You can lock up “Vinny Gorgeous” – just don’t mess with his hair.
Reputed Bonanno boss Vincent Basciano, whose nickname comes from the Hello Gorgeous hair salon he once owned, complained to a federal judge that jail was cramping his style.
In a letter revealed yesterday, the whiny wiseguy griped to Judge Nicholas Garaufis that his lawyers’ phone numbers weren’t on his list of approved calls from jail and that he wasn’t being provided dashing duds and haircuts.
“I know the government wants me to suffer,” he wrote from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Brooklyn. “I’ll handle that, judge.
“But by me having my suits, getting my lawyers’ cellphone numbers approved, and having my haircuts every two weeks isn’t going to make me feel like I’m in Disney World!”
The letter was revealed shortly before the prosecution made its closing arguments against Basciano for the 2001 murder of Frank Santoro.
“The last trial, your honor signed an order for five suits and for legal calls as I needed them while I was on trial,” Basciano said in the letter.
He argued that prosecutors agreed to remind the jail guards of his hairstyling schedule and clothing requirements but that the warden claimed not to have heard from the government on the matter.
The letter was postmarked July 23, a few days after he had to borrow a shirt and tie from Garaufis when his jailers failed to deliver clean clothes.
Basciano’s lawyer, James Kousouros, told Garaufis, “Most of the issues have been resolved.”