Who says a stretch in the Metropolitan Detention Center can’t be therapeutic?

Behind bars in Brooklyn’s federal lockup last year, Baldassare “Baldo” Amato, a Sicilian-born Bonanno soldier, was in a bit of a funk as he awaited trial for two 1992 mob hits, including the slaying of a New York Post delivery superintendent, Robert Perrino.

Amato, whose major claim to mob infamy is serving without distinction as a bodyguard for Carmine “Lilo” Galante in 1979 at the cigar-chomping gangster’s storied execution, was complaining of serious neurological problems that could send him to an early grave.

In 2000, a year after he was imprisoned for racketeering, Amato began complaining that he suffered from sleep apnea, memory loss, dizziness, and other ailments that could lead to “hypertension, heart attack, and stroke.”

He sure looked the part. At one court session attended by Gang Land, Amato appeared drawn and sickly in his prison-issue fatigues. His stated medical ailments were so numerous and severe that a federal judge ordered neurological tests.

However, these days, Amato, 54, has a bit of a bounce in his step as his trial for racketeering and murder begins. Meeting with a panel of prospective jurors last week, he looked sharp in a red tie and dark blue suit, one of five ensembles delivered to the federal lockup for his use during the trial.

Amato, Bonanno soldier Stephen “Stevie Blue” Locurto, and associate Anthony Basile are charged with murder and a potpourri of crimes allegedly committed as part of a racketeering conspiracy. Amato and Locurto turned down 20-year plea offers; Basile rejected 15 years. All face life in prison if convicted. Testimony is scheduled to begin later this month.

While Amato may no longer be plagued by sleep disorders and other medical problems, he’s picked up other afflictions, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

In an angry letter to the court, he stated unequivocally that he was “disturbed” by the continuing efforts of federal agents to coerce him to cooperate, and “prayed” that Judge Nicholas Garaufis could put an end to those overtures.

With that in mind, Baldo chose a lawyer who’s had a hot hand with juries lately, Diarmuid White. Wiseguys have been flocking to Mr. White since the noted appeals specialist won a reversal last year of a federal murder conviction of two mob associates. Mr. White also earned kudos for his work for a co-defendant of John A. “Junior” Gotti during Junior’s first trial.

In the Gotti case, Mr. White engineered an acquittal for Gambino soldier Michael “Mikey Y” Yannotti in a double murder, even though an accomplice fingered Yannotti for the slayings and despite the police having recovered Yannotti’s beeper at the murder site.

There is no physical evidence tying Amato to the May 5, 1992, murder of Perrino, but federal prosecutors Jeffrey Goldberg, John Buretta, and Andrea Goldbarg have a stable of Bonanno turncoats ready to name Amato as the gunman. They’re also poised to tag Basile, 36, in the set-up and clean-up of the murder scene, a Brooklyn social club Basile operated.

Amato is also charged with the March 1992 slaying of Sebastiano “Sammy” DeFalco, the owner of a Queens restaurant that Amato reputedly controlled. Locurto, 45, is charged with a 1986 murder – dubbed the “smoking gun case” by Bonanno wiseguys – because Stevie Blue was collared with the murder weapon minutes after the shooting, but managed an acquittal in a state trial by taking the witness stand and explaining it all away.

This time, however, Locurto will be confronted by the testimony of at least two Bonanno turncoats who took part in the hit and joked for years about how Stevie Blue beat the case. The big talking jokers are Joseph “Joey Mook” D’Amico and Frank “Curly” Lino, according to court papers. Mr. White, as well as Locurto’s attorney, Harry Batchelder, and Basile’s lawyer, Gail Laser, declined to discuss the case, except to express confidence that their clients would be exonerated at trial.

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The undercover FBI agent who used the pseudonym Jack Falcone for two years let it all hang out this week when he took the stand against Gambino capo Greg DePalma, disclosing that he gained 80 pounds while living large and posing as a wannabe wiseguy.

Contrary to initial plans, the Cuban born, now-retired agent, Joachin “Jack” Garcia, also unveiled his true name after federal prosecutors realized last weekend that his real name had mistakenly been disclosed to lawyers for DePalma and other wiseguys during the pre-trial “discovery” process.

In all modesty, the government’s secrecy efforts weren’t helped by last week’s column, which pointed out that even the FBI’s much-fabled “Donnie Brasco” used his real name when he testified 24 years ago.

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