US News

SICKO HITMAN KEPT FINGER OF VICTIM

A drug-addled Gambino hitman who dumped bodies in vats of acid once kept a sick memento of a important job – the finger of a man who’d killed John Gotti’s 12-year-old son.

Charles Carneglia even then threw the what was left of the dissolved digit in a fellow wiseguy’s soup to prove he’d done the job.

Despite frequent boasts about being the best at body disposal, Carneglia, 62, botched his first attempt at dissolving the body of Gotti’s neighbor John Favara, who was killed in 1980 in retaliation for running over the boy, according to a letter by prosecutors.

“He did not choose an appropriate type of acid, which meant the disposal of Favara’s body took much longer than he expected,” prosecutors said, citing information they recently received from a mob turncoat.

The delay in getting rid of the remains caused fellow Gambino soldier Anthony Ruggiero to fly into a fury and criticize Carneglia for letting drug and alcohol abuse get in the way of his job, the feds claim.

Carneglia’s second try was successful and he got even with Ruggiero by giving him a gruesome surprise at a Queens diner.

“When the job was done, he announced the fact to Ruggiero by approaching him … and tossing one of Favara’s finger bones into a bowl of chicken soup Ruggiero was eating,” prosecutors wrote.

Carneglia is set to go on trial in Brooklyn federal court today for committing five murders, including a Brooklyn court officer and an armored car driver.

Prosecutors are have asked Judge Jack Weinstein to reconsider an earlier ruling that barred all mentions of acid from the case.

Carneglia is not formally charged with killing Favara.