He was an FBI agent.

And in two years of undercover work, the latest incarnation of Donnie Brasco did a number on the family that John Gotti built.

His daring efforts paid off yesterday with the indictment of 32 organized crime members, including the acting boss and underboss of the Gambino family.

They were hit in an indictment that accused the crew of everything from beatings in the aisles of Bloomingdale's to shaking down a popular radio station.

The agent "helped to rip out at the roots the first post-Gotti Gambino hierarchy," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley, describing the family's grip on construction companies, labor unions, trucking, restaurants and nightclubs.

"He accomplished something not seen in more than two decades," said FBI-New York Director Pasquale D'Amuro, comparing it to the work of former undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone in the 1980s.

Pistone's charade as mob wanna-be Donnie Brasco helped take apart much of the Bonanno crime family.

Arrested in the predawn sweep were acting boss Arnold (Zeke) Squitieri, 69; acting underboss Anthony (Genius) Megale, 51, and Gregory DePalma, 72, the confused capo who was ready to propose the FBI agent for membership in the mob.

Unlike Donnie Brasco, this undercover FBI agent wasn't a young man. He was a veteran of the bureau in his 50s, who stood more than 6 feet tall and looked the part of a Mafia enforcer, officials said.

His entrée to the underworld was the owner of Pretty Woman, a now-defunct mob-controlled strip club in the Bronx. The owner introduced him to DePalma, a secret partner in the club.

The agent presented himself as a guy able to move stolen goods, and starting in May 2003 he came up with thousands of dollars worth of "stolen" watches and jewelry.

By January 2004, he expanded to plasma TVs. All the goods were provided by the FBI.

Soon, he was put "on record" with DePalma - meaning he had to report all of his criminal activities to DePalma.

DePalma, in turn, would settle any disputes that the agent had with other members of organized crime, and got a percentage of all the agent's ill-gotten gains.

To bolster his credibility, the agent verbally threatened loanshark and extortion victims, but he never physically assaulted anyone, officials said. He never personally met with the acting boss, Squitieri, officials said.

DePalma, who had done time for an earlier racketeering case in 1999, was a worrywart about surveillance. To prevent it, he came up with the heartless idea of holding mob meetings by the bedside of his comatose son at the United Hebrew Geriatric Center in New Rochelle.

His son, Craig, had been in a coma since 2000, when he tried to hang himself after first testifying against the mob, then recanting his sworn statements. Unbeknown to the elder DePalma, the FBI had the health facility bugged.

The agent's work came as the Gottis were finally ceding control of the family taken over by the Dapper Don after the 1985 assassination of Paul Castellano.

In January, the family boss, Peter Gotti, was convicted of murder conspiracy and is likely to die in prison. The Dapper Don's son, John A. (Junior) Gotti, is facing charges that could imprison him for life.

By 2002, the family formed by Carlo Gambino had resorted to extorting radio stations.

The owners of WKTU-FM were being strong-armed to run ads for mob-controlled restaurants, including the Pleasant Avenue Cafe in Harlem, reputedly owned by a mob soldier.

The undercover agent spent much of his time with DePalma and saw his share of the mob life.

He was there Feb. 21, when DePalma and another gangster used a candlestick holder to beat an associate - right in the housewares section of Bloomingdale's in White Plains, sources familiar with the incident said.

The agent intervened to prevent the victim from being killed, and his actions did not compromise his cover.

His work was so successful a judge approved a monitor on DePalma's cell phone, which provided a treasure trove of evidence.

He did his work so well that DePalma was preparing to elevate him to a Gambino soldier - but the arrests got in the way.

Originally published on March 10, 2005