By GINIA BELLAFANTE

"Gangster John Gotti was dashing and bold after dropping out of school at age 16 and running a student betting ring." So begins the unusual upcoming True Crime comic feature The Made Man, which traces the early burly career of the world's most notorious plumbing-supply salesman. In it, Gotti, grease-coiffed and grammatically challenged, steps in and out of limousines, endears himself to men named Carmine and Carlo and helps out with a barroom murder, all the while desperately hoping that some day he'll get "made." Fear not: as the title foretells, he succeeds. Next from True Crime: the tale of Gotti-whacked Godfather Paul Castellano.