The unlikely legal luck that allowed ‘Wolf’ to be made

If Leonardo DiCaprio wins an Oscar Sunday night for his role in "The Wolf of Wall Street," he should give thanks not just to the usual cast of characters — his agent, his folks and the cast and crew — but to the federal prosecutors and the judge who made the film possible.

The movie, based on the criminal life of ex-broker Jordan Belfort and his pump-and-dump firm, Stratton Oakmont, wouldn't have been able to be made just 10 years after Belfort was sentenced for stealing roughly $200 million from 1,513 clients if it weren't for the unorthodox way the case was prosecuted.

Also give a nod to the benevolent judge who not only gave the felon a relatively light sentence of 42 months — but allowed him to serve his time at a California prison to be near his parents, critics said.

"Why Belfort got away with so little just doesn't make sense," a former Manhattan federal prosecutor told The Post this week. "Never did."

Belfort was able to get away with such a light sentence because Brooklyn prosecutors, instead of working the case from the bottom up and getting lower-level workers to flip on the higher-ups, went after Belfort and got him to flip on those who worked for him, said a lawyer, who now works in private practice but has cases against the Brooklyn US Attorney's office and therefore would only speak on the condition of anonymity.

"I never depended on the target [of a probe] to confess" and testify against lower-level people, he said.

"This would have been very different if it was prosecuted in Manhattan," the former prosecutor said.

If Leo DiCaprio hoists an Oscar for real on Sunday, he can thank a series of events, including the light prison terms given to ex-broker Jordan Belfort, far left, and former Mob hitman "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, left.Photo: Getty;AP

At the time, current Securities and Commission Chair Mary Jo White — with a reputation for toughness — was the Manhattan US Attorney.

Belfort ended up serving just 22 months and was freed in April 2006.

By comparison, Marc Dreier. a Ponzi-scheming lawyer who stole $380 million from various hedge funds, was sentenced in 2009 to 20 years in prison.

In January, a Texas judge gave David Kenn Lewis, chairman of an oil and gas promotions company, 30 years in prison for defrauding investors out of $2.5 million.

Joel Cohen, who led the Belfort prosecution from 1998 to 1999, roughly three years into the probe said he had little choice but to go after the top guy.

"I inherited the case from others who tried to get people below Belfort to help — without success," he said. Critics said the failure was a result of the office not having experience in that particular type of securities fraud.

Cohen, rather, said it was a result of Belfort being smart in how he operated his crooked firm.

"The way he ran the firm — he kept the most salient details in the hands of a very small group," said Cohen. "They were very, very cautious."

DiCaprio, who got his fourth and fifth Oscar nominations for "Wolf" — Best Actor and Best Picture (he's a producer) — likely wouldn't find himself in the limelight Sunday, as well, if it weren't for the judge in the case, John Gleeson.

Gleeson, who rose to fame as the rough-and-tough prosecutor who put gangster John Gotti behind bars, has a reputation as a judge who is "very good" to cooperating witnesses, lawyers said.

As a prosecutor, Gleeson used the testimony of mob hitman Sammy (The Bull) Gravano to put Gotti away. Gravano was implicated in 19 murders and got a five-year sentence.

When Belfort came before Gleeson to be sentenced, the guidelines called for a sentence of 21-2/3 years-to-27-1/4 years, Belfort's lawyer, Nicholas De Feis, said, reading from the sentencing transcript.

Some close to the Brooklyn US Attorney's office thought Belfort would get 72 to 96 months — or six to eight years. Instead, Gleeson sentenced him to 46 months.

To be sure, prosecutor David Pitofsky said at the time that Belfort was "the most productive, cooperating witness we have ever had in this arena," according to De Feis.

Still, even with the unorthodox prosecution and the light sentence, the movie still may never have been created.

DiCaprio's third piece of luck came when Gleeson recommended that Belfort serve his sentence at the minimum security Taft Correctional Institution in California so he could get treatment for his drug addiction and be close to his parents.

At Taft, Belfort shared a cell with comedian Tommy Chong, half of the famous Cheech & Chong comedy team.

Chong was writing a book. When he heard Belfort's tales of drug use and hookers, he encouraged Belfort to do the same.

The rest, as they say, is history.

By 2007, one year after he got out of prison, Belfort was holding meeting with screenwriter Terence Winter — who would produce the Oscar-nominated film.

Judge Gleeson said he "struggled long and hard" to reach his decision, and also recommended that Belfort serve time near Los Angeles so he could be close to his family.

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