Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kishan Nair said the only time Freehoff didn't sell meth during the three-year, multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking probe was for two weeks while recovering from a foot operation.

The tall, white-haired biker with a mustache and goatee was one of 19 members of the meth-dealing Breed convicted in the last 22 months of drug offenses.

Yesterday, Freehoff, a career criminal, caught a break - about half the sentence he deserved as a three-time federal offender - due to his serious medical conditions.

He has deep-vein thrombosis, diabetes, ulcers on his body and open wounds on his feet, causing him to limp when he walks.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III sentenced Freehoff, 51, to a 15-year prison sentence and a lifetime on supervised release, instead of 22 to 27 years in prison, which included a 20-year mandatory minimum, under federal advisory sentencing guidelines.

"You're now 51," Bartle told Freehoff. "It's tragic that you didn't see the light earlier than you have."

Freehoff offered no comment to the judge, but apologized to his family, while his wife and others wept.

Last Sept. 17, the day before he was to go on trial in federal court with three co-defendants, Freehoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute drugs.

U.S. Attorney Andrea Foulkes and defense attorney Jeffrey Azzarano negotiated the sentence-reduction, which Foulkes described as "a substantial departure" that takes into consideration Freehoff's "profound" medical condition and the "seriousness" of the offense.

Foulkes said Azzarano was a tough negotiator, who updated the government about Freehoff's multiple hospitalizations while awaiting sentencing.

Azzarano requested that the judge recommend that Freehoff serve his sentence in the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo.

Between 2003 and 2006, the case was investigated by state drug agents with legal guidance from Nair, a deputy attorney general, who later was cross-designated as a federal prosecutor after the case was adopted by the feds. *