[FONT=Verdana]John Amorosano turned to the mob for help. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]All he got in return was a couple of signed photos of Frank Sinatra posing with Mafia bigwigs, his very own wise guy nickname - and a truckload of new problems. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The Yonkers demolition contractor told Manhattan jurors yesterday that he reached out to Gambino family capo Greg DePalma in 2003 to resolve a union labor issue. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Over the next two years, his labor problems unresolved, the owner of New York Breaking Co. got schooled in a course called Mob Shakedown 101 as the 74-year-old DePalma dug deeper and deeper into the contractor's pockets. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]"I went from one mess into a worse mess," Amorosano, 44, told jurors at DePalma's racketeering trial in Manhattan Federal Court. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]"I didn't have any money to pay anybody after meeting Greg," said Amorosano, who was nicknamed Johnny Demo. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]DePalma promised he'd break his "f------ skull" if he didn't return his calls, and even though the veteran wise guy had 30 years on him, Amorosano still feared for his life. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]"He wasn't an old man," Amorosano said. "He was a tough man." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Amorosano said he paid tens of thousands of dollars in tribute and was tapped by FBI undercover agent Joaquin Manuel Garcia, posing as jewel thief Jack Falcone, to kick in $10,000 for a new Ford Thunderbird for DePalma. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]When he won a $40,000 motorcycle in a raffle sponsored by a Manhattan strip club, DePalma forced him to hand over $5,000 to a member of his crew. He paid for a dozen signed LeRoy Neiman prints, several with $3,000 or $4,000 frames that DePalma got for him. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]But for all his pestering, DePalma did sign two copies of a 1976 photo of Sinatra with his arm draped over DePalma's shoulder that Amorosano gave to his sisters. Legendary mob boss Carlo Gambino is to Sinatra's left. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Amorosano cooperated in the government's probe of DePalma in return for an agreement that the feds would not prosecute him for receiving stolen property. [/FONT]