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James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano remains one of the greatest TV performances of the last 25 years, but working on the show day in and day out proved extremely taxing for the gifted actor. James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano remains one of the greatest TV performances of the last 25 years, but working on the show day in and day out proved extremely taxing for the gifted actor. "Every other day, we would go to a bar. We would have the exact same conversation,” Van Zandt explained. “We would get drunk. He’d say, ‘I’m done. I’m not going...

Drea de Matteo, who played Adriana La Cerva on The Sopranos, revealed that many people in Hollywood secretly support Donald Trump. During her interview, she said she supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump. “At the very moment, all I care about is fighting for this country and just trying to wake up a few more of my fellow liberals to get back to the center of things and recognize that the things they always fought for — all of that weaponization on the left — is camouflage,” de Matteo said. She then said that social issues are unimportant...

(CNN) - Paying for some Bruce Springsteen tickets these days may be “Tougher Than The Rest.” That’s because Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” has some seats reaching $4000 to $5000 a seat. The high prices are not going over well. “I’m sure you won’t see this @springsteen but you or your management need to have a word with the abhorrent criminals running @Ticketmaster who are charging exorbitant amounts to see you in concert,” one person tweeted. “Please listen to your fans, nobody can afford these ridiculous ticket prices.” Writer John Semley tweeted that Springsteen should “write a song about a working man...

The race for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey is a statistical dead heat, with incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez leading Republican challenger Bob Hugin by two percentage points, according to a Stockton University poll released today. Menendez leads with 45 percent to Hugin’s 43 percent five weeks before the Nov. 6 election, according to poll numbers of likely voters who say they lean toward one candidate or the other. Libertarian Murray Sabrin pulls 3 percent, while other candidates and undecided voters total 8 percent. Menendez, who was reprimanded by a Senate ethics panel after corruption charges were dismissed following...

On Wednesday, the governor is expected to sign a package of bills approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature — a few of which received wide support from Republicans. The following bills are sitting on Murphy’s desk: * A1217, which will create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person’s guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year. * A1181, which will mandate law enforcement in the state to seize a person’s guns if a mental health professional determines they pose a threat to themselves. * A2758, which will strictly define that state residents need...

PHOENIX - Phoenix police arrested a man who said "he cut his mother's head off...because she put a hit on him." Officers found him walking in the neighborhood with blood on his pants and detained him. He allegedly admitted to detectives that "he cut his mother's head off while inside the apartment because she put a hit on him." He told police that he drank a fifth of vodka and used methamphetamine before murdering his mother. Then he went to the kitchen and got a knife with a six-inch blade. He also allegedly admitted to police that his mother was...

A 35-year-old man was shot in the head and critically injured in one of five shootings reported around the city in less than 15 hours. Between 10 a.m. Wednesday and 12:30 a.m. Thursday, two men were injured, two guns were recovered, and three people were arrested in connection with the shootings. Gunfire first erupted near Martin Luther King Drive and Bidwell Avenue at about 10 a.m. No one was injured or arrested in the shooting, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

A paramedic has been accused of swiping James Gandolfini‘s $3,000 Rolex as he laid dying from a massive heart attack. Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, allegedly stole the Submariner watch from “The Sopranos” star after he collapsed in the Boscolo Luxury Hotel Exedra in Rome during a family trip in June 2013, according to NBC News. He was rushing Gandolfini to the hospital that night when the timepiece disappeared, though it is unclear if it vanished from his hotel room or while the actor was wearing it

Mulberry Street, where New York's "Little Italy" is centered, c. 1909.  (Photo: Library of Congress)“Don’t eat gabagool, Grandma,” says Meadow Soprano on an early episode of The Sopranos, perhaps the most famous depiction of Jersey Italian culture in the past few decades. “It’s nothing but fat and nitrates.” The pronunciation of “gabagool,” a mutation of the word "capicola," might surprise a casual viewer, although it and words like it should be familiar to viewers of other New Jersey-based shows like the now-defunct Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey, where food often drives conversation. The casts are heavily Italian-American, but...

The sudden death at 51 of James Gandolfini is intolerable. When he died, it never occurred to me not to go to his funeral. Until my wife pointed it out afterward, it also never occurred to me that I had “crashed” it. Standing in the sunshine in a long line in front of St. John the Divine with “ordinary people” I was spotted and we were ushered down front among family and colleagues. My first mourner encounter was with the great Dominic Chianese, (Uncle Junior). We embraced. The procedure, repeated over and over, while the church filled, was to come...

