Richard Johnson: Law expert says ‘Diddy’ feeling heat from feds

NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs is is reportedly feeling the heat amid an ongoing criminal investigation by the Southern District of New York.

The feds, helped by the FBI, started investigating Combs in May when the video of the music mogul kicking and punching his former girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, was released.

“My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions,” Combs said. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

Top lawyer Arthur Aidala doesn’t represent any parties in the case, but he has some insights. His father, Louis Aidala, represented Jennifer Lopez when she was Combs’ girlfriend in 1999.

J.Lo was briefly arrested and released after a shooting inside Club New York. Combs, repped by Johnnie Cochran, was tried and acquitted.

“He (Combs) has got to be a nervous wreck,” Aidala told me. “When the feds go after you, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. The feds don’t bring a case until they are positive.”

That’s why almost 98% of federal cases result in a plea bargain.

The video of Combs assaulting his girlfriend “lit a fire under them,” Aidala said.

The legal fees will cost Combs millions, but he is thought to be worth $1 billion, and he won’t skimp to stay out of prison.

****

Candace Bushnell might be checking out the men at the Empire State Rare Book & Print Fair at City College Sept. 27-29.

The “Sex and the City” author told me her sex life is “a little quiet right now. Somehow life is really busy, too busy for a full-time boyfriend.”

Bushnell, who has two standard poodles, isn’t insisting on a young stud.

“Age does not interfere with sexual desire — not for some men anyway.”

The novelist is performing her one-woman show in six Northeast cities starting next month.

But first she’ll preview some material at the book show, where the items include: a book on jazz from the library of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, which was a birthday gift from Mick Jagger ($15,800); a letter from Frederick Douglass on his return voyage as a free man ($450,000); a first edition of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” signed by Truman Capote ($10,500); and a first edition of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” (1861) ($25,000).

****

Neal McDonough specializes in playing dangerous villains in shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Yellowstone,” but he’s actually a devout Catholic.

The actor — happily married to former model Ruvé Robertson, with whom he shares five children — was canned from the show “Scoundrels” in 2010 after refusing to film sex scenes.

His wife is his production partner.

“I’m a pretty tough guy and I can put my boot up somebody’s butt, but she’s even tougher,” McDonough told me. “She makes it right.”

The actor, nicknamed Headster as a boy because of his large cranium, played another bad guy in an upcoming “Tulsa King” with Sylvester Stallone. “I’m just awful,” he laughed.

But he loves Stallone. “Sly is one of my favorite guys I ever worked with.”

McDonough got to go against type and play a good guy in “Homestead,” about the aftermath of an nuclear attack.

“I love being part of films that make you think,” he said. “The atomic bomb goes off. Who do you trust? If you really care about your friends, what do you do?”

The film will be out in December.

****

Harry Houdini is having a moment! Last month, rapper Eminem opened with his latest single “Houdini” when he performed at the BMO Stadium in L.A. before a boxing match.

Additionally, “Transformers” producers Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are developing a film about America’s most acclaimed magician and escape artist for Paramount Pictures.

This week, M.S. Rau in New Orleans acquired Harry Houdini’s original leg irons, from the private collection of Dr. Mohamed Said Farsi, the former mayor of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who died in 2019.

Accompanying the leg irons is a striking, seemingly nude photo of Houdini in the process of being restrained, and a certificate of authenticity issued by The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame.

The cuffs can be yours for $16,850.

****

Beyoncé, Rihanna, Madonna, and Martha Stewart are among the fans of Omar Hernandez’s bawdy vaudeville show OHLALA Supper Club.

The immersive dining experience will return to the back room of the fabled French bistro La Goulue on East 61st Street on Saturday.

Omar, who emcees the show in his signature top hat, will introduce singers, dancers, and musicians while guests sample the cuisine of chef Antoine Camin.

****

Gabrielle Union, Cindy Crawford and Christie Brinkley have all been honored at the Daytime Beauty Awards.

This year’s honorees will be announced at the fashionable event, sponsored by Bravo’s “Flipping Out” star and hair stylist Chaz Dean, the founder of WEN beauty products.

The show will be held in Los Angeles at the Autry Museum of the American West on Sept. 30.

****

N.Y. Fashion Week kicked off this week with supermodel Stephanie Seymour, the wife of polo-playing art collector Peter Brandt, among the VIPs at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Couture Lunch at Lincoln Center.

The fashionable lunch honored 34-year-old designer Simon Porte Jacquemus. Previous honorees include Carolina Herrera, Karl Lagerfeld, and Oscar de la Renta.

Guests included socialites Muffie Potter Aston, Audrey Gruss and Jamee Gregory, designer B. Michael, fashion mavens Fern Mallis and Jean Shafiroff, and FIT’s Dr. Joyce Brown and Valerie Steele.

****

Ben Vereen was spotted enjoying French onion soup at a Sunday lunch at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square as he listened to one of the Stardusters (singing servers) who has a voice sweeter than their Barbarino’s Banana Split and smoother than their Jimmy Fallon Shake.

______