Miller Canfield Lawyer, 73 Others Charged in Biker Club Racketeering Indictment
A lawyer at Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone is among 74 alleged associates or members of a biker club charged in what the Detroit News describes as a sweeping federal racketeering indictment that was unsealed in Detroit today.
Appointed yesterday by Detroit’s mayor to a role in the city’s crisis turnaround team, Miller Canfield counsel Hatim “Tim” Attalla is accused in the indictment of assisting former Highwaymen Motorcycle Club vice president Aref Nagi with legal advice and involvement in a conspiracy to possess and distribute illegal drugs, according to the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.
The indictment alleges that Attalla assisted defendant Nagi 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,” reports the Free Press, quoting language from the indictment.
An Associated Press article says the 35-count indictment includes charges of attempted murder and cocaine and steroid distribution, among other alleged crimes. The Detroit News says the charges include conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery, extortion, assault with weapons, drug dealing, trading in stolen goods, and obstruction of justice, among other alleged crimes. Neither article specifies the defendants against whom these charges are made.
“This is the largest prosecution in the history of Michigan of a motorcycle gang and one of the largest in the history of the nation,” interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said at a news conference today, the Detroit News reports.
Attalla and a spokesman for the mayor declined to comment when reached today by the Free Press.
