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At age 62, Furnari was convicted of racketeering. Along with three mob bosses and three other mobsters in the historic Mafia Commission case, the Brooklyn gangster was sentenced to 100 years in prison. (An eighth defendant ended up with 20 years.)

"Realistically, most of them will die in prison," said then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, referring to the Brooklyn gangster and the six others who received 100 year jail terms.

So far, Giuliani's relatively safe prediction has rung true for three of them -- Genovese acting boss Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, Luchese underboss Salvatore (Tom Mix) Santoro and Colombo mobster Ralph Scopo. But two weeks ago, after a torturous five-year legal battle, Furnari, now 76, got a big win from a federal appeals court that gives him at least half a chance for parole.

In its ruling, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia painted prison officials and David Kelley, chief mob prosecutor in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, as sleight of hand artists who manipulated the facts to improperly block parole for the aging gangster.

Kelley and prison officials were taken to task for using information from mob turncoat Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso against Furnari at the same time Casso, a former Luchese underboss, was failing government lie detector tests,

Ironically, Kelley had helped begin Furnari's push for parole in 1995. At the request of Furnari's lawyer, Kelley, using information from another Luchese turncoat, Alphonse (Little Al) D'Arco, (right) absolved Furnari of any   responsibility in the 1979 killing of Bonanno boss Carmine (Lilo) Galante.

At his sentencing, prosecutors had successfully argued that Furnari, as Luchese consigliere and a convicted member of the Mafia's Board of Governors, had "implicitly" approved Galante's slaying, and for parole purposes, should be classified as a murderer. Meaning his chances for parole were about nil.

But under prodding from Furnari's lawyer, David Breitbart, Kelley notified prison and parole officials in a Dec. 4, 1995 letter that the feds learned from D'Arco, who began cooperating six years after the Commission trial, that Furnari had become Luchese consigliere and Commission member in the early 1980's and bore no responsibility for Galante's 1979 killing.

A few months later, after Furnari had served 10 years and was eligible for parole -- an event that Kelley apparently overlooked when he agreed to write the Dec. 4 letter -- Breitbart used Furnari's new status and made a strong push for parole. (Federal parole has since been abolished, but under the standards which govern Furnari's fate, a convict with no killings on his   record must receive much greater consideration for parole.) 

That's when Kelley began using information from Casso, a longtime Furnari  associate, to connect murder after murder to Furnari -- a total of 14 in all.  Kelley said that three other Luchese turncoats, including D'Arco, had also placed blood on Furnari's hands during a long criminal career.

But in thousands of pages of public transcripts and FBI reports, Breitbart argued at the parole hearing, none of them had ever linked Furnari to any murders. At best, their allegations were minimal and inconclusive. Kelley acknowledged that "most of the information does come from Casso" (left), insisting that he was a credible witness.

Breitbart asserted that newspaper reports and his own investigation had determined that prosecutors had decided Casso was a liar and would never be used as a trial witness. Kelley denied that and   continued to vouch for Casso's information, stating:

"I can represent to you, sir, that there is no determination of which I am

Breitbart objected to no avail. Even after federal prosecutors in Brooklyn failed to use Casso at the trial of Genovese boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante (left) in 1997, and publicly branded Casso a liar and breached his cooperation agreement, neither Kelley nor the parole commission would change their tune.

"The government's own determination that Casso had lied to it about many matters calls into question whether the Parole Commission had a rational basis for its decision," said the appeals court in overturning a federal judge who had upheld the Parole Commission's decision.

Furnari, who is housed in a medium security facility in Pennsylvania, still has a long way to go. It's unclear whether Judge Malcolm Muir will conduct further proceedings, or send the matter back to parole officials. And it's unclear whether parole officials will reopen the prior hearing, conduct a new one, or appeal. (Kelley and federal prosecutors handling the case declined to comment.)

Which ever way it goes, Breitbart (right) and co-counsel Steven Kartagener said they will continue fighting for Furnari's freedom.

"What really troubles and disappoints me," said Breitbart, "is that someone in as important a position as Mr. Kelley, the Chief of the Organized Crime Unit for the Southern District of New York, would be so careless with the truth in advising the U.S Parole Commission that Anthony Casso was a truthful, honest, forthright and reliable witness."

Appeals court Judge Myron Bright, who, coincidentally, was a member of the appeals panel that affirmed Furnari’s 1986 conviction and his 100 year sentence, said in a brief separate opinion that Furnari should get a new hearing, leaving little doubt in the result he would like to see.

Noting that uncorroborated informant testimony is "notoriously unreliable" and that Casso "may well have been singing off-key," Bright wrote: "Furnari ought not be compelled to spend his obviously few remaining years in prison based on self-serving, highly suspect charges made by criminals who speak for personal gain.”

Name the four wiseguys in the upper-left hand corner of this picture that appeared in the Daily News on June 30 and you can win a hard-to-find hard cover copy of "Murder Machine," by Gene Mustain and yours truly.

We've zeroed in on them, blown them up a little, and penciled in some numbers below them at the left.

Two of the men -- associates -- have never had a mention in Gang Land. The other two -- both made guys -- have been mentioned, AND SEEN, in previous columns. The wiseguys are all with the same New York crime family.

This contest ends Wednesday, Aug. 9, at midnight, Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Entries must be sent via email. Please place the word "contest" in the subject line. If no one correctly identifies all four wiseguys, the entrant with the most correct names will be declared the winner. In case of ties, the names of all such entrants will be pulled from a hat or bowl or shoe or something or other.

We'll identify the baseball-loving wiseguys on Thursday, Aug. 10, and announce the winner the following week. 

One Good Turn Deserves ....

Carmine Persico, the Colombo boss and Lloyd's fellow inmate at Marion, was planning to kill an assistant prosecutor. The prosecutor was saved, and Lloyd went on to perform an amazing undercover operation against Persico and other imprisoned wiseguys that included pictures, like the one at left of Persico in his prison rose garden.

But while violent criminals like Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano have won their freedom by cooperating, Mike Lloyd, who never injured anyone in his criminal career, remains in prison.

Two years ago a Daily News piece about Lloyd's plight helped nudge Giuliani into helping the convict. Now Giuliani and the FBI are pressing Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge to grant Mike Lloyd clemency. Check out the compelling story in this week's Village Voice.