Posted on 12/29/2005 9:01:37 AM PST by presidio9
A young "Sopranos" actor accused in the slaying of an off-duty police officer said in a jailhouse interview he's sorry and didn't know his alleged burglary accomplice was carrying a gun.
Lillo Brancato Jr., who appeared opposite Robert De Niro "A Bronx Tale" and more recently was in several episodes of "The Sopranos," was charged with murder and other counts in the Dec. 10 shooting of Daniel Enchautegui during a gunfight.
He told the New York Post in an interview published Thursday that he wept while reading a newspaper account of Enchautegui's funeral.
"When I saw the picture of his father, it brought tears to my eyes because he looked like one of those old-fashioned men — kind of like my father," Brancato said. "I also thought that could have been my father going to my funeral."
Enchautegui, 28, was shot after he heard Brancato, 29, and another man, Steven Armento, breaking into a basement apartment in the Bronx, authorities said. Before he died, Enchautegui wounded both suspects.
Brancato, who acknowledges problems with drugs and alcohol, said he was unaware Armento was carrying a weapon when they left a strip club to break into the apartment and steal prescription drugs. Authorities identified Armento, 48, as the gunman in the slaying.
"If I would have known, I wouldn't have allowed him in my car," Brancato said. "Imagine, we get pulled over and I get caught with an armed felon in my car. Since I've been in the movies, it would have instantly drawn attention."
Brancato said he might take the witness stand at trial to tell the jury "how horrible I feel about my stupidity."
"If I had the chance, I would want to meet his family and look them in the face and tell then how sorry I feel about what happened," he said.
Brancato was still in his teens when he played De Niro's son in "A Bronx Tale" in 1993. He appeared on six episodes of "The Sopranos" during the 1999-2000 season as a wannabe mobster who was killed by boss Tony Soprano.
BTTT
: )
This guy is 29 and he's running around with felons breaking into apartments. I wouldn't feel the slightest bit sorry for him if the homeowner would've blasted him with a 12-guage. It's one thing to be screwing up as a teenager (and no, I'm not excusing it). But this guy is 29!! I have no sympathy if he is sentenced to 25 years and serves every minute of it.
BTW, Armento had his penis shot off by Enchautegui.
No doubt, your friend could start smoking crack any second now! Watch him!
I doubt that. One movie as a kid, a few roles on a popular TV show as an adult, sounds to me like he had the same thing most child actors have in front of them: A drug addiction and life of crime.
Yikes. Okay, he got worse, but he deserved it.
How come he is entitled to this?
Good.
So we can make fun of him.
Oh my GOD! You've got to be kidding me?
Indeed.
They guy had an acting career worth probably millions in front of him.
His drug problems had already pretty much wrecked his career.
What was it worth to break into a store?
Well, this is where the idiocy you referred to comes in. This dolt didn't break into a store - he broke into an abandoned building, a building which belonged to a drug dealer he used to score from. Only, unbeknownst to him, the guy had died more than a year before and there were no drugs stashed in the house.
As stupid as breaking into a pharmacy might have been, at least you know for a fact that you're actually going to find drugs inside. This burglary was even stupider than smashing into a RiteAid.
Not sure if Officer Enchautegui was aiming there, but I like to think that he was.
You got that right. If he's in movies with Robert DeNiro and Denzel Washington (Brancato was in Crimson Tide), and he's doing a gig on the Sopranos, he's not making chump change. But it's all going up his nose and he's out stealing. Good lord, this guy is dumb!!
"If I would have known, I wouldn't have allowed him in my car," Brancato said. "Imagine, we get pulled over and I get caught with an armed felon in my car. Since I've been in the movies, it would have instantly drawn attention." Says he on the way to intentionally burglarize an apartment for prescription drugs! The "logic" is staggering!
He ain't kidding. That's confirmed. Armento took a Glock 9mm slug square in the package.
Brancato, who acknowledges problems with drugs and alcohol, said he was unaware Armento was carrying a weapon when they left a strip club
This is the part that exposes it as a lie. I'm probably not shocking anyone here whey I say I've been to more than my share of strip clubs, and they ALL have had metal detectors. Bringing a gun in one of those spots, even if there wasn't a metal detector would be a recipe for disaster. You think the girls aren't going to notice when they come around and get friendly and they're not going to freak out?
Armento got the weapon after they left the club.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
Is that what is referred to as a "Parting shot"?
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