US News

JUDGE QUITS MOB CASE

The judge assigned to oversee a sweeping case against the Gambino crime family said yesterday he’s giving it up because his calendar is too mobbed, er, crowded.

Brooklyn federal court Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote that while the case was properly assigned to him, it has grown too complex and he already has three lengthy criminal trials scheduled – two of them involving the Bonanno crime family.

Defense lawyers had complained that the government “judge-shopped” by having the case against 62 reputed mobsters given to Garaufis.

The prosecution acknowledged that it wanted him to take the case because some of the defendants are also charged in other cases he has. The case has been reassigned to Judge Jack Weinstein, who presided over the “Mafia Cops” trial of two NYPD detectives charged with killing for the mob. Weinstein controversially overturned the conviction.