A U.S. appeals court has reinstated racketeering charges against Paul Bergrin, a Newark, N.J., criminal defense attorney and ex-prosecutor accused of masterminding crimes that included arranging the murder of a government witness.

Prosecutors made sufficient allegations that Bergrin and his co-conspirators ran an ongoing scheme in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in U.S. v. Bergrin, 10-2204.