Judge: Stay in jail, Lotto mobster guy

A man whose mob family roots run deep will have to stay in jail as he awaits trial in on charges he was part of a conspiracy to defraud lottery jackpot winners of more than $80 million, a federal judge said Wednesday.

It wasn’t the ruling Frangesco “Frankie” Russo, 38, wanted. Before the video hearing before Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, he blurted out to his lawyer Joseph Conway how frightened he was to be in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“This is the scariest place I’ve ever been. Joe, get me out of here!” Russo said.

Russo — a Roslyn, L.I., resident — on Tuesday was granted $2 million bail in the lottery case, which led to charges against Long Island “Lottery Lawyer” Jason Kurland (photo).

But prosecutors appealed — and won their argument to keep Russo locked up awaiting trial after they told Garaufis that he was caught on wiretaps threatening to kill Gregory Altieri, a jewelry merchant accused in July of operating what feds describe as a $200 million Ponzi scheme.

Russo — the son of Joseph “JoJo” Russo, a Colombo crime family capo who died in 2007 in federal prison while serving time for murder and racketeering — was also less than honest with prosecutors about his substantial assets, the judge found.

Russo, alleged Genovese family soldier Christopher Chierchio, former securities broker Francis Smookler and Kurland were charged Tuesday with taking $80 million from winners of big lottery jackpots — including a $1.5 billion winner from South Carolina, and a $245.6 million winner from New York.

Prosecutors said Kurland roped in four lottery winners initially with legitimate investments, and later convinced them to put their money in shady ventures. Then the bent quartet moved the money into their own accounts.