Dear John: Back in the 1970s, I drove a yellow taxicab in NYC, and WCBS-88 was the station I generally listened to.

At the time, the late Jerry Nachman worked at WCBS; he of course went on to become the editor of The Post.

One Sunday night, Nachman spent an hour interviewing an unnamed member of the NY Mafia. The Mafioso was shocking Nachman with his candid confessions about the many crimes he committed.

What I remember most of all about the interview was that the Mafioso announced that he personally wished to thank the City and State of New York for raising tobacco prices to such insane levels, because that enabled him to make vast profits for himself and his crime family on “buttlegging.” J.N.

Dear J.N.: I love it — “buttlegging.” It makes a whole lot more sense than bootlegging, which would imply that you are sneaking boots into the city.

Yep, make something illegal or too expensive, and you’ll make a crook rich.

We saw that during Prohibition, when booze was illegal. Also, before gambling was made legal, crime families made a fortune on the numbers rackets.

And we never learn.

New York should crack down on cigarettes coming illegally into the city and state. But, as you probably know, I’ve been on that case for years.

And, even more important, it should stop the money being made on these cigarettes from going to terrorist organizations.