As the big gander, boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante, prepares to resume his tired crazy act defense, a gaggle of Genovese gangsters are getting ready to handle racketeering charges the way many have lately -- by saying, "Guilty."

His latest round of plea deals are the result of a textbook execution of an FBI takedown, complete with electronic surveillance and the pre-requisite wired-up turncoat insider -- one who was alternately exacting vengeance, saving his own skin or scared out of his wits.

The evidence is so good that as many as 20 wiseguys -- Ross Gangi and Joe Zito to name two -- and wannabes are expected to start entering guilty pleas in Brooklyn Federal Court as early as tomorrow, sources said.

They're looking at prison terms from a light 18 months to a solid 11 years in federal prison, Gang Land learned yesterday.

These about-to-be-jailbirds, who include a couple of father and son teams and a few capos are victims of Michael (Cookie) Durso, a brash young

Durso's association with the Mafia began when he was 16, working as a waiter in a mob-owned restaurant. It ended when he and his wife, a high-powered businesswoman, rode into the sunset of the Federal Witness Protection Program with $4.5 million in property and new identities with which to enjoy the fruits of
their labors.

It got a little hairy on July 13, 1998, according to FBI documents obtained by Gang Land. That night, soldier Vincent Aparo (left) sent Durso a "911 page" and told him to drive to Vinny's home within two hours, according to a report by FBI Agent Michael Campi.

Not surprisingly, Durso feared his mob targets had made him as an informer. "This behavior had never happened before and (Durso) was concerned that his relationship with the FBI may have been disclosed," Campi wrote.

Campi reassured Durso that there was no leak and that Vinny and his father, acting capo Salvatore (Sammy Meatballs) Aparo (right), were probably jumpy because the FBI had just warned Genovese wiseguys not to whack an associate who had fallen out of favor with the mob.

When Durso arrived, the younger Aparo and his wife were frantic, "getting

Earlier that day, Aparo explained, his dad had gotten court documents that showed that a restaurant they used as a bases had been bugged and its phones tapped. They feared a raid, and asked Durso to take away a small arsenal of weapons, including an Uzi submachinegun, seven handguns, knives and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, for safekeeping.

Sure thing, said Durso, who breathed a sigh of relief and delivered them to Campi for safekeeping.

The Aparos, who have been held without bail as dangers to society since their arrest last April, will not have to admit any weapons charges in their pleas, sources said. Sammy Meatballs faces between 70 and 87 months; Vinny faces 63 to 78 months.

In another family affair, capo Alan (Baldie) Longo (left) and son Daniel (right) represent the high and low water marks in the plea deals, sources said, with the elder Longo agreeing to accept 11 years and his son facing from 18 to 24 months.

Gangi, a capo who has bitten the dust a few times in the last few years and is registered as a guest of the Federal Bureau of Prisons until May 7, 2006, and Zito, a soldier who was acquitted of labor racketeering 10 years ago in his only other bout with the feds, are also expected to take plea deals rather than face off against Durso and his tapes.

Longtime mob associate Thomas Cafaro is not planning to plead guilty, at least not yet. Confined to his home under house arrest restrictions, Cafaro has fought hard to remain out of jail while awaiting his racketeering trial with Chin Gigante, son Andrew (left) and five others.

It's a far cry from the tactics Cafaro employed when he was nabbed for racketeering with his mobster father Vincent (Fish) Cafaro and Genovese family leaders on similar racketeering charges nearly 16 years ago.

In that case, his father decided to cooperate with the feds. Prosecutors in return agreed to give Thomas a pass, but he insisted on pleading guilty and going to prison to assure mob buddies he was not a chip off the old block.

He also wiretapped his sister and mother talking to his father and gave the tapes to the Genovese family in an effort to undermine his testimony from the witness stand, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

And when his old man took the stand against Genovese mobsters charged with plotting to kill John Gotti, prosecutors said, Thomas brought his four year old son to court to rattle his grandfather, he bragged to Durso on Mar. 24, 2000.

"Cafaro reported that this intimidation was successful, and that Vincent Cafaro began to wear an eye patch to avoid looking at his young grandson while testifying," said federal prosecutors.

(Editor's Note: For an excellent account about the overall labor racketeering case facing Vincent and Andrew Gigante, Cafaro, onetime acting boss Liborio (Barney) Bellomo, and others, check out this Village Voice piece by Tom Robbins.)

Curra (he's being led away to one of Costa Rica's finest holding cells in the photo by Diario Extra photographer Luis Picado) was arrested by Interpol and Costa Rican authorities Tuesday at a hotel in San Jose.

Little Dom chose Costa Rica because he has Internet gambling operations there and because he believed the United States could not extradite him from the tiny Central American country because he never became an American citizen after arriving from Italy 50 years ago.

Assistant U.S. attorney Katya Jestin said she was confident and pleased that Little Dom would soon be returning to Brooklyn, where he faces additional bail jumping charges.

Not Really For Idiots
Whether you're a Gang Land regular or an occasional visitor, you'll enjoy  "The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Mafia," a book I wrote for Alpha Books that was published in December. It's filled with real stuff about real wiseguys and insight about the ways that mobsters make their money. It's 343 pages of true stories of life and death, honor and betrayal. Get it at your local book store, or at Gang Land's favorite, Amazon.com, where the powers that be have knocked the price down to $13.26, so low I am concerned that the Godfather of online booksellers has forgotten about my end.