He got away with a brutal, strangulation murder for 25 years.

But yesterday, violent Harlem con Steven Carter was finally sent to prison thanks to his victim's fingernails clippings, which languished in evidence storage for a quarter century before being tested last year as part of the Manhattan DA's ongoing cold case DNA efforts.

"I'm sure he assumed he was home free," assistant district attorney Melissa Mourges said of Carter at his sentencing in Manhattan Supreme Court.

It was Nov. 10, 1986 when victim Antoinette Bennett -- a drug-addicted prostitute -- was found sprawled face down among the children's climbing blocks in a playground at St. Nicolas Park.

A crack pipe was wedged under her body, and her face had been stabbed three times prior to her being strangled.

Carter "pushed that sharp knife through her cheek all the way into her mouth," Mourges told Justice Bonnie Wittner, in arguing for the 25-to-life sentence.

"The medical examiner used the words 'Torture and control' to explain the purpose of these wounds," the prosecutor said.

Carter left his DNA under a fingernail on Bennet's left hand so long ago, that testing couldn't have linked him then to the crime.

DNA tests were only done on the clippings last year by DA Cyrus Vance's Forensic Sciences/Cold Case Unit, as "Part of a systematic review of more than 3,000 unsolved case files dating back to the '70s," he explained in a post-sentence statement.

The fingernail DNA matched the now 50-year-old Carter, whose DNA had been databased as a result of his lengthy, 26-conviction record, including for weapons and sex crimes.

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DNA ‘nails’ 1986 slayer