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Stropoli, 37, left his Old Bridge, New Jersey home and traveled to a Manhattan brokerage to convince a couple of friends that they had to come up with $129,000 they owed him from a stock deal.

He left empty handed, but his friends paid him $40,000 as full payment two weeks later. The Dec. 8, 1999 meeting took place in a 16th floor conference room of DMN Investment Group. Unbeknownst to Stropoli, the FBI had bugged the room. He was charged last month with racketeering in the 120-defendant Mob on Wall Street case that included a dozen wiseguys and scores of associates and brokers in a classic "pump and dump" scheme.

Stropoli, a nephew of jailed-for-life Colombo underboss Gennaro (Jerry Lang) Langella, is the only New York wiseguy charged in both cases. The indictments, six months apart, were the biggest mob prosecutions to hit the Big Apple in years.

Stropoli's problems began Oct. 10, 1998. He had paged DeCavalcante associate Joseph (Joey O) Masella numerous times, and later called his home. Masella, a high-rolling gambler, owed him money and Stropoli, in what seems to be a chronic problem, was having difficulty collecting it.

But Masella was whacked that day by mob associate Westley (The Kid) Paloscio in a murder plot instigated by DeCavalcante boss Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo, (left) according to racketeering and murder charges that were lodged against both men the same day Stropoli was indicted last December. The DeCavalcantes, who were tape recorded comparing themselves to the fictional New Jersey hoodlums portrayed in HBO's hit series, "The Sopranos," were charged with a slew of violent activity. Stropoli, however, was accused only with being a bookie. 

"I had been beeping him all night," Stropoli was tape-recorded telling

Labate told Stropoli not to worry. "That shows that you didn't kill him," he said.

But Stropoli was worried about the bookmaking case -- he was charged with being part of a gambling scheme involving both Masella and his alleged murderer Paloscio (left) -- and the money he couldn't get his hands on.

When the FBI arrested him, Stropoli said, agents seized a list of 14 people who owed him money. Luckily for him, he noted, they were involved in his bookmaking sideline, and Stropoli was not charged with the more serious crime of loansharking.

"Once you get pinched for Shylocking, you get pinched for extortion, money laundering, and then the IRS comes in to break your balls," said Stropoli, as he and Labate waited for Labate's boss, Bonanno capo Robert (Little Robert) Lino.

Lino, 33, described by assistant U.S. attorneys Patrick Smith and David Esseks as leader of the Bonanno faction in a massive Bonanno-Colombo stock fraud scam, asked Stropoli about the same matters he had discussed earlier with Labate before getting around to the reason why Stropoli was there -- his money.

After a tortuous back and forth during which Stropoli refused to accept $40,000 but said he would take $45,000 as full payment, Lino said

Lino (right) also noted that his telephone number was in the phone book seized by the FBI, implying that Stropoli would be held responsible if it led to charges against Lino.

"You want to know something? All these conversations are bad," said Stropoli, getting to the heart of the legal problems he wouldn't have had if people had paid him on time.

"This scenario is why I got pinched. See this guy? (Masella) Supposed to pay me, didn't pay me, I had to go there 15 times. If he would have paid me the first time (I wouldn't have been beeping him the day he was killed.) . . . And what if I get pinched for all the things we did together? You think that's not gonna happen?"

Despite Lino's assurances that it wouldn't, Stropoli was right. Prosecutors determined that the Dec. 8 conversations constituted money laundering and coupled that with an alleged stock fraud that dated back to 1996 and  charged Stropoli with racketeering.

"My client is not guilty of the specific federal bookmaking charge against him," said Stropoli's lawyer, Gerald McMahon, pointing to a provision in the law that requires prosecutors to prove that five people were part of the bookmaking enterprise. "And none of Stropoli's taped remarks with Lino and Labate were criminal in nature," McMahon said. "They owed him money. He needed the money and went there to try and get it. At first glance, we can see that he got hosed. He lost a ton of money in the stock market. He got out. And he's never going back."

Joseph Benfante and Mark Wasserman, lawyers for Lino and Labate respectively, could not be reached for comment.

At a detention hearing, McMahon persuaded Magistrate Judge Frank Maas that Stropoli's discussion with Lino and Labate was not a violation of his bail on the bookmaking case. Benfante and Wasserman convinced Maas that their clients were not dangers to the community. All three were released on personal recognizance bonds secured by property.

"Did you read Gang Land today?" he asked Labate, who, like Lino and many other bright, intelligent people, is a regular reader/reviewer of Gang Land.

"No," said Labate.

"He had that thing with Vinny Ocean," said Lino, using the DeCavalcante leader's street name to refer to our account that day of the mass indictment which has nearly decimated the New Jersey crime family and caused Stropoli all that agita. 

Answer: They both had ties to Lewis D'Avanzo, a Brooklyn gangster who headed a huge stolen car operation in the 1970s. Rudy was D'Avanzo's first cousin; DeMeo was one of D'Avanzo's partners in crime.

For other titillating tidbits and some major revelations about Giuliani, including the mob connections and criminal record of his father, pick up a copy of the hottest, most talked about book about New Yorkers in years, "Rudy, An Investigative Biography," by Wayne Barrett, the crack veteran reporter for The Village Voice.

It's great history and a great read!

And Amazon.com, the godfather of online booksellers, has cut 30% off the publisher's suggested list price!