Actually, I Don’t Know Which Is More Disturbing

Not to worry — that possible post-9/11 bias attack actually was just garden-variety mafia intimidation:

What started out as an arson investigation into a deli fire that some believed was anti-Muslim backlash in the months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, has led investigators to the conclusion that a Gambino associate ordered the hit to keep a competitor under control.

Edward “The Irishman” Fisher, 54, was charged with ordering the 2001 firebombing of My Deli & Grocery in the Fox Hills section of Staten Island. Investigators yesterday said the owner of the deli, Hamim Syed, 48, was planning to open another deli that would compete with Fisher’s bagel shop.

When threats didn’t deter Mr. Syed, a Pakistani immigrant, Fisher turned to two underlings to carry out the arson attack, the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Arson and Explosion Squad, Lieutenant Dennis Briordy, said.

“It took this whole deli out,” he said, adding: “He wanted it to go away.”

At 4:50 a.m., the men appeared at the door of the deli at 200 Rhine Ave. with a lit commercial fireworks launcher. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives classifies the launcher as an “extremely powerful destructive device,” a spokesman, Special Agent Joseph Green, said.

Anthony Maniscalco, 36, held the door, while Salvatore Palmieri, 54, tossed the explosive inside, Lieutenant Briordy said. Within minutes, the store was completely engulfed in flames. Four employees managed to escape without injury.

In other news, authorities made some additional collars:

In addition to Fisher’s arrest, the joint investigation by the New York Police Department, the FBI, and the ATF yesterday resulted in seven other arrests on a wider range of charges, including racketeering, loan sharking, extortion, and murder.

Also arrested was a Genovese family soldier, John “Little John” Giglio, 48, who was charged with nine racketeering acts, and crime family associates Vincent “Vinny Bastille” Garcia, 34, Richard Dacunto, 44, John “Hammer” Laforte, 38, Anthony “The Retard” Stocco, 24, and Raymond Spitale, 62.

Palmieri was also charged with the 1990 murder of Ronald Peteroy outside of a bar on Forest Avenue. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

All the men, except Mr. Stocco, were remanded without bail in the District Court of the Eastern District of New York because of a flight risk.

Of course — he’s “The Retard” . . .