The 5 Sopranos Actors with Real Life Gangster Connections
It's well documented that The Sopranos was about as close a depiction of life as mobster that TV could portray.
But it's not so widely known that some of the actors in the show had connections to gangsters in real life.
Tony Darrow (real name Tony Borgese)
As a youngster Borgese (who went by the stage name Tony Darrow) was friends with Paul Vario and John Gotti. Vario's father was a Brooklyn gangster and was instrumental in getting Borgese a job at a nightclub there.
Borgese himself was charged with extortion in 2009 following allegations that he was involved in paying members of the Gambino family to beat up a guy that owed money to a loan shark.
In 2011, the actor admitted the charge and was sentenced to three years in jail.
But his attorney had the sentence adjusted to six years of house arrest followed by two years of probation owing to Borgese's previous good conduct, medical condition, and more than 50 years of service to his community.
Michael Squicciarini
Michael Squicciarini portrayed Frank Cippolina in a few episodes in season 2. Squicciarini was in and out of prison for a string of different offences that included five years in jail for aggravated assault.
He was an associate of the DeCavalcante Family – a real-life New Jersey crime family.
Squicciarini died in 2001 but was subsequently implicated in the gangland assassination of drug dealer Ralph Hernandez. Squicciarini was said to have lured Hernandez to Brooklyn where he was shot dead by DeCavalcante capo Joseph Conigliaro. Witnesses also suggested he was involved in the disposal of the body.
Tony Sirico
Sirico played the unmistakable Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, a loyal member of Tony's crew. But decades before appearing in The Sopranos, he worked for the Colombo crime family under Carmine Persico.
During his time operating in the underworld, Sirico was arrested on 28 occasions for offences such as robbery, assault and disorderly conduct.
He spent a fair amount of time in prison, including serving 20 months of a 4 year sentence for extortion, coercion and felony weapons possession at the maximum-security prison Sing Sing.
It was while in jail that he spoke to an acting troupe consisting of former inmates and discovered his love for acting.
Tony Lip
Frank Anthony Vallelonga (stage name Tony Lip) played the recurring character, Carmine Lupertazzi. In the 60s, the actor was a bouncer at New York's famous Copacabana club which was co-owned by crime boss Frank Costello.
Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore played Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero. He had no known connections with mobster life, but some of his family members were associates of known crime families.
While he didn't get involved in gangs, he grew up around them and understood how things worked.