A bit more information on Cuddles stemming from his trial.

Robert Hornickel was shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the thigh, with mob approval, over a disputed marijuana deal, federal prosecutors say.

When the bullets didn't kill him, a rope was wrapped around his neck and he was dragged to his car, parked on a South Philadelphia street, and thrown into the trunk.

Then, Ronald "Cuddles" DiCaprio, a reputed mob associate, "attempted to stab Hornickel several times in the neck to ensure he was dead," federal prosecutors say.

FBI agents yesterday arrested DiCaprio, 42, a reputed waterfront loanshark who works as a bartender, and charged him with acts of racketeering, including the 1983 murder of Hornickel and a conspiracy to sell "large quantities" of high-grade marijuana, known as Hawaiian Gold.

Hornickel had agreed to buy some of the drug, the prosecutors say.

The triggerman in the Hornickel homicide allegedly was Joseph "Rico" Gavel, 39, a former special teams coach for the now-defunct Philadelphia Bell football team, according to prosecutors.

Gavel is serving a 10-year sentence for selling stolen luxury cars.

Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini, a reputed mob member now in prison on unrelated racketeering charges, allegedly gave DiCaprio and Gavel ''authorization" to murder Hornickel, a 30-year-old building contractor

from Maple Shade, N.J.

Hornickel was slain Jan. 17, 1983, and the car containing his body was found 10 days later.

Prosecutors say DiCaprio also has been linked to several other mob murders, including the April 1983 killing of reputed mob member Pasquale "Pat the Cat" Spirito, and the December 1983 slaying of reputed mob associate Robert Riccobene, and the murder of a man in Pittsburgh in 1970.

U.S. Magistrate Peter A. Scuderi yesterday refused to release DiCaprio on bail, and gave prosecutors until Tuesday to ask a federal judge to keep DiCaprio in prison pending trial.

DiCaprio's attorney, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, could not be reached for comment.