The Colombo crime family, still bruised and battered from its disastrous civil war and reeling from an ongoing assault by the feds, has turned to a tough, shrewd gangster for its no. 2 slot. The only problem: He’s 88 years old.

Capo John “Sonny” Franzese, whose rising mob star was doused by a controversial 1967 bank robbery conviction and 50-year sentence, is the family’s new underboss, serving as second in command to jailed-for-life boss Carmine “Junior” Persico, according to secret documents obtained by Gang Land.

Despite parole restrictions that don’t expire until 2020 – and four violations that have had him shuttling in and out of prison for decades – the seemingly ageless Franzese has been “very active, playing an active role in the day-to-day affairs of the family,” a law enforcement source said.

“He just keeps on trucking,” another law enforcement source said, adding that Franzese, whose latest prison stretch ended 20 months ago, is “coordinating activities within the Colombo family and meeting with mobsters from other families.” Federal authorities were tipped off to Franzese’s elevated status by turncoat Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, who learned about it from acting boss Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous”Basciano and later got him to talk about it during a tape-recorded jailhouse conversation.

On January 7, as they discussed Bonanno dealings with other families, Massino asked if Vinny Gorgeous was “sure” about Franzese’s rank. Massino noted that Sonny was “on parole” and could be sent back to prison if he were caught meeting with wiseguys. Besides, Massino said, “He has gotta be 87! …. How long more does he got to live?”

Basciano repeated twice that Franzese was the “official underboss,” reporting that he had gotten the information from Bonanno capo Nicholas Santora, who was close to a much younger Colombo capo whom police sources tell Gang Land is the family’s “street” boss, Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli, 52.

“Nicky met him [Sonny] as underboss,” Basciano said, noting that Gioelli formally introduced Franzese to Santora last year when Vinny Gorgeous dispatched Santora to resolve a dispute between the families: “Nicky’s got a relationship with Tommy Shots, so what I did, I used Nicky Santora.”

Basciano echoed Massino’s belief that Sonny’s parole restrictions would land him in prison for a fifth time: “You’re right, he’s gonna be in here,” he said. Vinny Gorgeous said he thought Sonny’s age wouldn’t hamper him in his new post, but Basciano had other issues with the headstrong Franzese.

“He’s in some shape, Bo. He might live to be a hundred,” Basciano said, adding that Franzese’s reputation as an oddball could be a problem. Franzese, who has spent about 23 of the last 35 years in prison, was convicted on what many – including Gang Land – suspect was trumped up testimony by four members of a bank robbery team. Essentially, they testified that Sonny provided floor plans for a string of banks from Queens to Salt Lake City that he selected for them to rob. Each later recanted his account.

Persico is now 72, ailing, and serving his time at a federal prison hospital in Butner, N.C., but he has held on to the family’s reins. He and Franzese were both feared capos under maverick Mafia boss Joe Colombo during the 1960s. Throughout the 1970s, Franzese was in prison, paving the way for Persico to take over the family after Colombo was gunned down.

Over the years, Sonny’s wife, Tina – along with sons Michael and John Jr. before they turned on their father and the mob – led several campaigns to overturn Sonny’s conviction. She obtained affidavits from witnesses and their family members that put the lie to court testimony. But each legal challenge was rejected, either by the trial judge or the federal appeals court.

When Sonny was incarcerated after his last parole violation – sources John Jr. tipped the FBI that his father was meeting family wiseguys for coffee at a Greenvale, L.I., Starbucks in 2000 – Tina left him.

Recently, sources said, Tina and Sonny patched up their differences and they now reside in Northport, L.I. Neither could be reached for comment. Late yesterday, however, sources close to the mob Methuselah reported that Sonny admits to being only 86, not 88 – the age that the Bureau of Prisons, which should know, lists him – or the 87 that Massino and Basciano tossed around during their chat. On this issue, Sonny has an unusual ally: the FBI, which lists his birth date as February 6, 1919, not 1917.

***

Massino, who earned the Last Don moniker by outlasting the bosses of the four other crime families in their respective battles with the feds, is now the Docile Don. Massino, who was convicted just last year of seven mob murders and pleaded guilty this year to ordering another, presented himself as a peace-loving boss while dressing down Basciano for killing a low-level associate rather than just chasing him away. “To me, life is precious,” Massino expounded, stating that before he imposed the death penalty, his victim’s transgressions had to be proved “in black and white.” Said Judge Massino: “I give everybody a day in court.” During two days of tape-recorded conversations, Massino sprinkled other memorable words of wisdom to his rapt acting boss, including a version of the old adage that there are two sides to every story: “Three sides. Mine, yours, and the truth.”

***

After flip-flopping several times, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin agreed with prosecutors last week and refused to allow a jury to hear a series of jailhouse tape recordings in which John A. “Junior” Gotti disavowed his Mafia ties and ripped his late father for bringing him into the Gambino family. Ironically, the talks that seem to bolster the notion that the Junior Don withdrew from the racketeering conspiracy charged in his indictment were recorded in 2003 and 2004 at the behest of an FBI agent who swore that Junior’s prison discussions with his cohorts were criminal in nature. The conversations were also used to detain Junior without bail.

Defense lawyers Jeffrey Lichtman and Mark Fernich argued that the feds shouldn’t be allowed to have it both ways – using the tapes against Junior for bail purposes but blocking him from using them in his defense. Judge Scheindlin, however, refused to admit them. But the tapes would have cut both ways for Junior. While they would have bolstered his “I quit the mob” claim, prosecutors also could have used other portions showing that Junior was still engaged in angry disputes with several top crime family members – uncles Peter and Richard Gotti among them – as well as other conversations that arguably implicated him in other crimes, including murder.

The jury as early as today is expected to begin weighing the fate of Gotti and soldier Michael “Mikey Y” Yannotti in the kidnap shooting of radio talk show host Curtis Sliwa and other charges, as well as lesser counts against mob associate Louis “Louie Black” Mariani.

This column and other news of organized crime will appear later today at www.ganglandnews.com.