Mafia Boss Who Sparked New York’s Last Mob War Mounts Desperate Final Bid for Freedom

His battle to maintain control over the Colombo crime family in the 1990s sparked a bloody Mafia civil war that left a dozen gangsters dead — and claimed the life of an innocent teen.

Now, at 88, Victor Orena is serving three life sentences at a federal prison hospital in Ayer, Mass. and his lawyer is making a last-gasp effort to get him sprung before he can finish even one.

An attorney for the old-fella claims he is now so addled with Alzheimer's disease and other ailments that "end-of-life authorization plans" were discussed after he suffered a heart attack there in December.

But after failing to convince a three-judge federal appeals panel to grant Orena "compassionate release" last year, his lawyer was back in a New York courtroom on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to let the aging mobster die at home.

Orena, who was short and chubby during his years on the street and had the wiseguy nickname "Little Vic," didn't attend the hearing in Brooklyn federal court, where the Colombo family's reputed consigliere, Ralph DiMatteo, pleaded guilty to racketeering two hours later.

Orena lawyer David Schoen is hoping to win permission for a re-sentencing hearing at which new evidence about the bloody Colombo war could be presented in a long-shot bid to tip the scales of justice.

Federal prosecutor Devon Lash argued, however, that such a hearing was “not a venue for retrying the underlying case.”

Judge Eric Komitee told Schoen Thursday to file a letter as soon as possible with legal arguments to support his plan.

Orena was named acting boss of the Colombos in 1988 after the family's godfather, Carmine "the Snake" Persico, was given a 100-year prison sentence.

But when Persico later decreed that his son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, should be be made permanent boss, Orena refused the order, leading to months of carnage that included four murders in just six days in December 1991.

It came to be known as the Third Colombo War — and the bloody internal family feud was also the last major mafia war in New York.

From November 1991 to October 1993, 12 mobsters were slain in the war, including an unaffiliated 78-year-old ex-Genovese soldier, who was gunned down by Persico triggermen while visiting an Orena social club.

The gunmen later apologized for the errant hit on the uninvolved wiseguy.

The Persico loyalists included veteran capo Gregory Scarpa, a notorious underworld hitman — and longtime FBI informant — whose predilection for violence earned him the nickname "The Grim Reaper."

Scarpa reportedly relished in gunning down Orena followers during the war. In one of the hits, he allegedly shouted, "This one's for Carmine!" as he fired three shots from a revolver into his victim's face.

In addition to gangsters on both sides, one of the victims was 18-year-old Matteo Speranza, who was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity while working in a mobbed-up bagel shop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Other innocent bystanders were wounded during the feud, including a woman who was struck by a stray bullet when her boyfriend was rubbed out and three pedestrians hit by a car that carried mobsters fleeing from an attempted hit.

A 4-year-old girl was among those injured in the collision.

In December 1992, jurors convicted Orena of all nine counts against him after a trial that centered on the devastation wrought by the Colombo civil war, which also left the once-mighty mob family decimated.

The Colombos are now reportedly the weakest of New York Mafia's infamous "Five Families."

Following Thursday's hearing, Orena's lawyer told The Messenger that during a recent conversation, the mobster didn't seem to know where he was.

When Schoen asked if he wanted to attend the court session, Orena responded that he "needed to get a reservation at a restaurant," the lawyer said.

And when told that he would have to remain in custody if he traveled to New York, Orena said he'd stay with his son on Long Island instead, Schoen said.