Free Republic

NEW YORK  -- An early morning pipe-bomb explosion blew out the windows of an unoccupied van parked outside a theater owned by a former star of TV's "The Sopranos,'' police said Tuesday.The New York Police Department said it did not know whether the incident had any connection to the actor, Michael Imperioli, who owns Studio Dante. Imperioli played Christopher Moltisanti, Tony Soprano's nephew, on the popular HBO television show.His representative did not immediately return calls for comment on Tuesday.NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said there had been "no known threats to the location or its owners'' before the 1 a.m. incident....

July 16, 2004 -- Sopranos gangster "Paulie Walnuts" joined a mob of diehard Republicans yesterday at a Queens fund-raiser that helped pump cash into President Bush's campaign. Actor Tony Sirico, who plays the mobster on the hit HBO series "The Sopranos," joined more than 100 people at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club, which was sponsored by the Rockaway Republicans. "I'm here because I'm a far-to-the-right Republican," he said. At another Bush gathering in Midtown, rap impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs showed up at Connolly's Bar to help promote his new MTV show and get out the vote.