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Their pagers went off almost simultaneously.

Luchese capo Joseph (Joey Flowers) Tangorra and his driver-of-the-moment Giuseppe Palmeri looked at their beepers. Both saw the same unfamiliar phone number.

After a little indecision, Palmeri grabbed his cell phone. He soon heard the excited voice of young Frankie Pizza, who worked at the Michael Joseph Pizzeria in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a place that Tangorra used to talk business with his crew.

Frankie Pizza had found "wires, cameras and microphones in the ceiling" and run out to a public phone a block away to report his discovery. This was March 24, 1999. "Listen, they're all over the ceiling. I peeked in. Now I know what it looks like. It's gray wires, like."

Palmeri stopped him short, "Let me ask you a question. Are you inside or outside right now?"

"No, I'm on 86th Street," he said, with a what-do-you-think-I'm stupid tone.

"He's on 86th St.," Palmeri told Tangorra, (left) loud enough to be picked up by the wiretap

Then Palmeri returned to Frankie. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"I went in the kitchen," Frankie Pizza said. "Those gray wires are everywhere and I found a big fucking box stapled into the roof next to the ceiling tile  that was opened."

"Hold on," said Palmeri, "I am going to explain it to Joe.... Grey wire all over the place ....."

For the next few minutes, Frankie Pizza explained his discovery to Palmeri, who repeated everything to Tangorra. He said that he had noticed a cut ceiling tile, investigated, found a bug and a tiny camera aimed at a table that Joey Flowers used for his meets, and turned it away from the table.

Finally, Palmeri agreed to meet Frankie at the pizzeria to see the bug and camera, which the FBI had planted in an investigation of Tangorra by

After meeting Frankie and visiting the pizzeria -- in total silence -- Palmeri departed. As soon as he did, he grabbed his trusty cell phone and called his buddy, reporting that he had taken his advice. He had told Frankie to turn the camera back the way it had been in an effort to fool the feds into thinking their bugs, camera and assorted goodies hadn't been found.

Since Frankie's discovery, Tangorra, 51, Palmeri, 32, acting Luchese boss Steven Crea (left) and eight other mobsters and associates have been hit with labor racketeering by the Manhattan DA's office.

Tangorra also has been indicted on federal loansharking charges with Joseph (Little Joe) DiBenedetto, (right) 31, a son-in-law of jailed-for-life Luchese boss Vittorio Amuso. Sources say Tangorra and DiBenedetto are both the focus of an ongoing federal racketeering probe.

Meanwhile, Frankie Pizza is said to be still making pies, while keeping his eyes open for bugs and other bad things.

Last year, Palmeri telephoned contractor Brian Thompson at his home and office, and apparently got a little annoyed when he couldn't reach him, according to a transcript of some Palmeri cell phone traffic. It's unclear exactly what the beef was, but rest assured it concerned money.

"It's me again," he told the employee who answered the phone at Thompson's office. "It's you again. This is like phone harassment," she said.

"I know. Listen to me. When he calls, tell him I am the wrong person that he is jerking around. You understand me. He don't want to be my enemy. Just tell him that. He don't want to be my fucking enemy. He told me to call fucking Monday, so I am calling on fucking Monday.

"For his own health, tell him to beep me. Tell him I will come to the fucking office. I know the whole fucking office is bugged and the phones are bugged right now. Do you know that?

"Okay. Cause tell him I will fucking rip his fucking head off his fucking shoulders. I am going to rip his fucking head."

Somehow, Palmeri and Thompson patched things up. They are co-defendants in the Manhattan DA's massive labor racketeering case that includes 11 wiseguys, 16 contractors, 11 union figures and 11 companies charged with bribery, bid rigging, restraint of trade, price fixing and related crimes for the last three years.

In early 1998, Palermo crew member Joseph Miglorato was in pretty good financial shape but he borrowed $4000 from his mob superior, paid him interest for a few months, and then "repaid the entire amount," according to an affidavit by FBI agent Andre Cicero.

During a tape recorded talk with an undercover operative, Miglorato said he had told Palermo that he needed the cash for his loansharking business. But, in reality, "Miglorato took the loan from Palermo as a way to pay his respect and money to Palermo," said Cicero.