Drug accusations fly in court

OFF THE WIRE
Witness says lawyer gave Viagra, advice

A lawyer whom Mayor Dave Bing tapped to help turn around Detroit hung out in strip clubs with drug-dealing motorcycle club members who turned to him for free legal advice and Viagra, according to testimony Thursday in federal court.

Two government witnesses testified in the trial of Tim Attalla, who was indicted two days after being named to a crisis management team by Bing last year. They said that Attalla attended private parties at strip clubs where cocaine and Viagra were freely available along with Aref (Scarface) Nagi, a former vice president of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club who was convicted in June on racketeering charges.

The government's witnesses said that Attalla supplied Nagi with Viagra, and they rebutted defense claims that Attalla was never a club member. The witnesses said Attalla attended meetings and received a Highwaymen jacket and vest when he joined in 2005.

"I have, with my own eyes, seen him wearing a Highwaymen vest," testified a former club member turned undercover informant.

Attalla, 49, is on trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit on charges that he took part in a drug conspiracy by "advising arrested individuals to keep silent regarding Nagi's involvement in the drug conspiracy, by supplying Nagi with a variety of different pills and by acting as general counsel for the enterprise," the indictment states.

He is on administrative leave from Detroit's Miller Canfield law firm, which he joined in mid-2006 after the alleged crimes.

Attalla resigned from Bing's crisis management team after being charged. His lawyers say there is no evidence to support the charges.

"The simple and disturbing reality of this prosecution is that Mr. Attalla has done nothing to deserve being labeled as a lawyer-criminal. Rather, he has found himself in the crosshairs of the U.S. Attorney's Office only because he dared to serve as a criminal defense lawyer by giving legal advice to suspected gxxx members," Miller Canfield attorney Thomas Cranmer wrote in court documents.

Bing's office released this statement Thursday: "While Mr. Attalla was invited to volunteer for the Transition Team ... he did not actively participate or contribute."

The trial resumes today.

http://www.freep.com/article/20101029/NEWS01/10290366/1322/Drug-accusations-fly-in-court