Actor Steven Seagal was the star witness Tuesday in the NY trial of accused mobsters Peter Gotti and others. The Government is alleging that "reputed Gambino boss Peter Gotti (brother of the late mob boss John Gotti), and reputed capo Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone and four other men engaged in extortion, gambling, wire fraud, loan-sharking and sundry other illegal business practices. "

Based upon this lively recap of Seagal's testimony, we're sorry we missed it.

The actor described being "invited" to take a car ride two years ago to a meeting with a capo in the Gambino crime family who spoke to him in not-so-gentle terms about paying extortion. Afterward, Seagal testified another mob associate gave him the bottom line. "Y'know, if you had said the wrong thing, they were going to kill you," he said he was told....

In a nutshell, Segal and a connected pal were doing some films together, Seagal backed out when he thought the friend began acting erratic. The friend got "the mob" to threaten Seagal, so Seagal went to another branch of "the mob" for help.

When asked why he didn't go to the FBI for help, "Seagal said that working through the FBI would have been too time-consuming. "I am a movie star," he said. "If I want to continue to make movies, I can't go into the witness protection program."

Seagal was reportedly very nervous at first. But by the end of his four hours on the stand, he was an old pro.

Seagal became progressively more comfortable during the course of his four hours of testimony. At first, the judge took the role of coach, repeatedly prompting him to relax, breath deeply and speak up. By the afternoon, however, when defense attorney George Santangelo engaged in an energetic cross examination, Seagal conceded nothing.

"You want to scream at me?" Seagal demanded. "You think that's going to make it better? This is a court of law."

At this, Judge Frederic Block interceded. "Listen, I don't have any experience in the martial arts," he told Seagal. "But I do have other powers. So take it easy."