Jury considers death penalty for mobster

A top Bonanno crime family gangster wanted to shoot a federal prosecutor in the head at a popular Manhattan Italian restaurant as a favor to a top crime boss, a mob turncoat testified Tuesday.

Details about the assassination plot surfaced in Brooklyn federal court as the government tries to convince a jury that former Bonnano boss Joseph Basciano -- who was convicted this month for the murder of a mob associate -- deserves the death penalty. If the jury votes for death, Basciano would be the first major mob boss to face execution since Louis Buchalter, who died in the electric chair in the 1940s.

Tuesday, mob turncoat Dominic Cicale testified in court that the assassination plot was contemplated by Basciano, 51, who believed that former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino was ordering the hit from jail. " 'I think Joe is trying to send a message to kill a prosecutor,' " said Basciano, according to Cicale, who testified Tuesday as a government witness.

Earlier this month, Basciano was convicted of ordering the murder of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo in 2004.

Basciano planned to carry out the hit on the prosecutor by walking into Campagnola Restaurant, at 1st Avenue and 74th Street, and shooting Prosecutor Greg Andres in the head, said Cicale. The aggressive prosecutor had made his mark convicting scores of Bonanno crime family members.

Massino never gave a final message to carry out the hit, Cicale said, and Andres, who convicted Massino in 2004, was never harmed.

Once Basciano's closest friend, Cicale is testifying as prosecutors try to present evidence of a number of murder and attempted murder plots Basciano was allegedly involved in even though he was not convicted of them. Cicale also testified that Basciano wanted to kill Lynette Ayuso, the mother of Cicale's daughter, because Basciano suspected she told his wife about his relationship with another woman. Ayuso wasn't harmed.

Massino, who testified in the just-concluded criminal trial, is expected to take the witness stand again today.

Basciano's attorneys won a key ruling Tuesday when they were allowed by Judge Nicholas Garaufis to get Cicale to admit that the final order which actually led to the killing of Pizzolo came from mobster Michael "The Nose" Mancuso and not Basciano.

During the penalty phase, the defense can't dispute Basciano's conviction for complicity in the Pizzolo hit but can argue that it was Mancuso who was the "intervening" cause of the killing, said defense lawyer George Goltzer in court.

To counter the prosecution evidence, Basciano's attorneys will be able to show the jury that others involved in the Pizzolo murder like Cicale and Mancuso aren't getting the death penalty. They will also show that Massino, who admitted responsibility for numerous murders, is also not facing capital punishment.