Two brothers of a man murdered during a Mafia-engineered home invasion robbery angrily confronted a Bonanno wiseguy outside a courthouse today and FBI agents intervened to prevent them from assaulting the mobster, witnesses said.
The incident came minutes after Bonanno crime-family associate Neil Messina pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to mob racketeering charges for conspiring to commit the home-invasion robbery back in August 1992.
Joseph Pistone was murdered when the robbery went bad, as mobsters hunted for a haul of cash they believed was stashed inside the house.
After the court hearing, Pistone’s brothers approached Messina and his fiance outside the federal courthouse, shouted insults, and threatened Messina, several sources told The Post.
One of the brothers yelled at Messina – asking him who was responsible for telling the wiseguys they would find a sizable amount of cash during the residential robbery, sources said.
As the sidewalk confrontation escalated, agents from the New York FBI office’s Bonanno-Colombo squad pushed Pistone’s brothers back and held them – as US Marshals’ security officers sprinted towards the heated clash.
No one was injured in the incident.
At the earlier court hearing – which Pistone’s brothers attended – Messina admitted to helping plan the home invasion robbery and knowing that a gun would be used in the heist – but he steadfastly denied being present at the robbery.
A dog was also killed during the aborted home-invasion heist, records show.
When he is eventually sentenced on the mob racketeering charges, Messina could get up to 20 years in prison. But prosecutors say they plan to ask the judge for a 10-year prison stint.
mmaddux@nypost.com