It's really no surprise that Watts (right) had the same confident, arrogant, "What? Me worry?" attitude during his Staten Island murder trial that John Gotti (left) had voiced during his 1986-87 federal racketeering and murder trial in Brooklyn -- the one that ended in an acquittal.

The Staten Island trial, like Gotti's, was fixed, according to federal prosecutors in Watts's money laundering case that is pending in Brooklyn Federal Court.

In the middle of his trial, Watts, who faced life if found guilty, was so sure he'd beat the case, he called off a mean-looking thug he had hired to sit in the first row and "stare down the jurors," federal prosecutors Daniel Dorsky and Andrew Genser said in court papers.

The prosecutors said they have "strong .... abundant evidence" that Watts

Two confidential sources, including one who discussed the intimidation scheme with Watts, have provided details which have been corroborated, in part, prosecutors said. "Law enforcement personnel ... observed an individual fitting the description provided by the source actually attending the trial and staring down the jurors for a period of time."

Watts, who was serving six years for taking part in another Gotti-ordered slaying during the trial, allegedly killed Ciccone a few hours after he was believed to have pegged a shot at the Dapper Don as he stood in front of his Queens headquarters, the Bergin Hunt & Fish Club, in 1987. Gotti gave the order to kill Ciccone, according to the feds. At trial, turncoat Gambino soldier Dominic (Fat Dom) Borghese testified to that effect.

One informant "learned that both Watts, and associates of Watts, stated that the Ciccone jury had been taken care of," prosecutors said, adding: "Telephone records reveal that during the Ciccone trial one of the Ciccone jurors was in contact with a phone card business affiliated with Watts."

In his upcoming trial, Watts is in a desperate situation, one that virtually assures another jury tampering effort by him, prosecutors said. Watts, 59, faces 45 years in prison and the loss of his gorgeous hideaway on Casey

Trying to corrupt the system is a way of life for Gambino hoods. Gotti, his son-in-law Carmine Agnello, Gotti's brother Gene, Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano, and many others have been implicated in jury tampering schemes. The prosecutors said that in 1996, a year before he fixed the Ciccone case, Watts tried to obtain the identities of anonymous jurors who had been selected in a federal murder case against him. Early in that trial,  Watts pleaded guilty in a plea bargain that called for six years.

Watts has never been formally inducted into the Mafia because his father wasn't Italian. He has, however, been a close associate of three successive Gambino bosses -- Gotti, Paul Castellano and Carlo Gambino -- and has possessed the power and respect usually reserved for capos. Prosecutors

Combined with his own loansharking business, Watts raked in $28,000 to $32,000 a week from 1986 to 1994, according to what Borghese has told the FBI and is prepared to say at Watts's trial.

Borghese (right) will also testify that Watts spent $2 million in cash to renovate and upgrade the three Casey Key properties, which Watts allegedly purchased through nominees in 1984, 1986 and 1987, according to court papers.

Using the alias Joe Pietruszka, Watts supervised the work. The property has a 12-foot high concrete wall around it and a "state-of-the-art security system, complemented by Doberman Pinschers," said the prosecutors, noting that during the renovation, "workers were specifically instructed to not contact the police in the event of a break-in."

Defense lawyers James LaRossa and Gerald Shargel are confident, even if Watts goes to trial before an anonymous, partially sequestered jury.

"We're close to trial, so I feel somewhat constrained about what I can say," said Shargel. "But in light of the anonymous jury motion, I will say that this is a manufactured case brought because the government was disappointed by its earlier failed efforts to prosecute him successfully.

"The  murder trial was won by an excellent cross examination (of Borghese) by my friend and mentor, Jimmy LaRossa."

And the lawyers are primed for a rematch. "We’ve seen him before and we look forward to seeing him again," said Shargel.

The onetime Dapper Don has been overwhelmed by the deadly disease that returned with a vengeance last year, two years after doctors had removed a malignant tumor from Gotti's throat.

Gotti attorney Joseph Corozzo disputed reports that doctors had estimated that the jailed-for-life 60-year-old Mafia boss has two months to live, but Corozzo left no doubt that the outlook is bleak.

"He looks like someone who's in the advanced stages of cancer," Corozzo told the Daily News. "It's certainly worse today than it was three years ago. It's clearly worse today than it was six months ago."

Doctors at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., where Gotti has been housed since last fall, say the disease has taken control and cannot be curtailed, sources said.

"He doesn't have much time left," said one source.