From today's New York Daily News:

Judge gives wiseguy a weigh out of jail

EXCLUSIVE
By John Marzulli
Daily News Staff Writer

Judge Blockhead is at it again.

A controversial jurist whose mouth keeps getting him into trouble granted an early release to a Mafia enforcer last week after noting the wiseguy lost weight in prison and didn't look so scary anymore, the Daily News has learned.

It was just last month that Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Frederic Block caused a stir when he publicly predicted that a drug kingpin charged with murder would never get the death penalty. The comments could have caused a mistrial.

Now, Block handed a get-out-of-jail-free card to Gambino crime associate Richard Bondi, aka The Lump, a once-massive mobster who weighed 300 pounds.

But when Bondi came before Block for resentencing after a long prison stint, he looked like a new man.

"He's lost a lot of weight," Block observed.

"He's a lot less of a big guy than he was before," agreed defense lawyer Richard Medina.

Bondi, 47, credited the new look to playing handball in prison, where he had been serving a 57-month term for extortion - a jail term dictated at the time by federal sentencing guidelines.

After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling restored sentencing discretion to federal judges, Bondi asked for a review.

At the 2003 racketeering trial of former crime boss Peter Gotti, prosecutors argued that Bondi's bulk was deployed to frighten a union official, a restaurant owner and even tough-guy actor Steven Seagal.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katya Jestin argued that Bondi should get the same sentence he did before.

But the judge had a different viewpoint.

"I remember running into him in the elevator once . . . and he scared me," Block said. "Looking at him now, he may be out of a job in the future. I don't think he would scare anybody now. It's his bulk and size that was really the essence of his role."

Block, who once wondered if his 96 IQ made him unqualified to be a federal judge, decided to set Bondi free in two weeks, canceling the remaining 18 months.

Two days later, jailed Gambino capo Anthony (Sonny) Ciccone came before Block for resentencing.

"Mr. Ciccone, you're looking good," Block commented. "I gotta lose some weight myself. Maybe I can join you for a couple of months."

But Ciccone wasn't in the mood for banter.

"Don't do that, your honor," the tough gangster replied. "It's not peaches and cream, believe me"

I can see a "ripped from the headlines" LAW AND ORDER coming out of this.

The Bondi character goes on to kill one of his Weight Watchers buddies, over a fat joke, and McCoy indicts the crazy judge for depraved indifference.