The reputed leader of the Gambino crime family may be the Rodney Dangerfield of Mafia bosses.
John (Jackie Nose) D'Amico, 73, is apparently broke and his lawyer wants out of the case.
"He's been unable in any manner at all to meet any financial obligations to me," lawyer Robert Blossner said as politely as possible yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court.
If being called a deadbeat in public wasn't bad enough, Blossner also said D'Amico's relatives had to wait four hours to visit him recently because other Gambino kin were ahead of them at the lockup in Queens.
D'Amico could qualify for a government-appointed lawyer, Blossner told Judge Jack Weinstein, who reserved decision on releasing the lawyer from his defense duty just yet.
All this disrespect suggests D'Amico hasn't changed much since he was anointed acting boss two years ago, nor has the way others view him changed.
"Everybody liked him, but he was no money earner," said a law enforcement source, who said it's entirely plausible D'Amico is penniless. "He's always been a degenerate gambler without a pot to p--s in," the source said.
If D'Amico, charged with racketeering and extortion, asks taxpayers to pick up his legal tab, prosecutors will closely examine the suburban New Jersey home where his wife lives and his income from a job at a bottled water company.
Fellow Gambinos often called D'Amico a "broke-ster," which is only slightly less insulting than being called a rat, the source recalled.
