Decapitate? Just kidding

THE CONVICTED con man who ranted to a jailhouse snitch about plotting to sexually mutilate and decapitate a federal judge and prosecutor was merely talking trash to impress the more dangerous inmates, his lawyer argued Thursday.

Lawyer Michael Bachrach said during his opening statement to jurors in Brooklyn Federal Court that his client Joseph Romano, who tips the scales at over 300 pounds, “needed to act a little crazy, a little bit nuts in order to survive in jail.”

Romano, 50, is charged with paying a $22,000 down payment to an undercover cop posing as a hit man to kill Long Island Federal Judge Joseph Bianco and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Gatz.

He allegedly directed the scheme from behind bars while serving his 15-year sentence, which he thought was too stiff for fleecing elderly victims out of $2.5 million in a fraud scheme involving collectable coins.