TV wisegay ('Sopranos' fella hits the other way)

NY Daily News ^ | May 3, 2004 | MICHELE McPHEE

[presidio9]

It's a first for "The Sopranos" - a gay mobster. On last night's episode, capo Vito Spatafore was caught in a compromising position with a male security guard - definitely not the kind of behavior that would go over well with the oglers at the Bada-Bing.

"It adds a lot of depth to the character," actor Joseph Gannascoli, who plays the newly outed mobster, told the Daily News.

In the real mob, being gay can add real depth - about 6 feet underground.

Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo, former boss of New Jersey's DeCalvacante family, said to be the model for "The Sopranos," testified last week there is one way to handle gay gangsters: Kill them.

"What's the rule ... about this?" federal prosecutor John Hillebrecht asked the mob turncoat on Wednesday.

"You die," Palermo replied.

That was the punishment meted out to DeCalvacante wiseguy John D'Amato in 1992, whom Palermo ordered whacked after being told his underling had rendezvoused with another man at a swingers club.

Over lunch at a Brooklyn restaurant, Gannascoli took pains to point out he is not gay - adding just as quickly, "Not that there is anything wrong with it."

"My problem is, I love women," he said.

Gannascoli did say he relished the challenge of playing a homosexual. "It was my idea many years ago to have my character be gay, having read and known about gay wiseguys," he said. "I want to be effeminate but knockaround."

Still, Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie Walnuts on the show, grabbed Gannascoli by the arm last week and asked: "You okay with this? You want me to have a talk with [the show's creator] David Chase?"

Gannascoli knows he's in for a little ribbing or worse.

"I'm going to have to deal with a lot of grief in the neighborhood. I'm a little worried about how my family is going to react," Gannascoli said, just as his elderly father walked by a window of Paneantico, a bistro on Bay Ridge's bustling Third Ave.

"But I wanted to really act," he added. "I don't want to just play mob guys for the rest of my career."

Gannascoli refused to reveal whether Vito will face repercussions, saying only, "In the mob, it's about money."

[longtermmemmory]

As I said, I do not watch the show. However, I might (like others) have eventually watched re-runs or tuned in to see what the fuss was about.

You are right, and as I stated at the very begining I am passing judgment based only on PR. This is supposed to be entertainment, if this is the publicity the producers are cultivating for brining in new viewers, it seems very unwise.

Given the nature of the series, the homosexual will probably end up burned alive in his automobile or some other distasteful death. As Rush has said, the series is like watching a train wreck. Either way enjoy.

[Bluntpoint]

[NutCrackerBoy]

Actually, Meadow did say something exactly like, "Vito would never hurt you! He's a married man!" I remember it because it was such a non-sensical statement (par for the course from her.).

Eureka! Now I see it! It all fits. That was Meadow's subliminal message - planting the idea of marriage as safety. That was near the beginning of the 9-hour marathon argument. I thought it was only going to culminate in sex.

[dead]

Excellent point.

I want their roof of their apartment to cave in on Meadow and her faggy boyfriend.

[Sir_Ed]

I always go to Gino's when we're in Bay Ridge, and often times go to banquets at The Rex, also very good...

Ed

[Clemenza]

If you want to spot some "wiseguys" in da Ridge check out Embers Steakhouse, ie the Peter Luger's for the Gambino family, Tuscany (dark trattoria, attracts wiseguys in the afternoon for some reason) and Amici (where a mob hit took place last week. The food is only OK though).

[Conservomax]

If you watch it long enough (I've seen every episode except for 3 in the 2nd season), the show takes on a very personal and surreal tone. It's probably the best written television drama ever (aside from the A-Team) and that is not hyperbole.

[presidio9]

If you haven't seen THIS, you probably should.

[justshutupandtakeit]

That wasn't the way I heard Meadow's remark.

Tony is obviously trying to bring Johnny Sacks into his orbit. His anxiety attack did not help his plan by revealing such a weakness to John.

I agree Buschemi will rise but don't think he will turn psychotic like Pesci. He is too cool headed and smart to allow himself to lose control. My prediction is he will be the one to take down Johnny Sacks when the time comes. Or even Carmella if it comes to that.

[PJ-Comix]

If you want to spot some "wiseguys" in da Ridge check out Embers Steakhouse, ie the Peter Luger's for the Gambino family, Tuscany (dark trattoria, attracts wiseguys in the afternoon for some reason) and Amici (where a mob hit took place last week.

And here I thought that all the Wiseguys hung out at the Olive Garden.

[Sir_Ed]

We were walking around Bay Ridge one Christmas, looking at all the pretty lights, when we came upon a huge mansion that had two animated, 20-foot tall toy soldiers at the entrance.

The whole thing was being guarded by a cop. I walked up to him, and just out of curiousity asked why he was guarding a private residence. He just stared at the street. I didn't understand why he didn't respond, and I thought maybe he didn't hear me, so I asked again, he seemed to get angry, but kept staring at the street.

Finally Aunt Marie, who's lived there her entire life, grabbed my arm and yanked me away...she explained that the guy was prolly on the pad, and that the house we were looking at belonged to a Mafia guy!

Needless to say, we walked quickly away from there!

This was in a really pretty part of Bay Ridge. Al Pacino and Dom Delouise supposedly have houses there, and one of the houses has a cool roof that's a series of ripples and waves...it looks just like an Elf or Hobbit house!

I love that area...the mansions there and along Shore Road are magnificent, as nice as anything in Beverly Hills.

Ed

[SC DOC]

Separated at Birth

[presidio9]

They come for the hospitaliano.

[Clemenza]

Al Pacino lives in the West Village. Dom Deluise does indeed live in the area you described. I know someone who once saw him and Mel Brooks together at a restaurant.

That area (Dyker Heights) and Bay Ridge from 3rd to the water are VERY nice but VERY expensive. Plenty of cheap rents to be found along Fourth and Fifth avenues though, for a fraction of what you would pay in Manhattan. It is a LONG commute on the R train though...

[sheik yerbouty]

This Vito must be the 'capodi tutti frutti"...

[NutCrackerBoy]

Ready to take apart last night's episode?

T sees Janice all peaches and cream - typical overreaction of a 60s child, the kind so gullible for every fad like EST. He seems tempted to join an Anger Management class, but his self-will run riot decides instead to take her down to his level, after toying with that same destructive manipulation re Chrissy's sobriety.

[dead]

Tony has become his mother, seeking to destroy everybody in his family (and it aired on Mother's Day, no less! Great scheduling.)

And Tony B. will kill Christopher, or vice versa.

[Conservomax]

I think he found she was a fraud after she said taht "It is like a great sadness being lifted".

I feel he thought that this was crap after Melfi tells him that depression is rage turned inward.

Either that or he was jealous.

[NutCrackerBoy]

What the living H*ll were the directors doing with that slow-mo and freeze of Carmella walking away from Wegler after she lied that she and Tony were getting back together. More than anything else it reminded me of Herman Munster from that series' montage when he's got that curvy smile and jolly laugh and they freeze it.

[dead]

To be exact, it was a slow-mo, freeze, then a sideways wipe to the next scene. Reminded me of the way they would end a scene on “Emergency” when Nurse Dixie McCall would get off a supposedly witty zinger at Randolph Mantooth’s expense.

Very bizarre but obviously intentional.

Perhaps they meant to highlight it as a very important and life-changing event for Carmella.

Who knows?