Daily News from New York, New York • 1014

1 yX 1 I "I i- i a o) up d- dA 0) Ts" x'5 1 ir tTm-A nn tl CODSBSDiroc 0B fiall(ss 1 vm oil fe aai'diScDira HdH Ex Jl By MICHAEL S.C. CLAFFEY I said. The estate is set in gently rolling horse country dotted with maple and oak trees. Its most unique feature is perhaps a 1 116-mile long turf track that encircles a huge field south of the 42-room mansion and barn complex. Old Westbury doesn't allow commercial development, but there is the possibility of building houses on 4-acre lots.

Sealed bds on the property are due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday at the Indianapolis office of Larry Latham Auctioneers, the company handling the sale for the government? The bids will be opened the next polo," said Albert Bianco, president of the Meadow-brook Polo Club. The property evokes a misty past for Bianco, a time when the North Shore of Nassau County was a hub of high society. "When I walk around the grounds, I feel almost reverent," he said. "I can feel the ghosts of the great old Bianco and neighbors of the property hope that it's bought by someone who will maintain it as a horse farm.

But he realizes that's a longshot. "It would take someone with deep pockets and a love of the game," he Old Westbury Farm a relic of a bygone era will be sold to the highest bidder this week. The 97-acre horse farm was once the homestead of the Hitchcock family, one of the fabled names in American polo, and a peer of the Whit neys and Morgans, who lived nearby. Tommy Hitchcock whose father, Tommy assembled the estate in the 1890s, was a dashing socialite who is remembered as the "Babe Ruth of American U.S. i Marshals Service grabbed the Old Westbury Farm (above).

Jockey Diane Nelson (opposite, top) married there. Feds say mobster Vic Orena (opposite, bottom) was hidden owner. FBI investigation. -A month later, Imperio quit the racehorse business, giving up his stalls at Belmont and turning his horses over to another trainer, Dominick Schettino. Two months after that, a special grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Terranova, Imperio, Panarella and Pereira, and Old Westbury Farm became.

the most expensive of property ever seized by the U.S. Marshals Service's Eastern District office. "Seeing horse racing guys, organized crime guys and Wall Street guys in bed together doesn't shock said an assistant U.S. attorney. pie business Jof Jgftking for anglesj 'fc SEIZED: 1 Casino in Las Vegas, filled with $110,000 in cash.

I Pereira then deposited the tash in Atlantic City casinos, later withdrawing the money through a casino check, Around this time, the body 0f Tommy Ocera a Colombo capo who played handball with Orena at Old Westbury Farm was found garroted. Orena was eventually found guilty of murdering Ocera. With Orena down, the FBI hen further developed their case against Imperio, who offered Manny" a way to launder additional drug' profits Jhrpugh horse racing. told Matthews "he knew of many people in Kentucky who would sell horses a aubstantially reduced sales price with the cash being paid under the table," according to the affidavit With enough evidence to arrest the four defendants, te FBI shut down the sting in "May 1992, as "Manny" told Terranova and Imperio he was pulling out of the, deal because he got -wind pfaij a (A day and the top three bidders will have 24 hours to submit a "best and final offer." A series of appraisals in the last two years, cited in the bid documents, put values on the property ranging from $7.5 million to $14.75 million, depending on how the estate is used. The federal government will get to keep whatever's left after the auctioneer is paid off and about $4.5 million is paid to Roslyn Savings Bank for the outstanding principal and interest due on themortgaget it holds the Old Westbury Farm at a glance: 42-room mansion that needs substantial work.

main bam complex with 39 horse stalls, four tack rooms, a stud bam and an underground summer bam with 10 stalls. Two-bedroom apartment attached to the bam. Two-room office with wet bar overlooking the paddocks. five-door garage with room for at least seven cars. Topped with a one-bedroom apartment.

12 paddocks with split-rail fences. 1 116 mile, turf track with banked turns designed and built by the builder of Belmont's racetrack, Joseph King. three-bedroom guest cottage, CO 3 a. c- 3 2.