Prodigy of Mobb Deep went on trial yesterday (Oct. 4) in Manhattan on gun charges resulting from the discovery of a .22-caliber in the car Prodigy was riding in last year.

Prodigy insists that he had no idea the unlicensed, fully loaded firearm was in a console compartment between the driver's seat, where he sat, and the front passenger seat, where record producer The Alchemist was sitting.

Prodigy (real name is Albert Johnson) already has two gun convictions and he is facing up to 15 years in prison in this case.

Yesterday, two plainclothes anti-crime cops testified that they pulled over the heavily armored SUV at 2 a.m. last October after watching it make a U-turn and begin heading the wrong way on Ninth Avenue at West 31st Street. Both cops told jurors they then saw Prodigy's hand either on or near the open console door.

That alleged gesture, along with the SUV's heavily reinforced doors and windows, gave cops the right to search the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Prodigy and The Alchemist were arrested at the scene. Charges against The Alchemist have since been dropped.

The defense case is scheduled to begin Tuesday.