Who says a stretch in the Metropolitan Detention Center can’t be therapeutic? 

Behind bars in Brooklyn’s federal lockup last year, Baldassare (Baldo) Amato, (right) a Sicilian-born Bonanno soldier was in a bit of a funk as he awaited trial for two 1992 mob hits, including the slaying of a New York Post delivery superintendent, Robert Perrino.

Amato, whose major claim to mob infamy is serving without distinction as a bodyguard for Carmine (Lilo) Galante in 1979 at the cigar-chomping gangster’s storied execution, was complaining of serious neurological problems that could send him to an early grave. 

Baldo began complaining in 2000, a year after he was imprisoned for racketeering, that he suffered from sleep apnea, memory loss, dizziness and other precursor ailments that could lead to “hypertension, heart attack and stroke.”

And he looked it. At one court session attended by Gang Land, Amato appeared drawn and sickly in his prison-issue fatigues. His stated medical ailments were so numerous, and severe, that a federal judge ordered neurological tests.

These days, however – as his racketeering/murder trial begins – Amato, 54, has a bit of a bounce to his step. When he met a panel of prospective jurors last

week, he looked sharp, wearing a red tie and dark blue suit, one of five ensembles that he had delivered to the federal lockup for his use during the trial.

Amato, Bonanno soldier Stephen (Stevie Blue) Locurto and associate Anthony Basile, (left) are charged with murder and a potpourri of crimes allegedly committed as part of a racketeering conspiracy. Amato and Locurto turned down 20-year-plea offers; Basile rejected 15 years. All face life if convicted. Testimony is slated to begin later this month.

But if Amato is no longer plagued by sleep disorders and other medical problems, he’s picked up other afflictions, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

In an angry letter to the court, he stated unequivocally that he was “disturbed” by the feds’ continuing efforts to coerce him to cooperate and “prayed” that Judge Nicholas Garaufis could put an end to those overtures. 

In that vein, Baldo chose Diarmuid White, a lawyer who’s had a hot hand with juries lately. Wiseguys have been flocking to White since the noted appeals specialist won a reversal two years ago of a federal murder conviction of two mob associates. White also earned kudos for his work for a codefendant of John A. (Junior) Gotti in his first trial. 

In the Gotti case, White engineered an acquittal for Gambino soldier Michael (Mikey Y.) Yannotti in a double murder even though an accomplice fingered

him for the slayings and despite the fact that police recovered Yannotti’s beeper at the murder site. 

There is no physical evidence tying Amato to the May 5, 1992 murder of Perrino, but federal prosecutors Jeffrey Goldberg, John Buretta and Andrea Goldbarg have a stable of Bonanno turncoats ready to name Amato as the gunman. They’re also poised to tag Basile, 36, in the set-up and clean-up of the murder scene, a Brooklyn social club he operated.

Amato is also charged with the March 1992 slaying of Sebastiano (Sammy) DeFalco, the owner of a Queens restaurant that Amato reputedly controlled.

Locurto, 45, (right) is charged with a 1986 murder dubbed the “smoking gun case” by Bonanno wiseguys because Stevie Blue was collared with the murder weapon minutes after the shooting but managed an acquittal in a state trial by taking the witness stand and explaining it all away.

This time, however, Locurto will be confronted by the testimony of at least two Bonanno turncoats who took part in the hit and joked for years about how Stevie Blue beat the case. The big talking jokers are Joseph (Joey Mook) D’Amico and Frank (Curly) Lino, according to court papers.

White, as well as Locurto’s attorney, Harry Batchelder, and Basile’s lawyer, Gail Laser, declined to discuss the case, except to express confidence that their clients would be exonerated at trial. 

On the eve of jury selection, five Amato codefendants – all ailing, older, and perhaps wiser wiseguys – accepted plea offers to resolve their pending cases. One was in a wheel chair, but all have bonafide medical problems and the plea could easily have been taken in a prison hospital ward.

The five mobsters were part of the massive January 2004 racketeering/murder indictment of 27 Bonanno mobsters and associates that included Amato, Locurto and Basile.

John Palazzolo, 69, (left) Michael (Mickey Bats) Cardello, 64, Richard (Big Richie) Riccardi, 55, and Peter (Petey Boxcars) Cosoleto, 59, copped 10-year plea deals for murder conspiracy, while Joseph (Joe Desi) DeSimone, 72, took 12 years for similar charges and an additional gambling count.

They detailed ailments from depression to cancer to heart disease and listed numerous daily medications they take, and expect to receive, at various Bureau of Prisons facilities around the country. With time off, and some good luck, Joe Desi (right) will max out in early 2014; the others in 2012.

International Longshoremen’s Association President John Bowers (left) came out of ILA Local 824 on Manhattan’s West Side, dubbed the “Pistol Local” because that was the weapon of choice for settling all disputes.

These days, however, Bowers wields the hefty $50 million ILA treasury like a blackjack, according to charges leveled by ILA vice president Arthur Coffey, who, like Bowers, is a defendant in a massive civil racketeering suit that seeks to oust them and other officials from office and place the mob-controlled union in the hands of a court-ordered trustee.

In court papers, attorney Gerald McMahon charges that Bowers has violated ILA policy and refused to reimburse Coffey for legal fees he incurred while successfully defending himself against criminal charges. The lawyer suggested Bowers’ refusal was the result of a “personal pique” arising from arguments McMahon used to convince a Brooklyn federal court jury of Coffey’s innocence.

At the same time, the attorney wrote, even though Bowers has not been charged with criminal conduct, the ILA shelled out $112,544 in legal fees for Bowers’ “personal” representation by two law firms that received a total $2.1 million in ILA legal fees last year.

In a written retort, ILA lawyer Howard Goldstein said McMahon’s allegations were “grossly misleading” because Bowers did not make the decision regarding Coffey’s legal fees, and that in any event, the reimbursement of legal fees of an officer is “within the discretion of the union.”

The undercover FBI agent who used the pseudonym “Jack Falcone” for two years let it all hang out this week when he took the stand against Gambino capo Greg DePalma, (right) disclosing that he gained 80 pounds while living large and posing as a wannabe wiseguy. 

And contrary to initial plans, the Cuban born, now-retired agent, Joaquin (Jack) Garcia, also revealed his true name after federal prosecutors realized last weekend that his real name had mistakenly been disclosed to lawyers for DePalma and other wiseguys during the pre-trial “discovery” process.

“Since the cat was out of the bag, it made no sense to push for secrecy and the prosecutor informed the Judge and the defense before (Garcia) took the stand Monday morning,” said one law enforcement official.

In all modesty, the government’s secrecy efforts weren’t helped by last week’s column, which pointed out that even the FBI’s much-fabled "Donnie Brasco” used his real name when he testified 24 years ago.

     Only Five Left! Classic Sketch Auction
The confrontation between Burt Kaplan and the "Mafia Cops" was spellbinding, but there will never be another courtroom conflict like the one between Sammy Bull Gravano and John Gotti, the first time an underboss took the witness stand against his Mafia boss. Check out the auction on eBay to obtain a numbered print of the drawing at right by award-winning sketch artist Ruth Pollack. The auction ends on May 20.