(the) institution" and if moved into general population, he "would pose a serious threat to life, property, self, staff or other inmates, or to the security or orderly running of the institution."

For the first year of her life, Gianna visited her father – a Colombo associate who has been jailed since 1987, isn't due out until 2012, and has not been charged with violating any prison rules – at least once a month.

That ended suddenly in September 2000 when a bribery scandal – in which three guards, a counselor, three inmates and one of their wives were ultimately convicted in Pennsylvania Federal Court – rocked the institution.

Granato, Frank (Frankie Steel) Pontillo, a Colombo associate who also has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and others, were put into solitary confinement as prison authorities and the FBI stepped up the probe.

In a bitter irony, the corrupt prison officials, and inmates who were convicted in the scandal and served additional months in prison, were allowed visits from family and friends, while Granato and Pontillo were kept in "the hole."

Granato, through his lawyer Richard Rehbock, and Regina insist they bribed no one and broke no laws to bring about Gianna's conception. They say keeping Kevin in 23 hour lockdown for so long without charging him with so much as a violation smacks of "cruel and inhuman punishment."

In a long emotional letter, Regina recounted her jailhouse wedding – which Gerlinski approved – and their desire for a child to give meaning to their

"I am not asking for much here Warden. We would just like our lives back and for Kevin to be treated like a human being. She is a toddler and those visits are what we had and looked forward to. We can't possibly get those months back," Regina wrote, noting that Gianni is still young enough to overcome the lost time "once (she is) reunited with her daddy."

In her reply, Gerlinski (right) insisted Granato's confinement was "non-punitive" and included "education programs, library services, social services, counseling, religious guidance and recreation" as well as "five hours of exercise each week."

While the Bureau of Prisons encourages family visits as a rule, said Gerlinski, her husband was a special case who had indicated he might "be a threat to the orderliness or security of the visiting room" and his "visiting and telephone privileges will remain suspended."

Besides, she wrote: "Mr. Granato has been encouraged to pursue other avenues of communication (i.e. written correspondence)."

Right! How many words can a three year old spell?

Gerlinski could learn something about human decency from a federal judge who last week gave a little extra comfort to a 12-year-old girl having surgery to repair a cleft palate by granting her gangster father a week furlough from prison to be with her as she recuperated.

"I am trying to accommodate the daughter," said Brooklyn Judge Frederick Block as he changed his mind and released Gambino soldier Primo Cassarino under house arrest conditions over the objections of prosecutors.

Primo Cassarino, who was detained as a danger to the community after his June 4 arrest for extortion and labor racketeering on the Brooklyn waterfront, has a way with words.

Here are a few choice remarks prosecutors Andrew Genser and Katya Jestin played to convince Judge Block that Cassarino, 46, was a dangerous Gambino family enforcer and should be detained. (After seven days at home, he rejoined boss Peter Gotti and capo Anthony (Sonny) Ciccone at a federal lockup in Brooklyn to await trial.) 

"If they wouldda seen the way this guy got fuckin' hit, that wasn't fuckin' nice at all," he told associate Richard Bondi, a huge codefendant known as The Lump. "The only reason why I hit him is 'cause the cocksucker called me a fuckin' scumbag and everything else. .... Just to make him understand the next day, when he goes and sees who he's gotta go see, that I gave him a fucking beating. I want it on record that I gave him a beating, that I hit him."

Later that same day, Sept. 8, 2001, he was overheard telling another codefendant, Thomas Lisi, to work over a gambler who owed them money.

"Bust his fuckin' head. Don't worry about it."
"I could do that?"asked Lisi.
"Bust his fuckin' head. Don't worry about it ... crack his head, if you got a fuckin' beef crack his fuckin' head."

In this snippet, Cassarino was heard threatening to throw a store owner out a  window and block the proposed sale of his business after the merchant refused to let a mob associate store his gambling machines there.