Opinion ID: 654592
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cutler's Role as House Counsel

Text: 29 Gotti argues that the facts before the district court did not merit the conclusion that Cutler had acted as house counsel to the Gambino Crime Family. Rather, Gotti argues that Cutler was merely his personal attorney. 30 Ethical considerations warn against an attorney accepting fees from someone other than her client. As we stated in a different context, the acceptance of such benefactor payments may subject an attorney to undesirable outside influence and raises an ethical question as to whether the attorney's loyalties are with the client or the payor. In re Grand Jury Subpoena Served Upon John Doe, 781 F.2d 238, 248 n. 6 (2d Cir.1985) (in banc ), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1108, 106 S.Ct. 1515, 89 L.Ed.2d 914 (1986). In this context, proof of house counsel can be used by the government to help establish the existence of the criminal enterprise under RICO, by showing the connections among the participants. SeeUnited States v. Simmons, 923 F.2d 934, 949 (2d Cir.) (holding that government can use evidence of benefactor payments to prove existence of enterprise), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2018, 114 L.Ed.2d 104 (1991); United States v. Castellano, 610 F.Supp. 1151 (S.D.N.Y.1985) (disqualifying attorney because attorney's acceptance of benefactor payments could be used to prove existence of enterprise). 31 Contrary to Gotti's assertions, there was sufficient evidence for the district court to determine that Cutler had acted as house counsel to the Gambino Crime Family. For example, the court cited one conversation in which Gotti, in the time-honored tradition of legal clients, complained about his legal fees: 32 I gave youse [sic] 300,000 in one year. Youse [sic] didn't defend me. I wasn't even mentioned in none of these [expletive deleted] things. I had nothing to do with none of these [expletive deleted] people. What the [expletive deleted] is your beef? ... Before youse [sic] made a court appearance, youse [sic] got 40,000, 30,000 and 25,000. That's without counting [attorney] John Pollok.... You standing there in the hallway with me last night, and you're plucking me.... Tony Lee's lawyer, but you're plucking me. I'm paying for it.... Where does it end? Gambino Crime Family? This is the Shargel, Cutler and who do you call it Crime Family. 33 771 F.Supp. at 555. Gotti thus demonstrated that he was incurring the legal fees for representation of others. As support for disqualification, the government indicated that it would introduce the testimony of Michael Coiro, who would testify that he had paid nothing to Cutler and another attorney for their services to him, presumably because Gotti paid for his defense. 34 Cutler's role as house counsel to the Gambinos raised a credible issue of the ethical propriety of his representation of Gotti in this case. An attorney cannot properly serve two masters, and the evidence before the district court indicated that Cutler had represented the Gambino Family as a whole. Moreover, Cutler's status as house counsel was potentially part of the proof of the Gambino criminal enterprise. We cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in disqualifying Cutler on this basis, considering the volume of proof of Cutler's proximity to the affairs of the Gambino Crime Family offered by the government in this case.