Genovese mobster Anthony Romanello is seen outside court after being found GUILTY of punching restaurateur in attempt to collect $86,000 gambling debt

Genovese crime family mobster Anthony Romanello was convicted of racketeering by a federal jury in Brooklyn on Monday after hours of testimony after he was seen beating a restaurateur in an attempt to collect an $86,000 gambling debt.

Romanello, 86, also known as “Rom,” was found guilty of knocking down Shuqeri “Bruno” Selimaj and attacking him at Lincoln Square Steak restaurant in Manhattan in 2017.

Romanello now faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted after jurors found him guilty of two racketeering charges.

'What am I going to say? Nothing, I really didn't do anything,” Romanello, appearing stunned, said outside the courtroom Monday.

Surveillance footage showed him punching a steakhouse owner in the jaw.

Genovese crime family soldier Joseph Celso is also believed to have taken part in the attack.

During the weeklong trial, jurors were shown a 55-second video clip showing the two men in what appeared to be a heated argument before Romanello delivered a right-handed punch to Selimaj's jaw.

Selimaj can be seen raising his hands as he pulls away from Romanello and another man, identified as Irish bookmaker Mike Regan

Others in the restaurant try to break up the trio before Regan and Romanello leave the establishment.

Last week, Selimaj recalled, “Rom kept saying, 'I'd like to punch you'… I said, 'You don't have the guts to hit me. A few seconds later he punched me.'

Selimaj also testified that he then informed the two men that they had been recorded on his restaurant's security camera, with Romanello telling Regan, “Let's get out of here.”

Romanello's attorney Jerry McMahon told the jury that the punch had nothing to do with an extortion scheme, and that Romanello had defended his honor.

McMahon told the court that Selimaj had insulted him, saying he was a “washed up Italian” who “had no balls” and “was nothing.”

“He didn't hit Bruno to collect a gambling debt,” McMahon insisted during the opening remarks. “Bruno told him he was a washed-up Italian, that he had no balls, that he was nothing.”

McMahon had said prosecutors wanted to portray Romanello as having delivered a punch similar to that of 1950s boxer Rocky Marciano.

McMahon then said, “People who have watched the video will say my client 'hits like a girl.'

“If he wasn't Italian, there wouldn't be a problem,” McMahon said during closing arguments Thursday. “But because an Italian intervenes, it's a mafia.”

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that mafiosos visited Selimaj three times in an attempt to threaten him into paying off a relative's debt.

Selimaj had appeared as the first witness in the case, claiming that he had offered to pay his cousin's $6,000 debt, but not his cousin's $80,000 debt.

That decision is said to have infuriated Romanello, causing him to appear at the restaurant.

Selimaj reported the incident to police, but he recanted the next day after his brother relayed to him a message allegedly given by Genovese soldier Joseph Celso, he told the court.

Celso also stood trial alongside Romanello on extortion charges and another charge of obstruction of justice over the alleged threat against Selimaj.

Prosecutors say Celso and Romanello were involved in an extortion scheme by alleged Genovese associate Luan Bexheti.

Celso's lawyer Gerrard Marone told the court his client had nothing to do with the case.

He said: 'He didn't threaten anyone and certainly didn't hit anyone. My client is not involved in the drama.'

Selimaj testified that he knew the two's visits were a means to intimidate him, and that he ultimately paid the debt as a result.

He said: 'I was afraid that this mafia man would hurt me, my cousin.'

In 1993, Celso was acquitted of the murder of 18-year-old Manuel Maya, a Dominican student who was chased seventeen blocks by a group of white men before being beaten to death with a baseball bat and a fire extinguisher after the teenager was spotted spray-painting used to be. graffiti in a park.

Celso was identified as a member of the group, but he was acquitted after the witness who testified against him left the country and refused to return.

Romanello dodged a gun charge in 2012 when the witness who testified against him before the trial suffered a heart attack.