Probation for woman in affair with teen

An Oceanside woman who cheated on her ex-mobster husband with a 16-year-old boy will serve three years of probation for endangering the welfare of a child, a judge ruled Monday.

Stephanie Finnerty, 42, of Oceanside, who rushed from the courthouse wearing sunglasses and a hood drawn close around her face, pleaded guilty to the crime in December. Finnerty initially had been charged with third-degree rape after authorities said she had sex with the boy.

With that charge dropped in the plea deal, prosecutors said she will not be placed on the state sex offender registry.

But Nassau Judge Joseph Calabrese did issue an order of protection against Finnerty, keeping her away from the boy, who is now 17, until 2015.

Finnerty's lawyer, Nancy Bartling of Mineola, said the victim, who has not been named in court and with whom Finnerty had a long-term relationship, has been harassing Finnerty and her family in recent days.

Bartling and prosecutors said Finnerty has filed police reports against the high school student, saying that he has been texting her husband, posting harassing messages about her on Facebook, and even trying to run one of her teenage children off the road. The teen has not been charged.

"This is something she wants to move past," Bartling said of Finnerty.

Bartling said Finnerty is still married to Michael Finnerty, 45, an ex-Gambino gangster who testified against his old friend John "Junior" Gotti at Gotti's trial on racketeering and murder conspiracy charges in 2009. At the time, Michael Finnerty credited his wife with saving him years ago from continuing his life of crime.

Michael Finnerty has testified in court that he was part of Gotti's Howard Beach crew when he was young. He pleaded guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to time served last spring after convincing a federal judge that he had turned his life around after meeting his wife in 1991.