By Jerry Capeci

After four years as a star mob informer working behind the scenes or in low-budget productions, Frank Gioia Jr. has landed an Oscar-quality part in what could be the biggest mob trial in recent years.

Federal prosecutors plan to unleash him on John A. (Junior) Gotti, the reputed heir-apparent to the top spot in the Gambino family, a position left vacant when his father was sent to prison for the rest of his life.

Gioia, a 31-year-old Luchese mobster has helped convict more than 60 defendants, including five mob capos, of racketeering, murder, drug dealing and the usual mob-type crimes. According to our sources, he is being carefully prepped for his upcoming role in Gotti's racketeering case.

Although there is talk that Gotti may accept a plea bargain, prosecutors are proceeding as though the drama will take place in February as scheduled.

Gioia met Gotti and three co-defendants in 1992 and will buttress testimony of one-time Luchese acting boss Alphonse (Little Al) D'Arco (left) and former Gambino soldier Dominic (Fat Dom) Borghese that Junior was basically running the family, sources said.

Sources said Gioia can corroborate D'Arco's testimony that Junior was a major force in the family in 1991 and Borghese's assertions that Junior had become the family's acting boss by 1992. Fat Dom was close enough to Junior to get an invite to his wedding. (He's dressed to the nines at right.)

Gioia has also told the feds of at least one mob slaying that Gotti ordered, according to an FBI report. The alleged hit, while not part of the racketeering case, is being vigorously pursued.

Gioia knows reputed Gambino capos John (Jackie Nose) D'Amico and Salvatore (Tore) Locascio and soldier Greg DePalma and has a "wealth of information" about the Gambino family, a federal prosecutor said.

Until recently, all of the defendants fingered by Gioia pleaded guilty before trial.

But this month, Gioia stepped into the spotlight,  taking the stand in Brooklyn Federal Court to testify in the trial of two men, Luchese mobster Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli (left) and his brother Robert, charged with an infamous mob crime: the attempted murder of Patricia Capozzalo, the sister of a turncoat capo.

"Gioia passed his first trial with flying colors," said a federal law enforcement source, predicting that Gioia will help convict more mobsters and associates than any other turncoat thug cooperating with authorities.

"He's already got better numbers than Sammy," said another federal law enforcement official, referring to 39 convictions credited to superstar witness Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano, former underboss to Junior's father, the Dapper Don.

Gioia, a baby-faced 250-pounder and martial arts enthusiast, has one mob

slaying on his resume. He chased, knocked down and held a Gambino family associate while the gunman could unjam his pistol and fire. 

Gioia also has informed on several members of Gravano's old crew, including capos Louis (Big Lou) Vallario and Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo, according to FBI documents.

Gioia is expected to appear at three other racketeering trials, including one involving reputed acting Luchese boss Joseph (Little Joe) Defede (right) and six co-defendants.

Bruce Cutler, the lawyer who represents the elder and  junior Gottis, was less than impressed.

"Who is he? I never heard of him," Cutler said.

Gioia grew up in the mob. The son of a mobster, at 12 he began learning mob ways hanging around his grandfather's social club. At 18, he shot a bouncer who had "disrespected" a Luchese mobster, earning "respect" to help his budding career, and by 21, he had earned more than $1 million dealing drugs.

At about that time, Gioia was introduced to John Gotti by Luchese mobster Ralph (Raffie) Cuomo, (left) a drug partner who lived in the same building as Gioia. Cuomo recently became another Gioia statistic when he went down for dealing drugs out of Ray's Pizza, a legendary storefront pizzeria on Prince Street.

Back then, the Dapper Don was in heyday.  Gotti was playing continental rummy with buddy Joseph (Joe Beck) DiPalermo, a Luchese mobster, at the Hawaiian Moonlighters Social Club when Cuomo brought Gioia to the Mulberry Street club, the headquarters of Gambino capo Joseph (Joe Butch) Corrao.

Gioia realized his life's dream and became a "made man" in October 1991 at the age of 24. Two years later, he was arrested on drug charges. He began cooperating the following year when he learned in a jailhouse visit that the Luchese family had marked his father for death.

Adjusting to prison life has not been easy for Gioia. Soon after his arrest, he broke the jaw of a fellow inmate. Later, after he was housed in a special unit for witnesses, he broke another inmate's jaw in a dispute over a prison telephone. He's due to get out of prison in 11 months.

In July 1992, Gioia met Junior at a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, funeral home. Junior was paying his respects to the family of the father of a Luchese associate who had died, says a mob source who attended the wake.

Attended by several crew members, Junior shook hands with Gioia a few feet from the coffin and sent regards from his father, the source says. The Dapper Don (right) had been sent to Marion Federal Prison a month earlier.

Gioia, who has extensive knowledge of criminal activity, well beyond the norm even for soldiers much older and more experienced, is giving the feds everything he can dig out of his memory. "The information [Gioia] has provided has been extraordinary," said one federal official.

