The late John Gotti thought he was a tough guy, but he was a shy pussycat when it came to women and sex, according to the gangster's old confidant.

Lewis Kasman, the self-proclaimed "adopted son" of the Gambino crime boss, said Gotti -- despite the rumors of affairs and an out-of-wedlock child -- rebuffed women who threw themselves at him.

Now a cooperating witness for the federal government, Kasman taped Gotti's widow Victoria in April 2007 as she was recuperating from the effects of two strokes. For more than an hour, Kasman talked to Gotti's widow, whose voice was weak, about their children and various intrigues surrounding supposed efforts by the dead mobster's brothers to get his money.

Gotti died in June 2002 at a federal prison hospital in Missouri of neck cancer while serving a life sentence. After a $50,000 funeral, Gotti was buried in a crypt at St. John's Cemetery in Middle Village with his coffin head-to-head with that of his son Frank, who died at age 12.

On the recording, a copy of which was made available to a reporter, Kasman told Victoria Gotti that her spouse wasn't a "hang from the chandelier guy" when it came to sex.

"I was with him on Sundays ... I'd have known if he was in an apartment -- -- -- ," said Kasman.

"First of all, your husband was very shy, he would have me go and set it up," Kasman told Victoria Gotti.

"I'm not saying broads didn't come up to him and say 'Oh, Mr. Gotti!, Oh John, Oh John' -- that went on, you know that went on," said Kasman. "He would have been a sex maniac if half of those stories were true."

Kasman did his best to shoot down a rumor that Gotti might have had an affair with Lisa Gastineau, the former wife of ex-Jet defensive end Mark Gastineau.

"We would go out to dinner," said Kasman dismissively, adding that Gastineau had a different boyfriend.

Kasman, formerly of Woodbury, also denied the story that Gotti fathered a love child with the stepdaughter of the late mobster Aniello Dellacroce.

Kasman's taping stunned Gotti's immediate family when its existence was revealed in connection with a large roundup of reputed Gambino crime family members and associates.

Kasman related to Gotti's wife how much the mobster loved and respected her.

"I don't want you to have any of this ––– in your head, OK? He loved you, he cared for you," Kasman said.

"I don't have any doubt about that," Victoria responded.

Victoria Gotti wouldn't comment yesterday. Her daughter Angel said Tuesday the family was leery of many things Kasman told them, especially about money.

"He would tell each one of us something different," said Angel Gotti.

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