posted 09-13-2004 09:19 PM         

By BRAD HAMILTON
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September 12, 2004 --

Mobster $ocks ex-lover. Talk about a boyfriend from hell.

A 35-year-old Long Island woman thought she was dating a dashing telecommunications executive who lives in Trump Tower — until she found out he was also a former mob associate who's spent years in the slammer.

Now that she's dumped her boyfriend, he's suing her for $392,000 — every penny he says he ever spent on her — plus interest.

Long Island divorcee Victoria Hines, 35, hooked up with free-spending Manhattan executive Mel Cooper, 57, thinking she'd snagged a big fish.

But she didn't know her new beau was a convicted loan shark with mob ties who'd spent 10 years in jail.

The two broke up in March, and now Cooper is suing to get back any and all cash and gifts he showered on her during their five years together — plus interest.

The total? A whopping $392,000, including a $75,000 diamond "engagement" ring, designer bags and a BMW he paid for, according to the suit he filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court in June.

And to ensure he gets paid, Cooper is asking for a lien to be slapped on Hines' home in Woodmere, where she lives with her two kids.

"[She] told me that she has sold not only all the jewelry I gave her but also the diamond engagement ring, and spent the money," he claimed in court papers.

Cooper claims the money and gifts to her were "in contemplation of marriage."

State judges can order that engagement gifts be returned if a marriage never comes off.

But Hines, a Russian-born blonde beauty, claims he never popped the question.

When he gave her the ring, "there was no proposition of marriage nor any discussion of marriage," she claimed in an affidavit filed Sept. 1.

"There were no wedding announcements, no wedding date."

Cooper, chief executive of Frontline Communications International — a long-distance phone company headquartered on East 58th Street — has had money problems in the past.

He was convicted of loan sharking in 1985 after being indicted with a band of mid-level hoodlums, including alleged Colombo family associate Michael Franzese and Gambino mobster Carlo Vaccarezza.

He spent 10 years in jail, was fined $25,000 and ordered to repay $160,000.

Cooper claims he showered Hines with gifts and cash, putting her on his company's payroll, paying her mortgage and household expenses and buying her jewels, bags and accessories worth $17,000.

He also forked over $565 a month for a BMW for Hines to drive, he says.

Neither Cooper nor Hines could be reached for comment.

Cooper's lawyer, Jerome Goldman, said, "This is all going to be worked out."

But Keith Rubenstein, Hines' lawyer, said no offer to settle has been made.