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NERVOUS JURY NAILS MOB KIN IN B’KLYN SLAY

A jittery Brooklyn jury convicted the son of a Genovese associate for a gory 2005 knife murder, but not before asking the judge to lock down the courtroom until panel members were safely on their way home.

Vincent Arena, 23, stared straight ahead as the foreman announced verdicts of not guilty on the top charge, first-degree murder, but guilty of second-degree murder.

“I just want to give my son a hug,” said the convicted man’s father, Steven, as he tried to get past court officers blocking his path. “Vinnie! Look at me. Keep your head up.”

Then, turning to the family of the slain man, Anthony Braccia, he said, “My condolences has always been with you. He didn’t do this.”

Braccia’s father, Anthony Sr., silently stared at the ceiling and crossed himself after the verdict.

Justice Plummer Lott honored the jury’s request, holding both families in the courtroom until the panel had left. Detectives escorted prosecutor Kyle Reeves back to his office.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated two full days before convicting Arena in the savage Sept. 5, 2005, attack on Braccia in Arena’s delivery van following a night out.

The panel heard from the two other men in the van that morning, Matthew Munch and John Fontana, both of whom cut deals and pointed the finger at Arena.

According to both, Arena took an instant dislike to Braccia, 27, whom he’d met just a few hours earlier, and told his pals, “That guy’s a jerk-off. He deserves to get robbed.”

The men said Arena robbed Braccia of his jewels, then stabbed him more than 30 times during a hellish, all-out struggle as the van wound its way through Gravesend in the early-morning darkness.

The jury also convicted Arena of filing a false report, for setting the van on fire and then reporting it stolen. He faces 25 years to life when he’s sentenced.

alex.ginsberg@nypost.com