A storied 30-year-old mob murder case that was supposed to be clinched through the use of modern DNA testing is now in jeopardy of becoming just one more whodunit. 

Sophisticated FBI testing that was expected to put accused mob hitman, Genovese capo Michael (Mikey Cigars) Coppola, at the scene of the Easter Sunday slaying of mob rival John (Johnny Cokes) Lardiere on April 10, 1977, has come up empty – or, as the test results would have it, way too full. 

Mikey Cigars, who was arrested in March after 11 years on the run, could have shot Johnny Cokes to death that day. But, then, so could many thousands of other white Americans – or white foreigners for that matter – who were around at the time. 

Those are the findings from test results that compared the DNA from saliva taken from Coppola after his arrest to hair samples that were found near the murder scene at the Red Bull Inn on Route 22 in Bridgewater, NJ. The tests showed that Coppola, along with at least 10% of the white population of the area at the time, could have left the hairs at the scene, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the findings that New Jersey prosecutors filed last month with Somerset County Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong. 

This leaves the slaying back where it started, as one of the great tales in recent mob folklore. According to this version, Coppola first drew a silencer-equipped .22 handgun (left) on Lardiere. The gun jammed. Johnny Cokes is said to have cracked, “What’re you gonna do now, tough guy?” Mikey

Cigars’ response was to reach down and grab a .38 caliber revolver from an ankle holster which he then used to blow his victim away. 

Whoever got the best of Johnny Cokes that day left behind the murder weapon, (left) the ankle holster and a hat (right) with a few stray hairs inside. This evidence gathered dust until 1996, when turncoat Luchese mobster Thomas Ricciardi fingered Coppola in the murder, according to court papers filed in Somerset County. 

Ricciardi reported that it was Mikey Cigars himself who recounted the slaying after another mobster deadpanned the “What’re you gonna do now, tough guy?” line. The occasion was a 1984 gathering of New Jersey-based Genovese and Luchese mobsters who were holding a homecoming of sorts to celebrate Coppola’s return from prison, according to court papers filed by the New Jersey prosecutors. 

This was a year after Dirty Harry Callahan's taunting a bad guy with “Go ahead, make my day,” had burnished Clint Eastwood's tough-guy reputation in the 1983 movie "Sudden Impact."  

Happy to be back among friends, Mikey Cigars allegedly gave a blow-by-blow account of the day he gunned down Johnny Cokes. Ricciardi said the

story was met with gales of admiring wiseguy laughter, according to the court papers, which noted that Coppola ended his tale by describing Johnny Cokes as a “tough guy” who “died like a man.” 

Coppola’s lawyer, who told the Newark Star-Ledger that the DNA test results weaken the prosecution’s case, declined to discuss the results or their impact on his client with Gang Land. A spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram declined to say whether the investigation was continuing, or if her office planned to dismiss the charges. 

Meanwhile, as Mikey Cigars ponders whether the 11 years he spent running from the law to avoid what turned out to be a non-conclusive DNA analysis was worth it, his lawyers are discussing a possible plea deal with Brooklyn federal prosecutors over obstruction of justice charges that he, his wife, son and a mob associate face for Coppola’s flight. 

Coppola, 61, as well as his wife Linda, 64, their son, Louis (J.R.) Rizzo, 41, (right) and crime family associate Philip (Horse) Albanese, 63, are all involved in plea negotiations in the federal case, according to court records in Brooklyn Federal Court. 

Fueled by tape recorded conversations that led to Coppola’s capture, the feds have also tabbed Mikey Cigars and J.R. as suspects in the murder of Genovese mobster Lawrence Ricci, who was found shot to death in November 2005, a month after he disappeared while standing trial in Brooklyn on waterfront labor racketeering charges. 

It didn’t take federal prosecutors long to come up with a way around a recent ruling that put off pretrial depositions of defendants in the civil racketeering lawsuit against the International Longshoremen’s Association – at least concerning the ILA’s cagy 82-year-old President Emeritus, John Bowers.

