Judge Rejects Bid to Take Lawyer Off Case : Crime: The goverment sought to remove a Chicago attorney from the Indian gambling racketeering case because he spoke to one of the defendants on a wiretap.

A San Diego federal judge Monday blocked a government bid to disqualify the attorney for a reputed Chicago mob boss from an upcoming racketeering and extortion trial.

Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Enright said prosecutors had failed to prove that Chicago attorney Arthur N. Nasser faced a conflict of interest because of wiretaps that secretly recorded him on the phone with alleged San Diego mobster Chris Petti.

The ruling blunted prosecution hopes for a replay of the ruling last summer in the highly publicized murder and racketeering trial in New York of organized crime boss John Gotti. In an extraordinary exception to the usual rule, Gotti’s lawyer was disqualified after secret tapes raised what a federal judge called the “specter of improper conduct.”

The complex San Diego case revolves around charges that the Chicago mob plotted to infiltrate a gambling hall at the Rincon Indian Reservation in northern San Diego County, seeking to skim profits and launder cash. A 15-count indictment, returned in January, also alleges extortion by the mob against several mob-connected gamblers.

Named in the indictment are Petti, alleged Chicago mob boss Samuel Carlisi and eight other men. The case is set for trial Oct. 20.

Nasser, a tax and criminal defense lawyer, represents Carlisi. Prosecutors alleged that, because of a May 30, 1988, wiretapped conversation between the lawyer and Petti, Nasser might become a witness in the case. A lawyer who becomes a witness must withdraw from a case.

Prosecutors did not allege criminal wrongdoing by Nasser.

During the call, Petti asked Nasser whether a Las Vegas man, Joseph Pignatello, who reportedly owed $100,000 to the Chicago mob, had ever complained to law enforcement officials about being coerced or threatened by reputed mobster Anthony Spilotro, prosecutors said. Nasser said he did not know, according to a transcript of the tape.

Enright ruled that the potential for a conflict of interest over a snippet of tape that might not even be played at the trial was simply too remote to order a disqualification.

After the hearing, Nasser said he was “pleased.”

Carlisi declined to comment, as did Assistant U.S. Atty. Carol C. Lam, the prosecutor in the case.