The feds often disagree about the ranks of certain mobsters but what they've been saying about Andrew Russo (right) since they arrested him on racketeering charges 17 months ago is ridiculous.

Russo, who has been in jail during that time awaiting trial scheduled for May, isn't laughing. If he's acquitted, he won't  get out of prison until next year at the earliest. If convicted, Russo, 63, may never get out.

Russo was originally charged with being the mob muscle behind a lucrative carting scam in Islip, Long Island. U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter said he was the acting boss of the Colombo family.

At a bail hearing, federal prosecutor Cecilia Gardner repeated the assertion. She said Russo's role as "acting boss" would be "essential to the government's proof of his guilt" at trial. When the judge asked whether Gardner was "going to prove that his activity in the conspiracy comes by virtue of his role as acting head of the Colombo family?" Gardner replied, "That's exactly right."

Well, not exactly.

According to a subsequent indictment filed last year, and another filed last week, Russo was just a captain in the Colombo family.

Meanwhile, Judge Denis Hurley refused to detain Russo, and set bail at $3 million. But before he could post it, Russo, who had been released from prison in 1994, was charged with violating parole for meeting with reputed underboss Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace for seven minutes on May 20, 1996.

After some incredible testimony by an FBI agent, who changed her story about where the men met, and where they walked when her first account was proved to be impossible, Russo was found guilty by a hearing officer.

On a technical violation that usually means eight months at most, Russo was sent back to prison until June, 2000 due to an "aggravating factor."

Described by a prosecutor as an acting boss, and later in an indictment as a capo, Russo was said by the FBI to have been made the boss of the Colombo family after he got out of jail in 1994.

The only thing that is absolutely certain is that Russo is a federal prisoner.

D'Arco, the former Lucchese acting boss, says that back in the 1930's -- the decade in which he was born -- Ford (right) reached out to the mob for help to solve some labor problems with the United Auto Workers.

Ford was a good friend of Whitney North Seymour -- described by D'Arco as a "very wealthy WASP" -- who lived in a Greenwich Village townhouse.  "Whenever Ford came to visit Seymour, (he) would order a bottle of liquor called Virginia Gentlemen" because it was "Ford's favorite liquor," D'Arco (left) explained to FBI agents Vincent Presutti and William Confrey in 1991.

Seymour arranged for a meeting between Ford and Genovese mobster Giuseppe (Joe Adonis) Doto, who solved Ford's labor problems, and in return, received $1 for every car the Ford Motor Company produced.

Doto's connection in the Detroit mob, according to D'Arco, was the late Joe Zerilli, a close ally of William Tocco, the Detroit family boss from 1931 to his death in 1965. Zerilli took over as boss until his death in 1978.

For his part, Zerilli, whose son Anthony is a defendant in the current racketeering case, received a contract to transport the Ford Motor Company's cars to their final destinations.

Federal prosecutors wanted D'Arco to testify about the role the Detroit mob plays in the Mafia but Judge John O'Meara ruled his testimony would be prejudicial since he had no direct evidence against any of the defendants in the case, who include Tocco's son Jack.

That's similar to D'Arco's evidence about Henry Ford and the mob, but different rules of evidence apply to Gang Land.

Young Gotti, who celebrated his 34th birthday on Valentine's Day, just might be a danger to the community. But then again, he might not, according to the evidence that's out there now.

"The high degree of danger stems from his position of leadership in a criminal enterprise," Parker said. "He poses a danger at least as much for what he might direct or assign others to do as for what he might do himself."

Young Gotti is accused of racketeering, the same catch-all charge that brought his father down. But, unlike his dad, Junior is not accused of murder. He has been charged with a slew of frauds and extortions that pale compared to the five gangland style slayings and other violent crimes the one time Dapper Don (right) was charged with in 1990.

Parker's decision was filled with speculation. He said Gotti posed a "danger to the community"because a conversation Gotti had with a business partner was "clearly accusatory and threatening in text and context."

On closer examination, Gotti's alleged business associate is a long time friend who disputes the accusatory spin that the feds  put on the conversation. If the business partner weren't a friend, Gotti's remarks could possibly be construed as a threat. But a jury is supposed to determine that.

The evidence in this case includes a long list of gangsters who gave Junior $350,000 in wedding gifts, a list of of 45 mobsters in three rival crime families. Stupid stuff like that. There are no smoking guns and no tape recorded threats. There are no accusations of violence against him. In fact, there aren't any bodies in the entire case.

There might be other evidence, and Junior might ultimately be convicted, but before trial and on the current record, he deserves better than his father, against whom there were smoking guns, tape recorded threats, and   admissions of three murders.  

ASK ANDY

This week, Andy -- seen at right reading one of his all time favorite Mafia books, Mob Star -- answers a query from Ken, a Gang Land reader who came across a 59-year-old Wanted  Poster and wondered how it all turned out.

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter is one of the most famous gangsters from the
early part of the century. He came to control a large part of New York City's garment industry and had a gang of thugs who would resort to any means to ensure his continued success. Legend has him as a
leader of the mythical "Murder Inc." that was supposed to be the enforcement arm of the "National Syndicate". As we have said previously, this was pure hype, but it is true that Lepke was a master criminal who approved many murders and became a prime target for rackets busters. When he went into hiding in 1937, that only increased his notoriety.

I suspect that your wanted poster dates from that time. At the time, there was a $25,000 bounty on his head from the city of New York, which wanted him for murder. The feds, who wanted Lepke for narcotics trafficking, matched it.

Eventually, intense pressure from law enforcement began cutting into the  profits of other racketeers, and Lepke (left) agreed to surrender to ease the heat they were feeling. Perhaps he was convinced that the fix was in. On Aug. 24, 1939 he turned himself in to Walter Winchell, a famous columnist of that era. Winchell handed him over to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

It turned out to be a fatal mistake. Hoover turned him over to The Brooklyn District Attorney's office and Lepke was tried for murder. He was convicted and died in the  electric chair in 1944. All reports have him going to his death in a dignified manner. He took whatever secrets he possessed to the grave. To this day he is known as the only syndicate boss to be executed.