Some 35 years after the FBI tape recorded the head of New Jersey's Mafia family talking about murder and assorted mayhem, the feds have done an encore act, capturing the current leader of the crime family in a similar performance.

And just like the 1960's rendition that starred  Simone (Sam the Plumber) DeCavalcante, (left) the tapes contain wiseguy banter and bluster about respect, the right and wrong ways to whack people, and the perennial need to dispose of bodies without arousing suspicion.

This time, the electronic surveillance is legal, and the tapes will be admissible in court as evidence.

Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo (right) and  members of the DeCavalcante family have been hit with federal racketeering and a murder charge that is potentially punishable by death. In all, 21 associates and made men were charged last month with 42 counts of murder, extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, robbery, mail fraud and trafficking in stolen property, counterfeit goods and stolen U.S. savings bonds.

Among other things, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, the gang dealt in stolen loads of wine, designer clothing, vitamins, Minolta digital copiers, toner and a refrigerated truck brimming with Kraft food goods. They attempted payroll robberies and tried to unload a truck full of counterfeit Tommy Hilfiger and Jordache designer-label clothes.

No crime was too small or too big for these consummate hoodlums. You name it, they did it, or gave it their best shot.

They also had a pretty high opinion of their criminal acumen and mob prowess. And, they felt they had finally earned the hard-won respect from New York gangsters, (who get all the attention, publicity and high-profile prosecutions) and that the New Jersey gangsters portrayed in HBO's hit television series, "Sopranos," starring James Gandolfini, were based on them. In the show, which begins its second season this month, stress-laden capo Tony Soprano sees a shrink to combat panic attacks brought on by the pressures of his work and juggling his mob life with his family life and his comare.

On Mar. 3, 1999, as a DeCavalcante crew drove to a mob sitdown, they talked about the respect they felt they had achieved across the Hudson River, triggering a lively discussion about the award winning show. 

At one time, said soldier Joseph (Tin Ear) Sclafani, 62, wiseguys in the Big Apple looked down their noses at them, but in recent months, he told capo Anthony Rotondo, 42, they had begun getting the respect they deserved.

"They make rumors about the Jersey guys, 'They're farmers.'--...but they don't know. They know now," said Sclafani, who wears a hearing aid.

"They know now," echoed Rotondo.

"Hey, what's this fucking thing, 'Sopranos'. What the fuck are they... Is that supposed to be us?" asked Sclafani. (right)

A.R. "You are in there, they mentioned your name in there."
J.S. "Yeah? What did they say?"

"Watch out for that guy, they said. Watch that guy," interjected a third gangster, identified on an FBI transcript only as Billy, while a fourth man in the car, a wired-up witness identified only as Ralphie laughs out loud.

A.R. "Every show you watch, more and more you pick up somebody. Every show."
J.S. "Yeah, but it's not me," said Sclafani modestly. "I'm not even existing over there."
A.R. "Corky."
J.S. "Yeah."
A.R. "One week it was Corky. One week it was...." comparing the television mobsters to real ones. (See below)
J.S. "Yeah."
A.R. "The guy that died, and had stomach cancer."

The gangsters even claimed they had spotted  landmarks from their home turf on the show.

• "There's the bookstore."
• "Right across from the church."
• "That's the block."
• "They always sit outside the.... Yeah, they do."

Before the mobsters began focusing on the business ahead of them, Rotondo (left) capped off the discussion: "What characters. Great acting."

Gangsters love to talk about Corky, and have been doing it for 35 years.  

Last spring, it was DeCavalcante capo Anthony Rotondo, who saw a similarity between a character in the "Sopranos" and Corky, a 71-year-old mobster whose given name is Gaetano Vastola.

Vastola was a longtime mover and shaker in the record business, promoting concerts for Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. He played golf with Sammy Davis Jr., was a part owner of Roulette Records, and was the listed songwriter of many top 1950s and 1960s tunes -- including the doo-wop classic by the Valentines, "Lily Maebelle," the Cleftones' "You Baby You," and the Wrens' "Hey Girl."

Ten years ago, John Gotti, who had done time with Vastola in the 1970's, was convinced that Vastola would "be a rat someday" and was taped  plotting his death in a bugged apartment above his Little Italy social club. Gotti was convicted of conspiring to kill Vastola in 1992.

A quarter century earlier, DeCavalcante and top aide Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti voiced suspicions about Vastola's abilities to avoid serious arrests while making loads of money.

"He made half a million dollars," said Occhipinti. "All of a sudden it died. He paid $215 fine and walked away. How do you do things like this?"

Good fortune -- and a smart decision to stay home -- helped Vastola avoid Gotti's wrath and efforts to kill him in early 1990 by the Gambino family's No. 1 hitman, Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano.

Soon after, however, Vastola's luck with the feds ran out. He was convicted of extortion and racketeering conspiracies in 1988, but after spending some time in jail, was freed pending an appeal. In late 1990, he lost the appeal, and was sent back to prison. He was released in May, 1998.