Suspect Arrested In Mafia Hit

A man was charged Saturday with gunning down a member of the Gambino crime family outside a hospital in a $50,000 contract killing ordered to settle a loan-sharking dispute.

Ernesto Rodriguez, 59, was arrested Friday night while hiding in a house, said Capt. John Hill, Manhattan chief of detectives.

Rodriguez was charged with attempted murder and assault in the April 11 shooting of “Handsome” Jack Giordano, a reputed captain in the Gambino family.

A bullet severed Giordano’s spinal cord and he is paralyzed from the neck down.

Another mobster ordered the hit because Giordano, 49, was pressing him for repayment of a loan, Hill said. “They were trying to get Jack off their back.”