Bringing Out The Big Guns

Apropos of nothing: Vito Fossella is pulling out all the stops to stay out of jail on his now-well-publicized drunk driving charge.

He hasn't just lawyered up, he's recruited a crew of private dicks to help him out. In fact, he has the same crack team of PIs that O.J. Simpson hired.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - What does Rep. Vito Fossella have in common with O.J. Simpson, Patty Hearst and John Gotti?

The Staten Island GOP lawmaker has hired the same ex-NYPD gumshoes.

Well, I must say, that's quite a client list.

Told of the big-city Mickey Spillane-types sniffing around his case, laid-back Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney Randolph Sengel chuckled.

"Great," deadpanned the veteran prosecutor, upon learning of the duo's celebrity client list.

In Sengel's 28 years as a prosecutor, rarely has he seen a DWI defendant hire private eyes. "That's pretty unusual," he said yesterday.

I guess our man Vito is pretty serious about avoiding jail time. Serious enough to have signed the O.J. Dream Team.