Take these utterances that Bonanno consigliere Anthony Spero (left) made to federal mob investigator Kenneth McCabe on Sept. 27, 1991, an otherwise typical Friday afternoon in Bath Beach, Brooklyn. McCabe, a former NYPD detective who began stalking wiseguys in 1969, testified about the conversation at Spero's ongoing racketeering and murder trial in Brooklyn. 

Spero was standing in front of his social club on Bath Avenue when he spotted McCabe sitting in his car, taking notes. McCabe was making his rounds, recording the goings on at the club. He had noted Spero's presence and the time (4:15 PM) and was about to drive to another social club, and

Before McCabe could leave, Spero came up to his car with a gleam in his eye.

"Did you see Capeci's Gang Land column about Frank Lastorino. The one with his picture," said Spero, referring to my weekly New York Daily News column published three days earlier.

Lastorino, a Luchese capo who had won a dismissal of weapons charges -- he has since pleaded guilty and is jailed for racketeering -- was indeed the main focus of the column. And there was a picture of a wiseguy who was identified as Frank Lastorino.

But the picture wasn't of Lastorino. (left) It was Spero. He was mentioned in the column as the main suspect behind the murder of Vincent Bickelman, who had stolen jewelry in a burglary of the home of Spero's daughter, Jill. Bickelman was shot to death a couple of weeks later. His murder is among three slayings that Spero, 72, is charged with in the case.

Spero was poking fun at the Daily News for using his photo and identifying it as Lastorino, but what he was really trying to do was goad McCabe into saying something he shouldn't about the investigation into Bickelman's murder.

McCabe played along. "They used your picture because you're better looking than Lastorino," he said.

"I'm getting old," Spero continued. "Gonna retire and get out. You won't see me around here," said Spero.

"I hope you're moving to a warm climate," said McCabe. "I don't want to do surveillance in the cold."

As is most often the case in Gang Land, wiseguys just can't retire, and the law kept plugging away. Both Spero and McCabe kept at it. That's why Gang Land never runs out of stories. McCabe recorded Spero's comings and goings in Bath Beach, on and off, for seven more years. 

After a federal court session in Manhattan last week, Bonanno capo Robert (Little Robert) Lino (left) was all smiles as he and his wife left the courthouse.

After a passionate argument by his lawyer, and over objections from the feds, Judge William Pauley had relaxed his bail restrictions. It was not a small thing, considering that Lino, the main target in a 120 defendant "Mob On Wall Street" case, had pleaded guilty to stock fraud and sentencing guidelines call for upwards of six years in prison.

Lino, 34, and his wife headed to Little Italy for lunch before driving home to Brooklyn. After lunch, Lino had a sidewalk meeting on Mulberry Street with Bonanno capo Richard (Shellackhead) Cantarella while his wife waited in their car.

Cantarella, 57, a former New York Post truck driver who pleaded guilty to state labor racketeering charges in the early 1990's, is currently the acting consigliere for the Bonanno crime family, while Anthony Spero is indisposed, according to the FBI.

FBI agents developed photographs of the session, which they claim was a middle-management strategy meeting, and passed them on to prosecutors David Esseks and Karen Konigsberg. They, in turn, asked Pauley to reverse himself, revoke Lino's bail and send him to jail immediately -- even before he is sentenced.

"The FBI believes that the purpose of this meeting was likely for Mr. Lino to discuss with Mr. Cantarella the supervision of Mr. Lino's crew .... while Lino is in prison," the prosecutors said in a letter to the judge.

Pauley restored Lino's strict house arrest conditions immediately and set a hearing for today to determine whether to revoke his bail.

"It was a chance meeting," Lino's lawyer Joseph Benfante told Gang land. "It was under two minutes in duration and his bail conditions do not prohibit him from meeting alleged organized crime members, only people connected with the stock market."

Son-in-law Michael Malena, who began serving his sentence early when he was busted for drunken driving, pleaded guilty to racketeering and faces four years in prison. Five others also pleaded guilty to various extortion and arson charges and expect sentences from six months to seven years.

"Dear Frank, You are sadly missed, deeply loved, and never forgotten for even one moment," said one that was signed, "MOM AND DAD."

The In Memoriam, along with others in the names of the four surviving Gotti children and their families, appeared on Mar. 18, the 21st anniversary of the accident in which Frank Gotti was killed as he drove a borrowed minibike near his Howard Beach, Queens home.

The following day, The News adapted our March 8th exclusive report about the murder of John Favara, the Gotti family backyard neighbor who, blinded by a late afternoon sun, did not see the youngster dart out from behind a dumpster until it was too late.

Gang Land reported that eight Gotti crew members, including his brother Gene, using a van and two cars, abducted Favara on July 28, 1980, stole his car and killed him. They disposed of his body and crushed his car so no evidence would ever be found.