Fight Bus

The first rule of Fight Bus is - you do not talk about Fight Bus. The second rule of Fight Bus is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Bus. Well, someone did talk about it - to the New York Police Department. And the bus driver is facing child endangerment charges for setting up a fight club on his bus.

A Staten Island school-bus driver treated his passengers like prisoners in a penal camp, deputizing pre-teen enforcers to rough up rowdy students on board and dubbing himself "The Emperor," police charged yesterday.

Michael Cianci, 38, of Parlin, N.J., named his ride the "Death Cheese Bus" and assigned ranks to his sixth-grade charges, forcing them every day to recite a set of rules posted by his cup-holder, according to the criminal complaint.

Cianci pleaded not guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of children for allegedly allowing his toughs to push lower-ranking kids around, put them in headlocks and — in at least one instance — slice up a kid's jacket with scissors as punishment for horseplay.

The 12-tiered ranking system ran from "Lord (apprentice of the Emperor)" to "Sped," a derogatory term for someone in special-education classes. Other ranks included the Star Wars-themed titles "Darth," "Sith Warrior" and "Jaba."