16 yrs. for ex-fugitive drug goon

IT WAS a marriage of necessity — that came with a hitch.

When nightlife impresario, theater owner and gay rights advocate Bruce Mailman was dying of an HIV-related illness, he and his companion of 29 years scrambled to find a way to shield their vast wealth from the IRS.

It was 1994, and Mailman and his longtime lover, Dr. John Sugg, didn’t have the option of marrying one another or transferring their assets tax-free to a spouse. The Supreme Court wouldn’t legalize gay marriage for another 20 years.

Instead, the two came up with an ingenious plan to preserve their fortune — which included art by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.

Mailman would marry their longtime female friend, Lucienne Reed, allowing him to capitalize on the federal tax exemptions that were then afforded to married opposite-sex couples.

When Mailman died six months later, Reed married Sugg so he could acquire Mailman’s assets.

Reed and Sugg were married in name only, and lived in separate states. Still, their bond lasted until he died in Manhattan last year with more than $37 million.

And that unusual arrangement has led to a showdown in court.

Reed has accused an employee and acquaintance of Sugg of refusing to hand over to her an East Village loft apartment and scores of paintings valued in the millions of dollars that Sugg and Mailman owned.

Reed says that the employee, Stephen Pevner, came forward months after Sugg died claiming that Sugg had leased him a Lafayette St. apartment at a bargain rate. The lease also included the transfer of scores of artwork, including two works by Haring, a collage of “Studio 54” by Warhol and photos by Robert Mapplethorpe.

Reed filed a petition in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court on Oct. 30, accusing Pevner of forging the lease and noting she wasn’t listed in the document as a co-landlord.

She is demanding that Pevner hand over the art so she can establish a collection of the works in memory of Mailman and Sugg.

In her filing, Reed explained her role as a two-time widow and her unusual nuptials with Mailman and Sugg.

“This case arises out of a nontraditional marriage based on a lifelong friendship and unconditional trust,” the petition says.

Mailman and Sugg plotted to outsmart Uncle Sam in 1994.

“Their plan, while perfectly legal, had one problem — whom could they trust to be their bride? Who could be trusted to inherit millions of dollars and still fulfill the second part of the plan by marrying Dr. Sugg?” the petition says. “The answer: Lucienne Reed.”

At the time, Reed, a divorcee, had known Sugg for 40 years, since he and her first husband were medical students at Vanderbilt University. A BROOKLYN drug ring leader received a 16-year sentence Monday after going on the lam for a decade.

Elson Warren, 41, led a Bushwick crew that operated from around 1998 to 2004, peddling poison in the community and shooting up rivals.

The operation branched out to West Virginia, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said.

Warren was indicted in 2004, but evaded arrest for a decade, according to prosecutors. They said during that time Warren threatened at least two people he thought were cooperating with the government.

Warren was apprehended in July 2014 in the parking lot of a Brooklyn McDonald’s. He had a loaded pistol and ammo on him, court papers said.

He pleaded guilty in April to drug dealing conspiracy. Judge Nina Gershon imposed the sentence that prosecutors and the defense worked out in the guilty plea.

Warren had been looking at a potential life sentence.