Witness: Gov pal banished me

THE KEY to the prime real estate in Gov. Cuomo’s Manhattan office was the same as anyplace else: Location, location, location.

Witness Andrew Ball, currently Cuomo’s deputy secretary, testified Thursday about his 2014 banishment from the governor’s inner sanctum by the politician’s confidante Joseph Percoco.

Bell recalled getting bumped down two stories, landing on the less-desirable 37th floor.

“The 39th floor was ... where the governor’s senior staff sat,” recounted Ball. “Obviously there was some sort of prestige, for lack of a better word, associated with that, and that was where I wanted to be.”

Ball testified that he spoke with Percoco about the move several times, only to hear the response “that it was (Percoco’s) decision and that it was final.”

Percoco, 48, is a longtime Cuomo pal who began working as a 19-year-old for then-Gov. Mario Cuomo. Prosecutors charged Percoco swapped his influence for $300,000 in bribes on behalf of real estate developers and an energy company executive.

Previous trial testimony indicated Ball received the office boot to pacify Percoco co-defendant Steven Aiello, who felt his son was taking too much abuse from his Cuomo administration colleague.

Ball also testified that Percoco continued to occupy his own 39th floor work space to work on Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 reelection campaign — even though he no longer held a position in the administration.