The crime of class action suits: victims get little, the tort lawyers get the rest.

Silver cheated us: Cancer victim’s family says they paid price for illegal scheme

Relatives of an asbestos-cancer victim steered to former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s law firm in what the feds called an “illegal quid pro quo” say the disgraceful deal-making cheated them out of a rightful settlement.

Andrea Rega of Cape Cod, Mass. — whose late father, Aniello, was one of scores of cancer patients sent to Silver’s law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, by a doctor allegedly in exchange for New York state research grants — told The Post Wednesday that the Manhattan Democrat’s fee from the deals cheated the family out of money.

“I’m convinced the law firm would’ve worked much harder for my father’s case if they weren’t giving Sheldon Silver the 33 percent,” Rega said. “That’s why the law firm wasn’t working as hard as they could — because somebody else was taking the money.”

Aniello Rega, an Italian ­immigrant who lived in Valley Cottage, NY, was diagnosed in 2011 with mesothelioma that his family blames on his work as a barber at the Nanuet Mall, where asbestos was removed during a 2012 reconstruction project. He died in 2013.

Andrea Rega specifically faulted Weitz & Luxenberg for not suing the mall owners.

Another woman said her granddad was affected by Silver’s alleged shenanigans.

“It’s really disappointing to know that my grandfather was taken advantage of when he was so vulnerable,” Moriah Nutter said of Robert McKinley, who died in 2009.

“That doesn’t sit with me too well, that somebody would use him in that way just to get money,” she said.

McKinley and Aniello Rega were among dozens of mesothelioma patients sent to Silver by Columbia University cancer Doctor Robert Taub in exchange for $500,000 in taxpayer-funded research grants, prosecutors say.

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Aniello Rega (center), here surrounded by family, died of mesothelioma. The family’s lawsuit was handled by Sheldon Silver’s law firm.

Silver made more than $3.3 million from the scheme, the feds say, while Taub turned rat to avoid getting charged as a co-defendant and spent two days on the witness stand last week.

Silver’s defense lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment, but a Weitz & Luxenberg spokeswoman said: “In mesothelioma cases, we vigorously pursue any company responsible for exposing the victim to asbestos, to try and seek restitution for the immeasurable suffering of victims and their families.

“However, the law in New York prohibits plaintiffs from pursuing a direct cause of action against their employers . . . Victims are only able to seek justice from the companies responsible for their exposure to asbestos.”