Charles Novak, 67, faces up to 20 years in prison for racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy to take unlawful labor payments. Jurors could decide as soon as today whether he must also fork over $1.5 million.

His longtime pal Anthony DeGennaro, a former representative for Local 1 of the International Union of Elevator Constructors, cut a deal with the feds and fingered Novak for orchestrating a massive phantom-job scheme that prosecutors say raked in over $5 million in 12 years.

Contractors at several construction projects - including a Marriott hotel, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center facilities and the MetLife building - were regularly billed for hours that laborers never worked.

Portions of the padded paychecks went toward lining the pockets of Novak and other union officials and supplied contractors with kickbacks.

Meanwhile, idle elevator operators were known to perform free home-improvement work and chauffeur service for Novak when they should have been at job sites.

DeGennaro testified that each Christmas, he delivered holiday cards stuffed with thousands of dollars to Novak and former union president John Green.

Jurors rejected an argument by defense lawyer Joseph Corozzo that Novak was "a very proud union man" wrongly pursued by prosecutors because "the government doesn't like unions."

Since February 2002, more than 30 officials and members in Local 1 have been indicted for no-show job schemes at more than 20 construction sites around the city - including a multimillion-dollar swindle at the MTA's new headquarters at 2 Broadway.

Green has not been charged.

The Local's suspected Mafia ties have also been the subject of a federal probe.