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"I've been in the system for years and I've always been allowed to wear this," Gallo fumed as deputy U.S. marshals moved to take him into custody in the courtroom of Manhattan Federal Judge Lawrence McKenna.

The deputies, trying hard not to smirk, shook their heads no. Gallo, a violent member of the New Jersey gang that believes the HBO series, "The Sopranos," depicts them, reluctantly took the silver metal from around his neck, tossed it to a woman in the audience and was led away to the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Gallo may eventually get back the piece of jewelry -- neither the woman who took it nor his lawyer would discuss it -- but the feds want to prevent Gallo from ever regaining the freedom he lost last Wednesday.

In briefs and arguments to McKenna, prosecutors John Hillebrecht and Lisa Korologos painted Gallo, 56, as a cold-blooded killer who has gotten

Gallo, who was indicted on extortion charges in December, was hit with racketeering, murder and attempted murder in an indictment filed last week. The enhanced charges, against Gallo and several other DeCavalcantes, was a result of information provided by fellow mobster Anthony Capo, (left) who tied Gallo to several murders and the attempted rubout. He faces life if convicted.

In court and in brief, the prosecutors pulled out all the stops. McKenna, who had placed Gallo under house arrest in March. McKenna, tends to be more reasonable about bail than many judges, and had overturned a Magistrate Judge's initial order of detention. 

"Gallo personally shot to death, not just one, but two people that were believed to be cooperating with Government investigations into La Cosa Nostra," said Hillebrecht and Korologos.

In one mob hit charged in the indictment, Gallo allegedly gunned down a

Staten Island private garbage hauler in front of his home on a request from John Gotti in 1989, a year before the Dapper Don was arrested on the racketeering and murder charges that have kept him jailed ever since. At the time, the Gambino family feared that the businessman, Fred Weiss, a DeCavalcante associate, was planning to cooperate with authorities, prosecutors said.

In 1978, prosecutors wrote, Gallo executed Vincent Ensulo, a loanshark victim who had cooperated with authorities against him. They charged that Gallo killed him years after Gallo and another mob loanshark had shot and wounded each other in a car when they tried to whack Ensulo.

After the failed rubout, Gallo pleaded guilty to weapons charges, served two years, then tracked Ensulo down and executed him when he was released, the prosecutors said, noting that he was tried and acquitted of  murder after two trials.

"Gallo once boasted to (Capo) that he had shot and killed a 'rat,' bragging that he had 'beaten the case' and been acquitted," the prosecutors wrote, arguing that the statement, coupled with other evidence, essentially established that Gallo killed Ensulo, was a danger to the community, and should be detained without bail.

The prosecutors added that Gallo helped former Luchese underboss

In addition, Capo will testify that Gallo was part of a plot to kill family capo Charles Majuri and his testimony corroborates tape recordings in which DeCavalcante wiseguys were overheard talking about the murder plot. During one excerpt, associate Joseph (Joey O) Masella, who was later killed, was overheard ridiculing Gallo's proposed plan of action, one that was quite similar to the 1989 execution of DeCavalcante associate Weiss.

"Know what Jimmy Gallo wanted to do?" Masella cracked. "Ring the doorbell. When he came to answer the phone, shoot him. In front of his mother and father... And he knows the mother and father. Ring the doorbell. When he comes down, 'Hey, could I talk to you a minute?' Do it right there. Jimmy's worse than anything."

Defense lawyer Daniel Nobel wouldn't discuss the jewelry Gallo removed  before going to jail, but told Gang Land he expects to revisit the detention order with McKenna, following an "intensive investigation" into "these unsubstantiated allegations. The government's application was made to the court ex parte (secretly.) We had no time to prepare a significant response."