2½ years for ‘cocky’ mobster

He just wanted to crow one more time.

A 76-year-old mobster with a long criminal record argued at his sentencing Thursday that his loan sharking was merely an ill-conceived attempt at reliving the glory days. Then a judge gave the ex-con some more heyday memories back — in the form of a 2½-year prison sentence.

Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio was caught in a secretly recorded conversation in 2014 wondering what he’d have to do to collect a $600 interest payment on a $30,000 mob loan.

“What do I got to do with him?” Onofrio, of East Haven, Conn., asked. "Do you have to take his eyes out?

But at sentencing, Onofrio’s attorney, Thomas Nooter, argued the threats were all talk and that his client was simply trying to boost his reputation after years of leading a lawabiding life on his Social Security stipend.

“It was like he was living the glory days back when there was a Genovese crime family,” Nooter said, arguing that a mob snitch had persuaded Onofrio to return to a life of crime.

Judge Richard Sullivan wasn’t buying it, noting that witnesses said Onofrio was an acting capo in charge of crews on Mulberry St. in Little Italy. In addition to the loan sharking, Onofrio pleaded guilty to hustling untaxed cigarettes.

“It’s not like Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather III’ — ‘Oh, every time I’m out, they pull me back in,’ ” Sullivan said.

The judge was troubled by Onofrio’s criminal record dating to 1971, which included lengthy prison sentences for manslaughter in connection with a man who was shot five times and run over with a vehicle, and cocaine trafficking.

“There were a number of wakeup calls for Mr. Onofrio that were not heeded,” Sullivan said before imposing sentence.

Onofrio did not address the judge, only saying “You won’t see me again.”

He was arrested in a sweeping bust in 2016 of 46 alleged members of the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno and Philadelphia crime families. The most prominent defendant in the case — reputed Philly boss Joey Merlino — is awaiting sentencing.