A mob rat was sentenced Thursday to time served - he spent three days in prison - for the 1988 rubout of his brother-in-law that was sanctioned by the late Gambino boss John Gotti.
Anthony Ruggiano Jr., 61, was being rewarded for his testimony against Gambino capos Dominick (Skinny Dom) Pizzonia, Bartolomeo (Bobby Glasses) Vernace and hit man Charles Carneglia that helped the feds solve a number of unsolved gangland killings.
He was the son of soldier Anthony (Fat Andy) Ruggiano, a prolific killer and powerful soldier who ran a crew out of the Café Liberty social club in Ozone Park, Queens.
It was in the garden behind the social club where Frank (Geeky) Boccia was shot to death amid the tomato and vegetable plants in 1988 for striking his mother-in-law — Fat Andy's wife — during a domestic dispute. Boccia had been lured to the club by Ruggiano, and Pizzonia pulled the trigger.
There was solid support for Ruggiano Jr. in Brooklyn Federal Court from current and former FBI agents and prosecutors — but no love from Boccia's sister and daughter.
"I learned my brother's body was cut open and stones placed in him so it wouldn't rise to the surface of the ocean," said Josephine Boccia, the victim's sister. Frank Boccia's body was never recovered.
Jenna Boccia, the victim's daughter, also urged Judge Jack Weinstein to impose the maximum sentence of life in prison.
But the judge apologetically explained he could not do that.
“The defendant has been rendered a tool by the government to further destroy the remnants of this Mafia that had been the cause of your grief. Were he sentenced to life, that would destroy this tool,” Weinstein said.
Ruggiano Jr. wept as he apologized to the Boccias for the murder.
"I have deep remorse," he said. "I would trade places with him in a minute."
Ruggiano, whose drug habit kept him from being inducted into the crime family, told the judge he is now employed as a drug counselor.