever limitations a felony conviction imposes on her.
The obit gives an example of Gerry's sardonic cross-examination comments about teasing a mobster about applying alcohol to the wound incurred when the blood oath of "Omerta" is taken on the way to being a "made man." "In other words, you were going to get into the Mafia, but you didn't want to infect your finger?" I experienced none of that during my appearance. In fact, Gerry's co-counsel did my cross-exam without any sarcasm or rancor. I wasn't worth trying to embarrass.
All of this is over 20 years ago. The defendant, Dr. Lauersen served seven years, and has passed away. The Judge at the two trials, William H. Pauley III has passed away. And now the lead counsel for the defendant, Gerry Shargel has passed away.
I'm reminded of a New York Ranger team picture that was nestled against the back row of bottles in the Blarney Rock saloon in the '70s. The Rangers of that era were good. Very good. I was a Ranger season ticket holder, and I was a frequent customer of that 33rd Street watering hole so near Madison Square Garden.
As the years went by, the bartenders kept putting Xs over the faces of the team members who were no longer with the club. Eventually, all the faces had Xs over them; and then eventually the photo disappeared. And then the Blarney Rock disappeared into another name.
We're all mortal. And it's annoying.
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