His battle to maintain control over the Colombo crime family in the 1990s sparked a bloody Mafia civil war that left a dozen gangsters dead — and claimed the life of an innocent teen.

Now, at 88, Victor Orena is serving three life sentences at a federal prison hospital in Ayer, Mass. and his lawyer is making a last-gasp effort to get him sprung before he can finish even one

An attorney for the old-fella claims he is now so addled with Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments that “end-of-life authorization plans” were discussed after he suffered a heart attack there in December.

But after failing to convince a three-judge federal appeals panel to grant Orena “compassionate release” last year, his lawyer was back in a New York courtroom on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to let the aging mobster die at home.

[My sympathy meter’s pegged. But growing up in the 60s in New Jersey, with the mob front and center in the news, it is VERY weird to suddenly read “Columbo” family and realize no one’s spoken about organized crime like that in ever so long. ~ Beege]