Maybe New York’s wiseguys are getting luckier. Or maybe the government’s cases are getting weaker. 

Whatever the reasons, for the third time in recent weeks, jurors served up a stinging rebuke to the FBI and federal prosecutors Monday – another hung jury at the end of another lengthy and hard-fought racketeering trial of a top-level gangster.

Six weeks after jurors deadlocked on charges against ex-Gambino leader John (Junior) Gotti, another Manhattan jury announced that after 10 days of talks, it could not reach a verdict in the case of 85-year-old Genovese capo Ciro Perrone (right) and mob associate Steve Buscemi, 43. Jurors later said the vote wasn’t even close, with 10 in favor of acquittal, and two opposed.

To add injury to the insult, the jury acquitted two other defendants, Perrone’s son-in-law Paul Kahl, 54, and mob associate Joseph Quaranta, 50, of all charges. They also found Perrone and Buscemi not guilty of lesser crimes in the seven count indictment.

In notes soon after deliberations began, the jury indicated that it was favoring the defense. So, when the jurors wrote they were

deadlocked on two major racketeering charges against Perrone and Buscemi, (left) prosecutors argued long and hard against accepting a partial verdict on any of the other counts the jury may have decided.

After a two month trial, however, that made no sense to the defense, or to Manhattan Federal Court Judge Kimba Wood. The judge decided to let the jurors determine whether to render verdicts on several counts they had previously announced agreement.

At noon, tension and excitement filled the room. The jury had announced that it wished to announce a partial verdict and go home, and was about to enter. Wood told spectators, who included FBI agents, prosecutors, and relatives and friends of the defendants, “to remain impassive as the jury delivers the verdict and as the jury leaves the room.”

The first smiles came from Perrone and his lawyer, Ronald Rubinstein, who faced each other as the forewoman pronounced the craggy-faced gangster “not guilty,” twice, of obstructing an FBI investigation into the family’s alleged control of the leadership of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 14,000 bus drivers.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Gruenstein and Elie Honig quickly did what they could to destroy the moment, especially for Perrone, Buscemi, and the embattled and indicted president of the scandal-tarred Local, Salvatore Battaglia, 60.

The prosecutors asked for a speedy retrial of the men. And, they said, it should include Battaglia, who was charged last year with obstruction of justice in the

same indictment that snared Perrone, acting boss Matthew (Matty the Horse) Ianniello (right) and 17 others.

At the trial, Battaglia’s tape-recorded voice was heard reporting on January 31, 2005 that Matty the Horse, who winters in the Sunshine State, had ordered him to keep his distance from his designated surrogate, Perrone, ostensibly because of the FBI’s investigation. 

“A message came in from Florida to stay away,” said Battaglia, whom the feds identified at trial as an inducted Genovese soldier who reported to Perrone.

Wood, who was elevated to Chief Judge in August, scheduled a December 8 conference to set a date for trial, which will likely be assigned to another judge to enable her to better deal with her increased administrative duties, she said.

Battaglia’s attorney, David Lewis, who is ill and was unavailable for comment, is sure to oppose the move, having fought to separate his client from Perrone’s first trial.

Rubinstein, noting that his client was acquitted of obstruction, objected in court,

and will argue against it when the government formally moves to add Battaglia.

“The government is looking to muddy up the waters,” Rubinstein told Gang Land. “Battaglia (left) has nothing to do with us. He’s with the union; we’re accused of gambling and loansharking.”

Because of his age, and the lopsided 10-2 vote to acquit, the government should drop the charges against his client and move on to other things, said Rubinstein. The lawyer is a realist though, and is ready for any re-trial.

“Ciro loves the action, and at this point, it’s a no lose situation,” said Rubinstein, adding that even though his client is innocent, he would have taken a plea to save his son-in-law, Kahl. “He’s a hard-working guy, works two jobs,” said Rubinstein. “But the government said no. He can’t wait to go to trial again.”

Meanwhile, said Rubinstein, seven jurors had accepted Perrone’s invitation to dine last night at Don Peppe, his client’s Ozone Park Italian eatery. During the investigation, the FBI bugged a large round table regularly used by Perrone and his friends, recording conversations that the feds said proved Perrone was a racketeer running a lucrative bookmaking and loansharking operation, an argument the jury didn’t buy. It wasn’t clear if Perrone would host his new friends at the same big table at the back of the restaurant.

The jury never got a look at Julius (Spike) Bernstein, (right) a central figure in the racketeering case whom the jury overheard speaking with Perrone 16 separate times thanks to the table bug at Don Peppe’s.

Bernstein, 84, a former Secretary-Treasurer of the Local 1181 that represents the city’s school bus drivers, was also indicted in the case, charged in many labor racketeering schemes, including a $100,000 extortion in 1997 from a medical center that rented space at the union’s Queens headquarters.

Last year, Bernstein told the FBI that he has known Perrone and Ianniello for 50 years and that Matty the Horse was best man at Bernstein’s 1976 wedding.

But Bernstein’s status is currently something of a mystery.

According to the official docket sheet for the case, Bernstein is scheduled to be sentenced on December 29. 

Some defense lawyers in the case suspect that Spike secretly pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the feds. At a court session, prosecutor Gruenstein

declined to respond directly about his status, stating only: “There is no public record of Mr. Bernstein taking a plea.” 

Bernstein’s lawyer, Michelle Bonsignore, who accompanied him to the FBI interview last year in which he detailed his friendships with Perrone (left) and Ianniello, denied that her client has pleaded guilty. “He is not cooperating,” she told Gang Land. “That is not his style.”

Bonsignore attributes the docket sheet entry to a “computer error” and ripped the government for not correcting the mistake. “It’s sad, because something like this can put a man’s life in danger,” she said.

The rumors persist, however, that Spike, who said during a February 1, 2005 discussion at the big table with gangsters and another union official that he would only become a “rat” with the mob’s permission, may have decided to take the plunge on his own.

If he is cooperating, the old-timer is hiding in plain slight. Sources say Bernstein, who was forced to quit his union post in June after he was charged with taking bribes from non-union bus companies, still stops by the union’s benefit fund offices to pick up his longtime girlfriend, Ann Chiarovano, 66. In yet another twist to the case, Chiarovano, who definitely did plead guilty to obstruction of justice in the case, still runs the union’s funds.

Editor’s note: Gang Land will not publish next Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Next week’s column will appear on Friday.