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As scores of readers have noted: on the very day  Gang Land wrote that Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano had no arrests in the five years since his release from prison, Gravano got himself arrested -- WHAM! BAM, thank you ma'am.

It's almost as if Gravano, along with important help from Arizona authorities, went out of his way to embarrass us and make us look silly.

On the other hand, technically, we were correct that day and for a couple more days, according to court papers filed with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein.

From Feb. 24 to Monday, even though Gravano had been held in solitary confinement on $5 million bail, authorities hadn't obtained an arrest warrant for him, said Gravano attorneys Larry Hammond and John Stookey.

More about legal niceties later. But for those who've been out of this world for a week, Gravano, 54, his son, Gerard, 23, his daughter Karen, 27, and his supposedly estranged wife, Debra, 46, have been charged with trafficking in Ecstasy, the amphetamine-based drug that's the current rage among young party-goers.

Gravano, his wife and daughter (left)  engaged in a telephone discussion about  drug deals and money laundering on Feb. 11, according to a 181-count arrest complaint filed Monday.  All told, the   former Gambino family underboss is charged with 12 specific counts, including possessing and transporting Ecstasy pills into Arizona for the  

There are few specifics in the complaint, which charges 49 defendants, including Karen's boyfriend, David Seabrook, and a friend of Gerard's, Michael Papa, with a slew of drug conspiracy crimes from December through Feb. 23.

On the day of the arrests, Arizona state and federal authorities said Gravano (right) financed and directed a syndicate that earned from $750,000 to $1.2 million a week selling Ecstasy pills in the Phoenix area. Gravano, who  was released from prison five years ago, had taken  the name Jimmy Moran and was living in an  apartment in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe. He ran a Phoenix construction company. His wife Debra operated a Scottsdale restaurant.

"His prior testimony against the mob was not a free pass to peddle drugs to Arizona youth," said Attorney General Janet Napolitano.

Gravano's arrest caught Gang Land by surprise for  two reasons: He was charged with drug trafficking, and the allegations involved his kids. Like his former boss John Gotti, (left) Gravano had always railed against drug dealing. And Sammy Bull had often denigrated the Dapper Don for dragging his son into the life of crime that they had chosen.

A Gravano arrest for extortion, or for whacking a rival construction company owner who was cutting into his business, is the type of crime you'd expect from a labor racketeering expert with 19 notches on his gun. It was no surprise that police found three handguns in his Tempe apartment, including one next to his bed: Gravano's been proficient with them since his teens and there is an open mob contract out on his life.

But the drug charges make little sense unless they originated with his

His wife and daughter have been released on bail, but as of yesterday, Gravano and his son, whose requests for lawyers before being dragged into court were refused, were still in the Maricopa County jail.

Citing police and prosecutorial misconduct, Gravano lawyers claim Napolitano and other authorities turned his arrest into a media circus and  denied their client the most basic rights under state and federal laws, starting with a police SWAT team that arrested Gravano without a warrant early last Thursday.

"Immediately upon his arrest," Hammond wrote," Mr. Gravano asked to be allowed to communicate with his lawyer. That request was denied. In the next four hours, that request was made and denied at least three times."

Hammond has represented Gravano for several years in connection with a

"At the same time I was locating Mr. Gravano, the Attorney General and her  agents were holding a press conference to announce the arrest of Mr. Gravano," wrote Hammond, charging that Gravano spent four days in jail before he was formally charged with a crime, and should be released. He said the U.S. Supreme Court had thrown out a murder conviction in  a similar Arizona case six years ago.

"This is one of many motions we expect to be filed in the next few weeks and months," said Napolitano spokeswoman Pat Urias. "We do not intend to engage in name-calling with defense counsel. This case will be decided by a jury according to the facts and the law."

Hammond asked Judge Reinstein for a hearing at the "earliest opportunity" to allow him to present evidence why Gravano, who faces up to 12 years if convicted, deserves more reasonable bail, not to mention having a lawyer argue his case before the court.

Gravano's relocation to Phoenix was revealed last year by the Arizona Republic, which obviously is more plugged in to local authorities than Gang Land, as Hammond pointed out in his court papers.

"Although law enforcement appeared to have found no time to attend to the niceties of a warrant, they somehow managed to find time to contact the Arizona Republic so that a reporter could be present at Mr. Gravano's Tempe home at the time of his arrest,"said Hammond.

Sometimes, you just can't beat that home court advantage.

"He's no hero,"boomed Cutler, who successfully represented Gotti in three consecutive federal and state prosecutions from 1986 to 1990 only to be disqualified from the 1992 racketeering and murder trial at which Gravano testified and help sink Gotti.

Even if the drug allegations against Gravano are true, and he is convicted, they will not help Gotti or any of three dozen gangsters who were convicted years earlier. But Cutler was on a roll and was not going to let the law or the facts ruin his day.

"I believe John Gotti will get his day in court. I believe that. And I believe this will help," said Cutler, who like Gotti in Marion Federal Penitentiary serving life, (left) knows that it won't.