Reputed mob figure sings like a canary

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - You shoulda been at La Stanza last night. The place was mobbed.

Sure, they make great ravioli, but most of the restaurant's patrons came to see Ralph "Ralphie Head" Abbruzzi, the reputed mob associate who talked his way out of house arrest for the night to sing Louis Prima tunes.

He didn't disappoint, opening with "Buona Sera," then a hip-shaking version of "Jump, Jive an' Wail" backed by a horn section. He didn't have a saxophone, but the air sax worked just fine.

"I'm doing what I love to do," Abbruzzi said. "I should have done this sooner."

Might've been a better career choice.

In 2001, when Abbruzzi was convicted of participating in an interstate theft ring, prosecutors described him as a "confirmed criminal likely to remain so" and said it's "unlikely that he will ever be a productive member of society."

But Ralphie Head looked pretty damned productive in his pork- pie hat last night at 20th Street and Oregon Avenue. He had the audience eating out of his hand in between bites of pork medallions.

"The crowd goes crazy when he starts singing. They go nuts," said Debbie Leuzzi, his daughter's godmother, who has known Abbruzzi since they were teenagers.

Abbruzzi, 59, started singing in the early 1980s alongside "Cookie Jar and the Crumbs" in Atlantic City, Leuzzi said.

"Ralphie's just a really sweet guy," she said. "I know he has not too good of a record, but he's good-hearted."

Earlier this month, Abbruzzi pleaded guilty in Media to criminal use of a telephone, a third-degree felony. He was busted last summer in the "Operation Delco Nostra" organized-crime probe for selling winning lottery tickets to Nicholas "Nicky the Hat" Cimino to conceal Cimino's illegal income.

Abbruzzi was sentenced to 30 days house arrest, but he personally convinced Delaware County Judge Frank Hazel to let him out for the previously scheduled La Stanza performance.

"Maybe come have dinner and watch me do a couple numbers," he told the judge.

Some of Abbruzzi's old associates were there. Rita Merlino, the mother of jailed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, was on her feet clapping and cheering with her girlfriends as Abbruzzi belted out "That Old Black Magic."

Reputed mob underboss Anthony Staino sat at a round table of friends, sharing a word with defense attorney Greg Pagano.

Convicted bookmaker and mob associate Edward "Wags" Wagner, 42, was there hugging women and shaking hands, and his brother, Raymond Wagner, stopped by.

But Judge Hazel didn't. *