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HOUSTON - The guy named Vinny with the Vandyke and Brooklyn accent looked out of place in the leafy Texas neighborhood of gated mansions.

That's because this Vinny was Vincent Palermo - onetime Mafia star turned FBI informant - a guy who managed to vanish from the world of scungilli and Sinatra to recreate himself 1,400 miles away in the land of BBQ and the Texas two-step.

Palermo, with a new name, lives under a cloak created by the feds after testifying against the DeCavalcante clan, the Jersey-based Mafia family whose members believe they inspired "The Sopranos" TV show.

Of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Before he admitted taking part in four murders, extortion and a host of crimes, Palermo operated Wiggles, a strip club in Forest Hills, Queens.

The club was a kind of one-stop shop for drugs and prostitution, and then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani made it Public Enemy No. 1 in his drive to shut down sex clubs.

Today, Palermo controls the Penthouse Club and All-Star Men's Club in Houston - strip joints city officials say are hotbeds of prostitution and drugs.

Most of Palermo's Texas neighbors will learn his true identity today when his face and identity will be revealed on a local TV station, KPRC. At that moment, he will face a new reality - should he and his family disappear. Again.

Palermo's transformation began in 1999, after an FBI takedown of the DeCavalcantes.

He started out legit, working at the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan, where he earned the nickname Vinny Ocean. By the mid-1960s, he was married to the mob, choosing a niece of the boss, Simone (Sam the Plumber) DeCavalcante, as his bride.

Before rising to acting boss, he made his name by eliminating suspected informant Fred Weiss as a favor for the late Gambino boss, John Gotti.

On Sept. 11, 1989, Palermo and another gangster walked up to Weiss on a Staten Island street and fired. Weiss was shot twice in the face; Gotti was delighted.

After his 1999 arrest, Palermo hired prominent criminal lawyer Gregory O'Connell, a former prosecutor. He quickly turned informant.

His testimony helped decimate the DeCavalcante family, New Jersey's only homegrown organized crime family. The entire hierarchy is now behind bars or cooperating with the FBI.

After pleading guilty in a sealed courtroom on Oct. 20, 2000, he grew a Vandyke beard. He wore sunglasses while testifying. His cooperation inspired several family gangsters to plead guilty.

He forgot to tell the feds he gave his kids $1.1 million, a lapse that earned him jail time. He agreed to pay $2 million in restitution and keep his nose clean. Soon - with a nod from the feds - he was released.