Las Vegas man admits making death threats to Manhattan lawyer

Joseph Amico appears in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday. He pleaded guilty to making a terroristic threat against Manhattan lawyer Douglas Wigdor. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

By Shayna Jacobs, New York Daily News

A Las Vegas man who called a prominent Manhattan attorney a "n---er lover" and threatened to blow up his law office confessed Friday to making the vile remarks.

Joseph Amico, 47, was promised a six-month jail sentence plus five years’ probation in Manhattan Supreme Court in exchange for admitting that he made a string of nasty phone calls to Douglas Wigdor's Fifth Ave. office on Apr. 26, 2017.

Wigdor was handling a class-action race discrimination case against Fox News at the time, and his former law partner was late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, who was black.

Amico also threatened the Wigdor’s family and other members of the firm, sources said after his arrest last year.

Amico will be sent to the inpatient mental health facility after his sentencing July 2.

At the court hearing Friday, a Manhattan judge urged the Nevada man to follow his orders.

“If you don’t comply with the program or don’t comply with the meds, you’ll be brought back to me or some other judge,” Justice Laura A. Ward said.

She added that Amico would be required to stay at the facility “for as long as the program — because they are the experts — deems appropriate.” That could mean he will be institutionalized for up to four-and-a-half years.

Amico admitted to making a series of menacing phone calls to the Fifth Ave. office of lawyer Douglas Wigdor. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

Ward was initially wary about a plea bargain "based on the charges in the indictment” but was reassured by Amico's attorney and the prosecutor that the man's "impulse control is all verbal and no violence."

Amico’s lawyer Todd Spodek said the deal “allows Joseph to be proactive in getting to the root of the issues.

“Mental health issues often times are not appropriately dealt with in the criminal justice system,” Spodek explained.