“Sopranos” star James Gandolfini, who struggled with booze addiction in his final weeks, scarfed down a decadent final meal that included at least eight alcoholic drinks, The Post has learned. Gandolfini guzzled four shots of rum, two pina coladas, and two beers at dinner with his son — while he chowed down on two orders of fried king prawns and a “large portion” of foie gras, a hotel source in Rome said. The Emmy Award winner had attended several Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on Perry Street in the West Village, but people who saw him there “didn’t think that he was...

Doctors in Italy battled for 40 minutes to save the life of "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini after the actor's 13-year-old son called for help, according to new reports.

In what is by most accounts the Sopranos' most talked about, controversial episode, David Chase,the Sopranos' creator, looks to respond to what is probably the fans' biggest gripe of the series regarding a tantalizing plot issue left unresolved. "Pine Barrens" has Chris and Paulie getting lost in the wintry wilderness of South Jersey in the aftermath of their intention to dispose of a Russian mobster "Goodfellas" style, but the mobster, best friend of Tony's business associate manages to escape the clutches of these seemingly inept henchmen. Fans were quite upset that a very compelling story line whereby the mobster returns...

If I understand correctly, the ObamaCare Mandate began to take effect on the Catholic Church a few days ago. I only knew this because my wife was listening to EWTN on the car radio - otherwise, it seems not to have made any stir nor garnered any headlines, and was mentioned only in passing even on that station. Although America has been a nation of amazing strength, integrity and vitality, founded by Christians of great fervor who largely came to this land seeking freedom of religion, and although it is still a largely Christian nation, it is now surrendering, without...

Former Congressman Maurice Hinchey from upstate New York was a target of the mob during the 1980s when he was a State Assembly member investigating its "illegal dumping of toxic waste at landfills," and the politician resorted to his Second Amendment remedy to protect himself as reported by Brian Tumulty for the Ithaca Journal: "Hinchey began carrying a pistol because he was advised by law enforcement authorities they couldn't guarantee round-the-clock protection from a possible hit by organized crime. "My life was being threatened and the operation in Albany told me I should begin carrying my own gun," Hinchey recalled....

Joseph Gannascoli, the actor who played the gay mobster Vito Spatafore on The Sopranos, was arrested yesterday morning on a DUI charge in Tampa, FL as reported by Kristie Cavanagh for the Daily News: On "The Sopranos," Gannascoli played Vito, the mobster who took over as capo after the deaths of Richie, Gigi and Ralph and was eventually killed for being gay. According to the actor's Web site, Gannascoli was appearing Thursday night at a Tampa smoke shop, Soho Cigars, to promote his Cugine brand of cigars.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Soprano is shedding his wardrobe for charity. James Gandolfini, who starred on the hit HBO series, is selling off 24 outfits, including the button-down blue shirt he wore in the opening credits and the bathrobe he donned to fetch the morning newspaper. Proceeds from the June 25 pop culture auction at Christie's will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that assists severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Estimates for the costumes start at $500. Gandolfini's wardrobe, which includes many outfits with the original production tags attached, is expected to bring up...

An empty lot, littered with rocks and roped off by chains, is all that remains of the butcher shop where Tony Soprano once held backroom meetings and sipped espresso at outdoor tables. Satriale's, the Kearny landmark and fictional pork store that became one of the most infamous icons of the New Jersey mob world created by "The Sopranos," was demolished last month to make way for a condo development. Construction of the nine-unit project, dubbed -- what else? -- "The Soprano," is expected to start next year. For years, property owner Manny Costeira leased the empty building to HBO, which...

The Soprano-fication of Gaza By Michael Rosen : 15 Jun 2007 As of this writing, Hamas forces have overtaken the majority of the Gaza Strip, including several strongholds once controlled by Fatah, Hamas's bitter rival. Internecine Palestinian fighting has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of civilians. The government has been dissolved. The UN is considering sending peacekeeping troops to stanch the bloodletting. Some observers have presented the struggle as an ideological war between Hamas's Islamism and Fatah's secular nationalism. But a more appropriate analogy is to the gangland mob drama The Sopranos, which concluded its eight-year run earlier...

I must confess a temptation to complacent laughter at the frustration of all ''The Sopranos'' fans at the conclusion of the series. It was the most important television project ever, comparable to Don Quixote, Shakespeare, maybe even St. John's Gospel. Why did it end not with a bang but a whimper? It was also a powerful critique of corrupt capitalist American culture. Academics and intellectuals -- and pseudo-academics and intellectuals -- had searched the weekly bloodshed and vulgarity for wisdom hidden from the ages. How could the series stop without ending? Ordinary viewers, satisfied with the violent whacking of "Uncle...