It's manual labor, and doesn't bring in much cash –  about $175 a week  – but he's been cooped up at home for eight months now, and a few hours a day out would aid his "physical and mental health."

Besides, his brother Carmine owns and operates the wholesale and retail produce market and what are brothers for, if not to help out.

No way, say the feds. They say Zito is a Genovese soldier with more power than most captains, power that "arose from his close association with Genovese boss Vincent 'Chin' Gigante and the powerful 'Westside' faction of the family, of which Gigante is part."  

And when Zito goes to the produce stand, he takes collect calls from Benny

And when Benny Eggs calls from his federal prison hospital, they don't talk much about produce or poultry, say Brooklyn federal prosecutors Paul Weinstein and Paul Schoeman.

"Among other things, during a recorded conversation between Zito and Mangano from prison, Mangano instructed Zito to be careful in his conversations, to avoid being recorded by law enforcement," the prosecutors said in court papers.

"He's worked there since 1992," Zito's lawyer, Alan Futerfas, told Gang Land. "He starts at three or four in the morning – when the trucks come in – until about one or two in the afternoon. Joe loves physical activity. He loaded trucks and checked inventory. He would meet customers, take orders, basically keep himself busy helping his brother out."

Prosecutors said that when Zito's not talking to old buddy Benny Eggs – he was acquitted by the same jury that convicted Mangano – Zito's scheming 

Much of the plotting involved mob associate Michael (Cookie) Durso, a Zito crew member who cooperated with the FBI and tape recorded Zito and other high ranked mobsters in a three year undercover probe. One of 40 wiseguys nailed in the case, Zito was ruled a danger to the community in April and was confined under house arrest conditions to await trial.

During the investigation, prosecutors said, Zito sought permission from then acting boss Liborio (Barney) Bellomo (left) to whack associate Carmine (Carmine Pizza) Polito for killing Durso's cousin in 1994.

A couple of years later, after Bellomo was jailed for extortion, Zito went to bat for Durso in a dispute he had with Frank Serpico (right), the capo who replaced Bellomo as acting boss.

As he has done with similar requests by a gaggle of gangsters grasping for gimmicks to get out of the house, Judge I. Leo Glasser sent Zito back home, ruling essentially that house arrest means house arrest, period.

Embattled Genovese family capo Rosario (Ross) Gangi, (right) serving time for federal raps in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Newark, was snared yesterday in a giant federal probe along with 72 other wiseguys and associates.

Gangi, 62, doing time for a Wall Street rip-off, a Newark airport shakedown and a Brooklyn stock fraud scam, was charged with transporting a $400,000 load of stolen jewelry across state lines.

Even if he beats the latest rap, his recent run of bad luck with the law will keep him jailed until 2007. That's not good, but a few years ago, his legal problems had him in a worse fix: Genovese boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante had marked him for death.

After Gigante heard that Gangi "was going to call a Genovese soldier as a witness in a legal proceeding," Chin assigned Zito to investigate, according to prosecutors Weinstein and Schoeman.

"Zito attended the court proceeding, determined that the information was not accurate, and reported this to Gigante, who determined that Gangi should not be killed," the prosecutors said.

Whether you're a Gang Land regular or a casual passerby, I think you will enjoy "The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Mafia," a book I have written for Alpha Books. It's a treasure chest of real stuff about real wiseguys and how they make money in the Mafia. It's 343 pages of true stories of life and death, honor and betrayal.

It's a great stocking stuffer and it should be at your favorite book store today!

The folks at Gang Land's favorite bookstore, Amazon.com, have knocked the price down so low – $13.26 – I am concerned that the Godfather of online booksellers has forgotten about my end.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Mafia" encapsulates 100 years of mob history in North America. It will take you from the early 20th century, through the lucrative Prohibition era of the 1920's and the formation of the Mafia's Commission.

There is a short history of 24 families that spread out across the United States and Canada and a chronology of major events that shaped the Mafia from 1890 through 2001. I detail the discovery of a national meeting of mob leaders in 1957 and the passage of the famous racketeering (RICO) statutes that have cut the mob down in size and influence.

There's a chapter on Joe Colombo, (left) a mob boss who became a Mafia star and political force in the early 1970's and died because of it, and one on Joe Bonanno, (right) who faked his own kidnapping, penned his memoirs and still enjoys the spoils of "the life" in Tucson, Arizona, at age 96.   

And much much more.