In an effort to salvage a seemingly snake-bit racketeering indictment — and try to end a spate of mistrials in mob racketeering cases — Manhattan federal prosecutors made some intriguing strategic moves for the retrial of an aging Genovese capo, Ciro Perrone.

Prosecutors often revamp their game plan after a mistrial, especially when a jury acquits on lesser charges and deadlocks 10–2 in favor of acquittal on the main counts. But the new strategy rarely includes dropping racketeering charges against a co-defendant, a move so unusual that it requires approval from the Department of Justice.

Yet that’s what prosecutors toiling for U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia did in the case of Perrone, whose second trial began last week.

On the eve of the retrial, prosecutors Benjamin Gruenstein and Elie Honig filed a “nolle prosequi” motion with Judge Robert Patterson in order to dismiss racketeering charges against a soldier in Perrone’s crew, Steven Buscemi. It’s the same legal mechanism Mr. Garcia’s office used to drop the charges against John A. “Junior” Gotti last fall after three juries were unable to reach a verdict in his case.

The charges against Perrone, 86, stem from taped conversations caught by an FBI bug that was placed at a big round table at an Ozone Park, Queens, Italian eatery where the cagey gangster dined regularly with wiseguys in recent years, Don Peppe.

The feds were forced to conclude their investigation prematurely when FBI videotape equipment that was hidden in an exit sign and designed to complement the table bug — but never worked properly — was discovered by a restaurant manager in May 2005.

Perhaps the most memorable tape-recorded conversation occurred the previous December, when Perrone and other wiseguys trashed a so-called reality TV show starring Victoria Gotti and her three sons, “Growing Up Gotti.”

“It’s a soap opera, and the kids look like girls,” barked Perrone, whose Colombo family cohort, Ralph Scopo, said the show was “one of the most disgusting, insulting shows” on television and had tarnished the memory of the late Gambino boss, John Gotti.

Tossing the case against Buscemi, 44, wasn’t the prosecutors’ only unusual move.

They also enlisted the testimony last week of a turncoat mob associate, Anthony Ruggiano Jr., who was unable to tell the jury anything about a single gambling charge or three loan-sharking schemes between 2000 and 2005 that are alleged in the indictment.

From the witness stand, Ruggiano told the jury that he had gotten to know Perrone very well through his late father, Gambino soldier Anthony “Fat Andy” Ruggiano. Perrone had told him he was a Genovese capo and, he testified, he knew Perrone was a loanshark.

But the only two loans Perrone gave him, Ruggiano testified — including one he used to pay off a $35,000 debt to Peter Gotti, many years before he took over as Gambino boss — were personal, no-interest loans that he paid back at $250 a week.

Ruggiano’s first effort as a prosecution witness was anything but a success. Last month, Gambino soldier Alfred “Freddy Hot” DeConiglio, whom Ruggiano said was a participant with him in the 1988 murder of his brother-in-law, was acquitted at trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Manhattan prosecutors, as well as Perrone and his defense team, should find out soon enough if the addition of Ruggiano and the subtraction of Buscemi is a plus or a minus, from their perspectives. The jury is slated to begin deliberating Perrone’s fate today.

At his first trial, jurors, who also acquitted of all charges two other co-defendants, including Perrone’s son-in-law, deliberated 10 days, longer than it has taken for the entire retrial.

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After hanging tough until the eve of his racketeering and murder trial, one-time acting Genovese boss Liborio “Barney” Bellomo caved in this week and took a sweet plea bargain that will mean up to four more years behind bars, Gang Land has learned.

In a complicated pact that was tied to a plea deal for his mob-connected brother-in-law, Gerald Fiorino, the imprisoned Bellomo pleaded guilty Monday to a 15-year-old mail fraud that will cover all charges in his indictment, including the 1998 murder of capo Ralph Coppola.

Bellomo, 50, pleaded guilty to defrauding a Bronx carting company of more than $400,000 between 1992 and June 10, 1996, when he was arrested on racketeering and murder charges that were also disposed of by a plea deal to nonviolent crimes.

According to the plea deal, prosecutors and Bellomo’s attorneys agree that the suggested guidelines for the crime call for between 41 and 51 months. Both sides agreed not to recommend any specific prison term. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for July 9.

On its face, the deal is not as good as a three-year misprision of felony plea that Barney rejected last month. Sources familiar with the gangster’s mind-set say he turned that down because he would have had to admit knowing about Coppola’s murder and failing to report it, which he steadfastly denies.

Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who gave Bellomo 10 years on the 1996 case, will have the final say.

In theory, since the crime is not violent and took place before Barney went to prison in 1996, Judge Kaplan could sentence him to a year, or less, and make it concurrent to his present term, meaning he would serve no additional prison time.

Judge Kaplan, who is regarded as tough, could give Barney the statutory maximum of five years and make it consecutive to his current term. If the judge did, it would mean an additional four years and three months behind bars for Bellomo, according to federal prison rules that call for all inmates to serve 85% of the actual sentence.

“We’re very satisfied with the result,” Bellomo’s lawyer, Barry Levin, said. “Barney looks forward to getting home as soon as he can to try and make up for the time with his family that he has already lost.”

Fiorino, 52, pleaded guilty to defrauding the same Bronx trash hauling company, Du-Rite Carting, between 1992 and 2000, agreeing to forfeit $400,000 in illegally obtained funds. His sentencing guidelines call for 15 to 21 months, a term that sources said was slightly longer than a prior offer he turned down. His lawyers, Michael Rosen and Jean Graziano, declined to comment.

The guilty pleas by the brothers-in-law wrap up a huge indictment that until last week — when the Genovese family’s current acting boss, Danny “The Lion” Leo, was hit with extortion charges and added to the case — named 35 wiseguys and others with a host of racketeering and drug trafficking crimes.

Leo’s next court appearance is scheduled for next week. The only other defendant who did not plead guilty in the case, John “Buster” Ardito, suffered a worse fate. He died of cancer last December 31.

In recent weeks, Genovese capos Pasquale “Scop” DeLuca and Arthur Nigro, as well as soldier Ralph “The Undertaker” Balsamo, all accepted plea bargains rather than go to trial.

DeLuca, 75, pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy charges in Coppola’s slaying in a deal that calls for a maximum of five years in prison. Nigro, 62, copped to an extortion charge with a sentencing guideline range of 51 to 63 months. Balsamo, 36, admitted extortion, drug dealing, and labor racketeering. He expects a sentence of between 97 and 121 months.

The prosecutors in the case, Assistant U. S. Attorneys Miriam Rocah, Eric Snyder, and Jonathan Kolodner, declined to comment about the plea deals.

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