A reputed Italian mobster was caught on a police wiretap ranting about how he wanted to bash a reporter for confronting one of his cronies, according to a report Wednesday.

“I would have given him two hits with a mallet … what a blast,” Benedetto Gabriele Militello allegedly fumed.

Militello was secretly recorded by cops in Palermo, Sicily, last year discussing how he would have handled La Repubblica journalist Salvo Palazzolo, the newspaper said.

“How much can he do to me? What can they do? … Two hits of a mallet,” Militello allegedly said.

Militello’s Dec. 6 conversation with reputed fellow gangster Francesco Inzerillo came a day after Palazzolo showed up at Inzerillo’s store with a video camera and began questioning him, La Repubblica said.

Palazollo asked Inzerillo about his alleged meeting with reputed Sicilian mob boss Settimo Mineo, who had been busted days earlier as part of a probe dubbed “Cupola 2.0.”

In response, Inzerillo said, “I don’t know anything,” but Palazzolo “continued to press him with questions, which Militello considered rude,” the paper said.

On the recording, Militello was reportedly heard mocking the reporter, saying, “But what do you think of Mr. Settimo Mineo?”

“What do I think? What a pain in the ass you are,” Militello added, the paper said.

Militello and Inzerillo are both reputed members of Sicily’s Inzerillo crime family, and were among 18 suspects rounded up in Palermo early Wednesday during a massive crackdown by Italian state police and the FBI.

The operation, dubbed “New Connection,” targeted members of the Inzerillo clan and New York City’s Gambino crime family.