An accused wiseguy known as “Porky,” who got tossed in jail when he chose to leave the ankle monitor and take the cannoli, says the food in the clink is killing him — and a judge agreed Monday.
Reputed Bonanno crime-family captain John “Porky” Zancocchio will soon be released thanks to an argument so saucy even Junior Soprano would blush — that the dishes served at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center are ruining his already poor health, so he needs to be free to eat a better diet.
“It’s very hard in there, your honor,” he told Manhattan federal judge Alvin Hellerstein.
“The diet. . .” he added before trailing off as if he couldn’t stomach the thought.
Zancocchio’s lawyer, John Meringolo, said the reputed consigliere suffers from “chronic diabetes,” thyroid issues, blood behind his eye and a host of other issues that require him to get exercise and decent food.
Ironically, the 60-year-old alleged bookmaker and loan shark — who gained infamy as Pete Rose’s bookie — was originally tossed in the clink for violating his $1 million bail package in February by hanging out at various Staten Island sauce joints without permission from the court.
Zancocchio was busted in January in a roundup that nabbed nine other accused mobsters. He had been on home confinement for just a month when he was granted permission to attend the Staten Island wake and burial of his aunt.
But instead of going straight home after the wake, he was caught hanging around the bar at Bella Mama Rose, a restaurant “that he owns along with Frank Camuso, a captain in the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra,” prosecutors said.
The next day, after his aunt’s burial, Zancocchio went to the Staten Island eatery Denino and then “stopped inside a bakery to greet people,” the feds said.
Zancocchio is expected to be released Tuesday, after he is outfitted with a GPS-tracking device.
The judge’s order brought tears to the eyes of Zancocchio’s daughter, Michelle Wright, who blasted the feds for locking her dad up because of his foodie detours.
“That’s just tradition,” she said of his going to restaurants after funerals. “Then they followed us like we’re terrorists.”
