Sometimes it really sucks being the captain — especially in the mafia.

Joseph “Joe Valet” Sabella, a Bonanno capo who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after a judge said he bears more responsibility than his underlings.

“You were involved more extensively as a captain, as a leader, and you have to take responsibility as a captain to your family,” said Judge Alvin Hellerstein.

The sentence was on the low end of the range of years suggested by the federal sentencing guidelines. And the racketeering conspiracy charge was not Sabella’s first — in 2004, while allegedly working as a foot soldier for the crime family, he and six other members pleaded guilty to various charges.

Sabella moved up the ranks and, last year, he was one of 10 reputed Bonanno wiseguys who were collared. That included alleged acting boss Joseph “Joe C” Cammarano Jr., who was acquitted on racketeering and extortion charges in March.

As part of his latest plea agreement, Sabella, 54, admitted to violently shaking down a former business partner with whom he owned a valet parking business outside of a Staten Island restaurant after he refused to pay up.

Sabella also admitted to teaming up with consigliere John Zancocchio and another alleged member of the family in the savage beatdown of Steven Sabella — no relation — inside a Staten Island strip club and then extorting the beaten man’s interest in a loansharking business, two strip clubs and a gambling ring.

Gang Land News recently revealed that Steven Sabella snitched on the Bonanno family.

Joseph Sabella, who appeared for his sentencing on Thursday in a gray blazer, a white shirt and dark pants, also admitted to using fraud to maintain control of a Brooklyn demolition company — shaking the company down for $20,000 a year for protection — and taking over a dump site where mob-backed companies could dump potentially hazardous materials for cut rates.

Sabella was ordered to surrender to a prison in South Carolina on Aug. 27.