Seagal Out for Mob Justice

The government is out for justice against the Mob, and Steven Seagal is its man for the job.

Lest you think the feds have been watching too many old videos, they actually believe the aging action star can help make a case against some Mafia types. Seagal claims the Mob tried to use him to get a foothold in Hollywood and even made a death threat to keep him line.

In a Hefner-esque Asian jacket and jeans, the star of once-upon-a-time hits like Out for Justice, Above the Law, Under Seige and Hard to Kill testified Tuesday as a government witness in the trial of reputed gangster Peter Gotti, brother of the late Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, and six other supposed mobsters.

Seagal says his ex-business partner and alleged Gambino associate Julius Nasso used his organized crime connections to extort money from the actor.

Seagal told the court he was bullied by the Mob after backing out of a four-film deal with Nasso.

On the stand in New York, Seagal said he met with a contingent of mobsters in 2000--an event that led him to fear for his life. He claims that defendant Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone demanded Seagal make a $150,00 payoff to the Gambinos for each film he did with Nasso. Seagal said he was bullied into working with the producer again after he had already severed professional ties.

"Look at me when I talk to you," Seagal quoted Ciccone as saying during one meeting. "We're proud people...Work with Jules and we'll split the pie."

Seagal also said the gangsters were willing to give him some real-life exit wounds if he didn't do what they wanted. "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you," the actor quoted a mobster as telling him after one meeting.

During his testimony, Seagal said he tried to "buy time" for himself by agreeing to work with Nasso again. "These were people who were not going to let it go," he said.

Prosecutors brought Seagal into the fray after wiretaps showed Nasso being told to demand money from the actor. The feds also cite a recording from a bugged Brooklyn restaurant where the suspects in the case were laughing over how "petrified" Seagal looked at a meeting.

For his part, Seagal claims he wanted no part of this whole legal mess and never asked for police protection from the Mob. "I'm a movie star," he said. "If you want to keep making movies, you don't want to start a war with these people."

But it seems a war has indeed already been started.

Last March, Nasso sued Seagal for $60 million for backing out of four films. Nasso said the actor flaked on their deal after consulting a Tibetan monk. Seagal, who teamed with Nasso for 15 years and established Seagal-Nasso Productions in 1990, countered the allegations, saying he was being bullied by some real-life Sopranos types to keep working with Nasso, and he wanted out.

Then, two journalists received Mafia-like threats after publishing stories on the case. One reported got her window smashed and received an ominous threat accompanied by a dead fish. Another had a gun pulled on him while driving.

To make things even more confusing, Seagal was later implicated in the threats on the reporters. The suspect arrested for one of the attacks said the actor hired him to make "the Italians"--aka Nasso & Co.--look bad in the press. Meanwhile, defense attorneys in the Gambino case have labeled Seagal a "pathological liar" during their opening arguments, hoping to discredit him during his testimony.

For his part, Seagal called that charge that he hired someone to attack the journalists bogus. When cross-examined in court Tuesday about his credibility and asked if he had ever hired a CIA operative to kill someone, Seagal snapped. "This is insane," Seagal said before the judge struck the question. "I'm not on trial here."

Either way, defense attorneys claim all Seagal-Nasso deals have been on the up-and-up and the actor's testimony should not effect the Gambino case. They also claim the actor went to the feds to keep Nasso from collecting on the dissolved partnership and call the whole Mob connection hooey.

Seagal begrudgingly made the trip to New York to testify all the way from Thailand, where he is currently shooting Belly of the Beast.

Newsday reports that the actor was hesitant to testify in the case, afraid both his career and family would be in peril. "I think to testify in a case like this could put me and my family in grave danger," Seagal told a federal grand jury last year. "I still think that. And it could destroy my livelihood, and I have six children to feed."

Despite the fears, the actor's testimony, for which he received immunity, has wrapped. And nary a hair on his ponytailed head has been hurt.