Although Gioia doesn't claim any criminal involvement with Junior, he has ties to several Gambino mobsters, including DiLeonardo, a reputed capo and close associate of Junior's. According to an FBI report, Gioia told agents Stephen Byrne and Kevin Hallinan that DiLeonardo committed a murder ordered by Junior.

Robert (Pepe) Vernace, 49, (right) was charged in the Apr. 11, 1981 killings of Richard Godkin and John D'Agnese inside the Shamrock Bar they owned and operated in Queens.

Vernace shot D'Agnese, and an accomplice, Frank Riccardi gunned down Godkin, authorities said, after Riccardi became enraged when a patron accidentally spilled a drink on his suit. The bar owners asked Riccardi to leave.

He did, but returned with Vernace and they gunned down both men, prosecutors said. Riccardi is still on the lam.

The arrest came after Queens prosecutors, Detective Thomas Mansfield, and FBI Agent Richard Frankel reopened the case last spring after receiving a tip.

Riccardi was always a suspect, but only recently was Vernace identified as the other shooter. "A lot of the witnesses were young then . . . and scared. Now they're older and know what the right thing to do is," one law enforcement source told Daily News reporter Pete Donohue.

Armed with an arrest warrant, Mansfield went to Vernace's home, waited for the suspect's wife and children to leave, and rang the doorbell. Vernace  answered in his bathrobe.

"Shocked isn't the word," said Mansfield. "He was floored. He grabbed for his heart medicine."

There's still time to enter our fifth Gang Land contest. This one tests your knowledge of Mafia bosses - the families they headed, the way they died, where they were born, and where they departed "The Life" for the big Gang Land in the sky, wherever that is.

The rules are simple, the same as always. One entry per person, via e-mail. Anyone caught making two or more submissions will be rubbed out, eliminated. Previous contest winners, employees of Gang Land and the Daily News and their families, are ineligible to win a prize, but can still play along for the fun of it. In case of ties, winners will be selected at random.

Deadline is Sunday, Dec. 20.

First prize is a copy of "Gotti: Rise & Fall," autographed, of course, by yours truly and co-author Gene Mustain.

Second prize is a similarly autographed copy of Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness and The Mafia.

The contest has four sections, each with five questions. That's  20 questions for those with problems in arithmetic, each worth five points. Novices and Gang Land newcomers have a shot at this contest, since it's a matching test, just like those you took in school. And there's no penalty for a bad guess.

Just to be different, and make things a little competitive, there's an extra possible match in each section. Good luck.

Match the Boss with his Family

Match the Boss with the method of his death

  Big Al's Corner

By Allan May

( This week Big Al tackles a query from A.C. in Tampa who asks: Is "there  any evidence of a Tampa, New Orleans, Chicago mob alliance" that is suggested in the book, "Mob Lawyer," by the late Frank Ragano.)

Your question seems to indicate that there was some special secret alliance
between the three cities, and I don't believe that to be true. I don't believe the connections were anything more than a working alliance, and these types of alliances have gone on many times and between many cities.
You can find example of these working agreements in the book, "Donnie Brasco."

The alliance that Ragano speaks about in "Mob Lawyer"certainly centers on a Kennedy assassination conspiracy. My opinion of the Kennedy assassination is if the government wants to feed us the fairy tale Warren Commission findings and expects us to believe the "single bullet" theory, then I'm open to any and all theories. We will never find out the truth, so what's wrong with hearing the theories? Many are interesting.

The late Santos Trafficante, Jr. (right) headed the Tampa family for decades. He was one of the 58 mobsters nabbed at the infamous 1957 Cosa Nostra conclave at Apalachin, New York. Investigations following that fiasco revealed that Trafficante was very active in the Casino business in Cuba.

When Castro took over Cuba in 1959, many mobsters were kicked out empty handed. Trafficante was imprisoned by Castro forces and for a while was on a list to be executed. He was later released. The CIA, then-as-always-scheming to get rid of Castro by any means possible, had a brainstorm that included recruiting Chicago mobster Johnny Roselli, who had to get permission from his boss, Sam Giancana, who had to get Trafficante's okay since the operations would be originating on his territory. This is also part of the alliance Ragano refers to.

For decades, Carlos Marcello (left) ran Mafia rackets in New Orleans. In addition to running two large cities that were fairly close to one another, Trafficante and Marcello were close friends. Ragano relates that at the meeting where he met Marcello, Trafficante and Marcello greeted one another warmly and sincerely.

In 1966, Trafficante was arrested along with 12 other powerful mobsters
while eating in an Italian restaurant in Queens, New York. It appears that
they were relaxing after attending a Commission meeting held elsewhere.
Trafficante, Marcello, Ragano and a few of the others, returned to the restaurant and invited the press to take pictures. During dinner,  Trafficante and Marcello sat next to each other.

Other books that discuss this so-called alliance are "All American Mafioso: The Johnny Roselli Story" and "Mafia Kingfish."