Nobody bans the mob—but maybe that doesn’t apply to its attorneys. Mob lawyer Seth Ginsberg, famous for his Gotti connections, is now barred from the New York MCC prison after allegedly attempting to enter grounds while carrying a bag of pot. Ginsberg was slated to visit reputed mob client Orefice at the Metropolitan Correctional Center--the same federal facility housing the likes of both Bernie Madoff and terrorists: unfortunately for Orefice, a sandwich bag full of marijuana interrupted the plans.
Ginsberg was slated to see reputed Gambino mob member Thomas Orefice, currently housed at the Manhattan, New York, prison facility, when prison guards discovered the marijuana during bag screening. The lawyer wasn't arrested for the drugs—but he is now banned from the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in NY, while the federal government investigates whether the attorney was actually trying to smuggle marijuana to the inside.
"I had no idea there was anything illegal in my bag,” says attorney Ginsberg, “I had no intention of bringing anything illegal to my client, nor would he ever ask or want me to.” Taking the cue from Paris Hilton—and her legal woes related to drugs and even felony charges—Ginsberg’s placing the blame elsewhere: the pot isn’t his, the lawyer says, it’s his brother’s.
Ginsberg was trying to visit reputed Gambino mob member Thomas Orefice—a mob man accused of recruiting girls for prostitution, young underage girls.
Lawyer Seth Ginsberg once defended John A. “Junior” Gotti, son of infamous mob boss John Gotti.
Attorney Ginsberg was stopped at the security tent outside of the facility when a corrections officer routinely asked him to open his bag--inside a briefcase pocket, a plastic sandwich bag full of pot. It’s reported that Ginsberg blurted out, "How did that get there?"—immediately blaming his brother, whom he claims used the bag.
Nice move, Paris.
Law enforcement officers released lawyer Ginsberg from the screening area—and he took the pot with him. When the attorney returned shortly after, sans the bag of pot, he remained barred from entering the New York prison facility.
A corrections officer claims to have found what it says is the same bag of marijuana—though identifying a bag of pot as the “same” is a little iffy--in a nearby trashcan.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office was notified of the breach but—like the mob—it’s not talking.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons claims it doesn’t have specifics of the case. It appears that Seth Ginsberg's younger brother is up for taking the “fall”—he’s submitted a sworn affidavit, stating the pot is his, to investigators.