In court papers, the feds called him an old geezer with a limited life span – euphemistically of course – and argued that his departure would jeopardize their case. They urged Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky to allow them to question – and videotape – Bowers under oath now rather than risk losing his testimony forever if he were to “become unavailable.”

“The regrettable actuarial realities of life dictate that, as a male in his eighties, Mr. Bowers cannot be expected to remain available for deposition in perpetuity,” wrote prosecutors Richard Hayes, Kathleen Nandan and Zachary Cunha.

In an obvious effort not to appear crass, or worse, the prosecutors cited two prior instances where Bowers’s attorney, John R. Wing, had cited his client’s advanced years in seeking special considerations from the court.

They noted that last month, at a proceeding that ended with Brooklyn Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser postponing depositions except in special cases involving “age, health, failing memory, or any other sufficiently compelling circumstance,” Wing even exaggerated his client’s age by two years, calling Bowers “an 84-year-old man.”  

In a retort, Wing argued his client’s situation is markedly different than that of George Barone, an 83-year-old mob turncoat whose deposition was videotaped last year because he suffered a myriad of ailments that the government had not cited in the case of Bowers.

Whatever decision Judge Pohorelsky makes on this matter, the losing side will likely appeal it to Judge Glasser, who at 83, still carries a full caseload.

In a fitting yet coincidental change that mirrors recent mob doings, the upcoming murder and racketeering retrial of acting Colombo boss Alphonse Persico has been transferred from the federal courthouse in Brooklyn to the one in Central Islip, L.I.

The courthouse is two miles away from a family social club in Hauppauge that is the reputed base of operations for capo Michael Uvino. Two weeks ago, Uvino and associates Philip Costanza and Brian Dono were arrested for allegedly beating two gamblers and threatening them with death after a mob card game was robbed by two cohorts of the gamblers. The three suspects are being held without bail as prosecutors present the case to a grand jury.

The relocation of the retrial, which was opposed by Persico and his codefendant, capo John (Jackie) DeRoss, stems from the assignment of the case to Judge Joanna Seybert, whose chambers and courtroom are located at the Central Islip courthouse.

The retrial – at which Persico, 53, and DeRoss, 70, (right) are charged with the 1999 slaying of  underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo – begins next month. Jurors hung 10-2 for conviction at the first trial last year.

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti – the book it took yours truly and Gene Mustain 17 years to do – tells the complete saga of John Gotti, from his treacherous rise to his defiant downfall. Although we didn't know it at the time, we began working on "Mob Star" in 1985, when we began covering the Gotti story as news reporters.

The first edition came out in 1988, and we finished this new edition three days before Gotti died in June 2002. We added a postscript, and with a 40,000-word update, the new edition contains the entire Gotti saga right up to his time in prison and his death from throat cancer.

The 378 page, full-size book uses eight additional chapters, a prologue and an epilogue to complete the story we began telling (better than any other reporters, we might add!) when we covered the Gotti-orchestrated, midtown Manhattan assassination of former Gambino boss Paul Castellano.

For the last and best words on Gotti, this is the book to have. It is specially priced at Amazon.com at $11.02, more than five bucks off the suggested retail price.

The best of Gang Land is available in a book store near you. Or you can pick up a copy of "JERRY CAPECI'S Gang Land: Fifteen Years Of Covering The Mafia" at a special low price from the Godfather of online booksellers, Amazon.com.

The 330-page oversized book includes an index and eight pages of photographs. It is sure to contain a few of your favorite columns, as well as some you may have missed during Gang Land's lengthy run that began in 1989 in The New York Daily News and continues today online and in The New York Sun.

The book's 125 columns chronicle the New York Mafia landscape from John Gotti's heyday in 1989 as the swashbuckling Dapper Don to the remarkable day in 2003 when Gotti's longtime rival Vincent (Chin) Gigante gave up his Daffy Don routine and confessed to having put on a crazy act for three decades.

Amazon.com has it in stock for $12.32  – 35% off the $18.95 list price.