Grogan, the case agent in the "Badfellas" sting of corrupt federal prison guards in Brooklyn, was interviewing Fabio Bartolotta, who had just told him that an operative the feds used in the investigation had been dealing drugs while working undercover.

The widespread "Badfellas" investigation revealed that jailed mobsters, including Gambino capos Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo (left) and Lenny DiMaria, (right) Luchese capos George (Georgie Neck) Zappola (below right) and Frank (Bones) Papagni (below left) and Colombo acting boss Victor (Little Vic) Orena (bottom) were enjoying Italian gourmet delicacies, fine wine, top shelf booze and other contraband thanks to the guards while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Bartolotta's information about the undercover operative's drug dealing cast a pall over the probe. Eventually bribery charges against two guards would be dismissed before trial because the jailhouse informer's double dealing ruined his credibility as a witness.

However, Bartolotta backed up the operative's information that Anthony Martinez, a supervising correction officer who had already been tried and convicted, was as corrupt as they come.

Bartolotta said Martinez had done favors for him and had picked up $1500 in bribes at Claudio's Pizzeria and Restaurant, owned by Bartolotta's

The name of the pizzeria was buzzing in Grogan's ears as he made his way to the evidence room. He went right to the papers and belongings seized during Martinez's arrest on May 22, 1997, and found a business card for Claudio's Pizzeria and Restaurant at 598 10th Avenue in Manhattan.

Last month, after Martinez's conviction was upheld, Bartolotta testified about bribes Martinez picked up at Claudio's and Grogan testified about where he found the 3.5"-by-2" business card at a sentencing hearing for Martinez. (At trial, he admitted doing favors, but claimed he was entrapped into taking payoffs and was suffering from a sleep disorder when he took one at his home.)

At the sentencing, Martinez, who once told an undercover agent he wanted so badly to become a "made man," attend sitdowns to learn who was going to be whacked that he was planning to change his name to Martino, took the witness stand in an attempt to refute the testimony by Grogan and Bartolotta. He testified that he had been to Claudio's a few times but denied accepting  bribes there.

The pizza wasn't so hot but he liked the take-out Stromboli, Martinez said. "They had good Stromboli (baked dough, filled with meat and cheese.) I went a couple of times to pick up Stromboli. I made it at home, couldn't eat it there, but I would eat it at home."

Martinez, who lived in Queens, said he found the place one night when he

"It's a remarkable coincidence, isn't it?" asked assistant U.S. attorney John Kroger.

"No it isn't," said Martinez, adding that he just took the business card off the counter, put it in his wallet, and left it there, where it still was years later when he was arrested.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block sentenced Martinez to six and a half years and refused to allow him to remain free pending an appeal.

"Just to make it clear," said Block, "I am at peace with myself that Mr. Martinez is an absolutely corrupt corrections officer, that he worked for the mob that was incarcerated, that he made himself accessibly available to them, in addition to criminal acts that he has been found guilty of."  

Bartolotta, 27 and a five-time killer, has had a rocky road since he first tried to cooperate in 1997. He testified that he had been caught in several lies, had his first agreement ripped up, pleaded guilty to perjury, and will be sentenced to additional time for his lies.

Bartolotta, who comes from a family of drug dealers, will not have to testify against his girlfriend Maria and his uncle Paul Ragusa, (left) a former FBI Most Wanted fugitive, according to his current agreement.

Everyone else is fair game, however, including Nicky Corozzo, who sought Bartolotta out to take advantage of his relationship with Martinez.

"He knew what was going on," said Bartolotta. "So he came to me right away, didn't have anything to do with Martinez. He came to me. 'Listen, I know you talk to this guy. Talk to him. I need visits. I have a wife, two girlfriends. I need my visits.' I said let me go talk to him, see what he says. I went to Martinez. Martinez said no problem."

Martinez received $1000 for his troubles, Bartolotta said. Corozzo pleaded guilty to racketeering charges that included his special, unauthorized jail accommodations and is serving an eight year stretch.

In its Dec. 11 editions, The News said the mistake was due to an editing error. The following Sunday, Dec 17, the paper reported in a larger story -- family members complained that the first correction was so tiny no one saw it -- that Galione "has never cooperated with law enforcement."

Inmates at the Allenwood Federal Prison where Galione is serving a 22 year sentence for drug dealing and murder, must be Gang Land fans.

Galione's mother Joanne called us, imploring Gang Land to report that her son,  "is a stand up guy and would never be a rat."

"He called me," she said, "and asked me to contact Jerry Capeci and ask if you would write in your online column that he is not a rat."