New York- A reputed Gambino crime family soldier already facing charges he masterminded an Internet porn fraud was arrested again Thursday on charges he engineered the beating of a British businessman and tried to tamper with a witness.

Richard Martino, 45, saw his bail, currently at $3 million, hiked to $4 million by a federal magistrate in Brooklyn after prosecutors unveiled the new charges in court.

According to an affidavit signed by FBI special agent Beth Ambinder, in 1992, Martino allegedly had a British businessman taken for a ride in a Manhattan limousine, slashed in the face, threatened and shocked in the genitals with a stun gun because of a dispute over a business deal that turned sour.

Martino and his cohorts felt they had been cheated out of $1 million and insulted by British businessman Richard Desmond, owner of Northern & Shell, an adult entertainment publishing outfit in England, the affidavit stated.

“We want our ——- money back,” the assailant told the victim, according to Ambinder. “If your boss sets foot here, he is a dead man, a ——- dead man.”

While the FBI affidavit only identifies one source of information about the beating with the code name “CS-2” it appears, based on other information contained in the document, to be refering to New York advertising executive Norman Chanes.

Martino, Chanes, 57, and several others were indicted in early 2003 on charges they were part of a $430 million Internet fraud.

But sources familiar with the case have told Newsday that Chanes pulled out of a joint defense agreement, a sign to them that he has decided to cooperate with prosecutors. His attorney Laura Brevetti couldn’t be reached for comment.

The arrest affidavit also alleged that Martino tried to buy the cooperation of a potential cooperating witness.

The witness is identified in the affidavit only as “CW-3” and as having been the president of the Crescent Publishing Group, a firm not charged in the Internet fraud but viewed by prosecutors as central to it.

Based on information in court records, CW-3 appears to be Bruce Chew, 52, the former Crescent chief executive who was originally charged with Martino and Chanes.

Statements by Chew’s attorney in a state lawsuit he filed over a pay dispute with Crescent indicated that Chew has pleaded guilty in the Internet case.

After agreeing to the higher $4 million bail, Martino walked out of court with defense attorney Gus Newman.