A scion of one of New York’s five crime family bosses is involved in plea negotiations with prosecutors on the eve of his upcoming mob racketeering and murder trial.
Michael Persico — son of reputed Colombo crime family boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico — holds himself out as a legitimate businessman who eschews mob life and has never been to prison.
But Persico — whose bearing, silver hair, and immaculately tailored blazers give him the air of an aristocrat — is facing up to life in prison if he’s convicted at trial of the murder of a Colombo wiseguy during the crime family’s civil war in the ‘90s.
So, attorneys for Persico and his cousin, Colombo captain Theodore Persico Jr., huddled with Brooklyn federal prosecutors yesterday amid intensive negotiations aimed at resolving the mob case before the trial begins on Monday.
If he takes the plea package, Michael Persico would face around five years in prison and could sidestep a murder conviction, sources said.
Teddy Persico, an ex-con charged with more crimes than his cousin, is looking at a plea deal of around a dozen years behind bars, sources say.
If they reject the plea offers and decide instead to stand trial, both men could see significantly more jail time if they are convicted.
Hammering out the details of the potential pleas yesterday in impromptu hallway summits, whispered conversations, and during sidebar chats at the bench, overshadowed the process of selecting a jury in Brooklyn federal court.
Colombo co-defendant Francis B.F. Guerra, who faces even more time in prison time than the cousins if convicted, is not part of the proposed plea package, said Gerald McMahon and Mathew Mari, his attorneys.
mmaddux@nypost.com