Carmelo (Carmine Pizza) Polito, opened the door to a new look at Fortunato’s fate. 

On January 11, the day Fortunato was due to be sentenced – by statute, he faces at least 15 years to life – Goldberg dropped the bombshell possibility so quickly and adroitly that he left the two trial prosecutors literally speechless. 

The jurist even suggested an intriguing way for Fortunato’s lawyer – Paul Shechtman, an astute attorney who needs little help in legal theory – to fashion a winning motion in the 14-year-old case. Base it on fresh evidence uncovered after his client was convicted on December 15, with the new evidence being the testimony of the acquitted Carmine Pizza! 

After announcing that he was adjourning the sentencing because Shechtman had notified the judge’s chambers that he would be making a motion to set aside the verdict, Goldberg stated that the trial had been a “very difficult situation for everybody,” adding, “Maybe that’s all I should say at this point.” 

“But I wanted to say this for the record,” he said. “I don’t know what you’re going to be basing your motion on, Mr. Shechtman, but if it’s going to be for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, I just want you and everyone to know that I would give it appropriate consideration, even though I was the Judge and it was my verdict.” 

“Nevertheless,” Goldberg continued, as he spelled out language that Shechtman could well use in a new court filing, “such a motion would be given appropriate consideration, in fact, even if the new evidence was from Mr. Polito, who is now

available to testify. He wasn’t available before I necessarily had to reach certain conclusions about Mr. Polito in order to reach the verdict that I did. But nevertheless, I want you to know that even though it was my verdict, I will give it appropriate consideration.” 

Goldberg set the case down for February 7, adding that if Shechtman needed more time to draft his papers, he would get it, as would prosecutors Christopher Blank and John Holmes, if they needed time to come up with a response. 

Blank and Holmes, who didn’t speak a word after that, declined to discuss their silence, or any other aspect of the case with Gang Land. Previously, they had praised the judge’s verdict and regretted the jury’s. Shechtman (right) also declined to comment. 

Polito’s lawyer, Gerald McMahon, indicated that his client might provide an affidavit or testimony for Fortunato, since “the judge has opened the possibility of revisiting the verdict. We certainly believe that would be appropriate. There was very little evidence against him (Fortunato) and we’re considering whether we can do anything to help him.” 

Now that he’s off the hook himself for the killing, Gang Land can easily envision Carmine Pizza stating that neither he nor Fortunato had anything to do with the slaying of Lombardi and the attempted murder of his cousin, Michael (Cookie) D’Urso, as they played the Italian card game Scala in the San Giuseppe Social Club in November 1994.

The continuing saga of the San Giuseppe Social Club murder moved back into federal court for a brief engagement last week.  

The reason? Angelo (Rookie) Cerasulo, a member of the social club murder plot who was sentenced to 10 years after he testified against Polito and Fortunato in federal court, said he deserved a further reduction for his recent work as a prosecution witness at the state court re-trial. 

Cerasulo, who was armed with two handguns but said he couldn’t bring himself to fire them, appeared before Brooklyn Federal Court Judge I. Leo Glasser (left). State court prosecutors Blank and Holmes, along with a gaggle of G-men and women, supported his quest, known as a Rule 35 motion.

Don’t do it judge, said attorney McMahon. Unlike his client, who was “now fully-vindicated,” wrote McMahon, Cerasulo was an admitted murderer whose sentence was much lighter than life behind bars that he could have gotten, and should not be further reduced. By its verdict, the Polito jury said Cerasulo was a liar, and the jury’s opinion should be respected, wrote McMahon. 

After noting McMahon’s objections, Glasser cut Cerasulo’s sentence in half, pointedly noting that a federal jury that found

McMahon’s client guilty of murder five years ago also deserved a little respect. 

“The rat always gets the cheese,” groused the attorney, (right) who sat in the spectator section during the proceeding. 

Anthony Bruno, a drug-using hanger-on who also received 10 years after taking the stand in the federal case, testified at the state retrial that he deserved the 10-year stretch and had told his attorney not to file any papers seeking a reduction. 

“I did the crime, I can do the time,” the would-be tough guy testified. 

McMahon, who is something of a tough guy himself, given his court-room battles with prosecutors, wasn’t buying Bruno’s act. “I didn’t believe him then; I don’t believe it now,” he told Gang Land. “I fully expect that snake to come slithering in the back door of the court house with a Rule 35 motion. And when he does, I will be there.”

Last Friday, on the eve of his labor racketeering trial, ex-bus drivers union president Salvatore (Hot Dogs) Battaglia (left)  copped a plea deal that will likely cost him about five years in prison. He remains free pending his sentencing, which is scheduled for May 16. 

Battaglia pleaded guilty to extorting labor payoffs from three school bus company owners at the heart of New York city's scandal-tarred school bus industry, namely Domenic Gatto, CEO of the largest of the city's 50 school bus companies, and two other owners whose companies also have 10-year-long contracts that expire June 30, 2010, Ray Fouche and Robert Dimino. 

As part of a plea deal, Hot Dogs did not admit any involvement with a fourth bus company owner who was prepared to testify at trial, Joseph Fazzia, who owns three Brooklyn companies. But law enforcement sources say Fazzia has admitted paying thousands of dollars in bribes to Battaglia and Julius (Spike) Bernstein, (right) a former official of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. 

Sources say that as part of the continuing federal probe of the school bus industry, the FBI has uncovered evidence that over the last 10 years, Fazzia also paid thousands of dollars in bribes to several Department of Education inspectors, including Geoffrey Berger, who was arrested for bribe receiving last month. 

Fazzia declined to comment, as did Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.