After being fired for speaking to a reporter, a lawyer who had represented a slain firefighter's family in their lawsuit against the city is now suing the widow and her children. Way to keep those bad stereotypes about lawyers going! After the summer's deadly Deutsche Bank fire, where firefighters Robert Beddia, 56, and Joseph Graffagnino, 34, died, their families indicated they would sue for up to $180 million. Which would be a payday for any......

If your actions helped lead to what many called the biggest mob bust in two decades, would you be showing your face in the five boroughs for the Five Families to see? Well, Joseph Vollaro, who is supposed to be in witness protection, seems to live life to its very edge, as the Post reports he "brashly strolled into a Staten Island sushi restaurant Saturday night," picking up take-out. Vollaro went to Mizu in Tottenville......

+ Mayor Bloomberg hate cigs, but he doesn't want to raise the legal smoking age. + The feds have decided not to retry Junior Gotti-- apparently after losing three times, they've had enough. + Volunteers are collecting foliage from the High Line for replanting once the park is built. + The alleged child molestor killed by an angry Fairfield lawyer turns out to have been innocent-- apparently the child wasn't right. + NSFW Friday......

Should John Gotti Jr.'s nickname be "Teflon Jr."? Because, for the third time in a year, a mistrial has been declared in the federal government's racketeering case against the infamous mob family figure. The jury sent Judge Shira Sheindlin a note saying, "We have been unable to come to a unanimous decision on all counts." From the NY Times: The hung jury represents a significant loss for the government, which had been intent on......

- Man fatally stabbed at the Mill Basin Home Depot this morning - Curtis Sliwa took the stand during the Junior Gotti trial today: "I figured I had seconds, maybe minutes to live." - Other mob news: John Gotti secret family gets their 15 minutes - Former deputy mayor Marc Shaw, who was replaced (to his surprise, perhaps) by Patricia Harris will now work for real estate concern Extell; we expect Extell to milk Shaw......

- Junior Gotti gets a mistrial! What is going on with the criminal justice system? - The NY Times is laying off 500 more people (160 from the New England operations); hey, isn't Times Select supposed to pay for some of that? - Some animal victims of Hurricane Katrina came to New York to hopefully find themselves suddenly adopted by people with too small apartment but way big hearts; see more here at Animal Haven......

- Marc Ecko (right) wins his suit against the city - a judge rules the city violated the First Amendment in revoking the graf party permit! Whodathunkit? But the city is going to appeal, so who knows what'll happen on Wednesday. - The New Yorker looks at how the ghost of Sex and the City lingers on in the West Village... might Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik consider opening up a Bleecker Street store? [via......