BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) _ A federal judge on Wednesday cut seven years off the prison sentence of the man who killed reputed New Haven mob underboss William Grasso two decades ago, after tearful pleas that he was a changed man.

U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas approved a deal reached by prosecutors and defense lawyers to reduce Gaetano Milano's 33-year prison sentence to 26 years. The agreement was made after Nevas ruled last month that Milano received ineffective legal representation.

Milano, 56, was sentenced in 1991 for the 1989 murder of Grasso, who was the reputed second-in-command of the Patriarca crime family. He will get out of prison in about four years under the new sentence.

Milano's lawyer, Craig Raabe, says his client has been a model prisoner who found his faith, counsels troubled youth and other inmates and even practices yoga.

Nevas was impressed by Milano's efforts to improve himself, noting that even prison staff members wrote letters on Milano's behalf about his rehabilitation. Nevas believes Milano won't be getting involved in crime again.

``So your rehabilitation, Mr. Milano, has been extraordinary and remarkable,'' the judge said. But he added, ``You did commit a terrible crime. The description of the actual crime itself was chilling.''

Milano said in the courtroom that ``it's been an incredible odyssey.'' He expressed remorse and said he takes full responsibility for his actions.

Milano, dressed in a dark gray suit with a graying mustache and receding hairline, said he's spent his time in prison recalling his life ``frame by frame,'' from the time he was 5. He said he was angry at God when he and his wife lost their first child and recalled when his children visited him in prison to tell him his father had died.

Milano said he found his calling in prison talking to troubled youths, and he tries to honor his father's memory ``to do right.''

Milano, who took up art in prison, complimented a painting of Nevas on the wall in the courtroom, drawing laughter when he said, ``I don't think I could do better than that.'' The judge later commended Milano for his paintings.

Milano's son, Gaetano Jr., and Milano's mother, Antonietta, cried as they pleaded for mercy and insisted he was a changed man. Milano plans to take care of his mother in Florida when he is released, his son said.

``I would not be up here if I didn't feel this in my heart,'' Gaetano Milano Jr. said. ``Having him ripped away when I was 11 years old took a long time to recover from.''

Grasso, who lived in New Haven, rose in the 1980s to become ``underboss,'' or second in command, of the Patriarca crime family. Nicknamed ``The Wild Guy,'' Grasso was shot to death in June 1989 and his body dumped in Wethersfield near the Connecticut River.

At Milano's 1991 trial, prosecutors said Grasso's own men killed him because of his greed and ruthlessness and because of a power struggle within the New England mob.

Milano said his legal counsel was ineffective because he should have been allowed to argue that the killing stemmed from ``extreme emotional disturbance.'' He said he was caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict between the Providence and Boston factions of the mob. Grasso was part of the Providence faction.

Raabe wrote in court documents that Milano feared that if he did not kill Grasso, Grasso would have had him killed.

Milano also said his accepting responsibility for the killing should have led to a reduced prison term. He said others involved in the killing and other crimes received lighter sentences or immunity.

Prosecutor Peter Jongbloed recalled how the jury heard the Mafia induction ceremony in which Milano took a blood oath to kill. But he also noted that Milano denounced the mob during his sentencing as evil and compared it to becoming trapped in a web.

But Milano could have gone to authorities instead of killing, Jongbloed said. While Milano and his supporters talked about how he missed family events and redeemed himself, the prosecutor said Grasso was deprived of those opportunities when Milano killed him.

Others were not punished due to lack of evidence or were sentenced for other crimes, Jongbloed said.

Milano's lawyer was former federal prosecutor F. Mac Buckley, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2000 for stealing from clients and to probation in 2002 for failing to file income tax returns. Buckley, whose lawyers said he suffered from bipolar disorder, agreed to give up his right to practice law in 1999.