Many years after legendary mob boss Joe Colombo convinced Paramount Pictures to remove all references to the Mafia from “The Godfather,” a gaggle of Colombo gangsters, relatives, and friends gathered for a screening of “Godfather III: The Unauthorized Sequel.”

Capos Theodore Persico and Victor “Little Vic” Orena – who two years later would be on opposite sides of a bloody mob war that claimed a dozen lives – were among 150 or so guests for the festivities at Sirico’s Restaurant in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, in May 1989.

The star of the full-length movie spoof, Christopher Colombo, the youngest son of the late Mafia boss, was also there. Colombo, then a wannabe actor/screenwriter, starred as maniacal mob boss Don John Testosteroni and was an executive producer of the film.

His brothers Anthony, Joseph Jr., and Vincent were in federal prison and could not make the screening, but their wives and children enjoyed the show. So did his mother, Lucille, listed as a location scout in the credits, and his sister, Catherine, who in the film played Don John’s sister Anisette Antipasto.

Chris Colombo, normally outgoing and gregarious, was unusually reserved that night. He wasn’t embarrassed by his performance, but deferred to a friend, Christopher Gambale, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film as his “thesis film”for his baccalaureate degree in film and video from the School of Visual Arts.

“He tried to stay in the background,” recalled a Gang Land source who was there. “The party was more of a graduation party for Chris [Gambale], so he didn’t make himself the center of attention, like he usually would.”

Gang Land has obtained a copy of this rare video and rates it two and a half bullets (for an unfair comparison, “The Godfather” got four.) For those with a sense of mob history, it’s an extraordinary find.

In an early scene, Testosteroni walks through a cemetery in Palermo, Sicily, stops at the headstone of his Uncle Virgil, and in an animated, often hilarious rant, tells his dead uncle that he is on his way to America to avenge his death. And, exclaims Don John, when he completes his task – killing Anthony Corleone, played by Gambale – he will return to Palermo, exhume his remains, and plant them at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“Revenge will be my word. And death will be my message,” proclaims Don John, adding with a smirk as he departs: “And don’t worry, I’ll have a safe flight.”

A brawny, charismatic 6-footer, Colombo as Don John wields automatic pistols, handguns, and machine guns with dexterity as he, along with body guard Mac Arroni, whacks a few wiseguys during the search for Corleone to blow him away on the mean streets of New York.

Along the way, Colombo does a striptease with guns, peeling off handguns, shotguns, magazine clips, and single rounds that end up in a heap on a bed in his safe house. Rival gangsters and their comares have names like Tex Tartuffo, Lisa Locatelli, Matty Marinara, and Frankie the Weasel.

Colombo’s supporting cast includes many real-life Gang Land figures, including the late DeCavalcante capo Rudy Farone and several crew members, including Sal DeMartino, Tony Hooks DelPriore, and Louie Talese. Mob associate Gregory Chrysler, who played Mac Arroni, is serving 25-to-life for a 1999 drug murder. Some scenes were shot at a Park Slope, Brooklyn, social club that Farone operated with Mr. Gambale’s father, Joseph, a Joe Colombo contemporary and reputed family soldier, according to a cast member.

In one scene, as frustration mounts, Don John voices concerns that could easily have been uttered last year by the character Tony Soprano: “It’s just something I got to work out for myself. My rhythm’s off. I don’t know what it is. I’m thinking of going for counseling.”

Finally, Don John tracks his prey down in Atlantic City, and in a quirky ending befitting the 98-minute parody, Corleone makes Don John an offer he can’t refuse: an opportunity to join him at the Sands for a Bobby Vinton performance.

“I looove Bobby Vinton,” says Don John before they amble off to catch the show.

Gang Land brings this all up now because of a recent decision by Manhattan Federal Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Colombo’s pending racketeering case. Two weeks ago, Judge Buchwald relaxed strict house arrest conditions that had been in place for five months, ruling that Colombo could leave his home from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

“He should get back to acting, get some work,” Mr. Gambale told Gang Land. “He was my good luck charm then. If he’s around, and available, I intend to get him into every movie I make.”

A movie role for Colombo is something Mr. Gambale just might be able to deliver. He’s had a pretty good run since their low budget film won him a Special Recognition Prize for best full-length feature from the School of Visual Arts.

After spending four years as director of special operations for Miramax’s chairman, Harvey Weinstein, Mr. Gambale went out on his own. He was hired by Martin Scorsese to write the screenplay for “Deuces Wild,” a 2002 film about the 1950s gang scene.

Mr. Gambale says his next effort, “Nights Of Turquoise,” is a true story of four young Italian-Americans coming of age in Brooklyn during a fast-paced summer in the late 1980s when it was hard to tell the difference among bankers, brokers, and wiseguys. He is still casting and hopes to begin shooting in November.

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From the time Colombo was arrested for racketeering in March, Barry Slotnick, Michael Shapiro, and their high-priced law firm of Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker LLP, were unable to ease Colombo’s strict house arrest conditions no matter what they tried.

They huffed and they puffed – in letters and court appearances – but all they got was permission for Colombo to take his 6-year-old daughter to and from the school bus stop in the morning and the afternoon, to feed their farm animals, to mow and weed-whack the grass, to vacuum (but not use) the pool, and to take out the garbage.

Things changed quickly after he hired attorney Valerie Amsterdam, who is under indictment herself for fraud and witness-tampering and facing trial in October.

On August 10, Judge Buchwald explained all the possible pitfalls of hiring Ms. Amsterdam, making an excellent point to the mob associate whose racketeering indictment includes gambling charges: “If you just look at the odds, most people who are indicted get convicted, you know,” said Judge Buchwald.

“I’m kind of always for the underdog and the long shot, your honor,” replied Colombo. “I believe in Ms. Amsterdam and am willing to take the chance.”

Instead of huffing and puffing, Ms. Amsterdam and an associate, Jeremy Schneider, went to work. They listened to eight months’ worth of tapes made by the feds’ witnesses and found five that undermined the claim that Colombo was a danger to the community, and played them for the judge.

They also presented scads of other evidence, including testimony from one witness and an affidavit from another, to drive home the point that Colombo may have talked tough, but was not a danger to anyone, with the possible exception of himself.

A week later, on August 18, Colombo collected on his bet.