The Sopranos Actor Who Wasn’t Acting: In Real Life He Was a Mafia Member

The Sopranos is an extremely realistic series. It presents the mafia as it really is: a dirty business where only money matters. There is no such thing as a code of honor, a dress code or a speech code. Simply put, it is a group of common criminals who decided to band together to gain power and thus make more profit.Actor Tony Sirico was not only hired to play one of these criminals (Pauli Gualtieri), but for decades, long before he became an actor, he made his living robbing, extorting, and intimidating people for one of New York’s most powerful families.

We’ve already talked about how The Godfather invented most of the characteristics we associate with the mafia. For example, gangsters are people who talk and dress stylishly.

And also that “family” ties are sacred and that drug dealing is a sin for them. None of this was true.. But The Godfather movies (let’s pretend there’s no third one) painted a picture of the mafia so impressive and respectable that many real-life mobsters decided to model their organizations after what they saw in the movies. The Sopranos creator David Chase had something completely different in mind when he conceived his masterpiece.

Some guy must have wanted to be a gangster after watching The Godfather. Once you managed to join the “family,” you noticed some important differences. As former mob boss Michael Franzese (his YouTube channel is great) tells it, it doesn’t really matter how loyal you’ve been up until now if there’s a suspicion that you might betray the organization. or if your criminal activities stop bringing in as much money as usual, it is very likely that your own accomplices will force you to sleep with the fishes.. That’s what happens a lot on The Sopranos over the course of six seasons. And it makes sense, since the cast included a real-life gangster. Let’s take a look at Tony Sirico’s life before he became a Hollywood star.

The Criminal Life of Tony Sirico

Authenticity is what immediately stands out. That’s why when you start watching The Sopranos, Paulie Gualtieri’s character stands out as if the great athlete were visiting the set of a movie based on his career. His appearance, his manner of speaking, his gestures, his facial expressions suggest two possibilities: either this guy is a great actor, or he really was a gangster.In Tony Sirico’s case, the second option is correct.

Sirico had always been a troubled man. He disliked studying, preferring to travel around New York City with friends in search of quick money. As a teenager, he was shot to death during an argument over a girl. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army. Back on the streets, Tony became a petty criminal and was arrested 28 times.for crimes such as: assault, armed robbery, illegal possession of weapons, extortion, coercion and others.

We don’t know how violent Tony Sirico was during his days as a criminal, but an intriguing documentary interview gives us a clue. The interviewer asks Tony if he has ever killed anyone. The future Sopranos star seems offended by the question, but replies, “No, I never have.”. He later tells a story of the intense jealousy he felt whenever anyone approached his wife. He recalls how one evening in a bar, while he was buying cigarettes, a sailor approached his wife to talk to her while she waited outside.

Sirico recounts how at that point he lost control, lunged at the object, and beat it savagely. When he was done with the man, he threw him against the bulkhead that separated them from the bay. There was a fishing boat under the water, and when the sailor fell, he hit the boat hard. Tony turned around, took his wife’s hand, and they ran until they found a taxi. In the car, his wife hugged him and kissed him. The bandit admitted that he had no idea what happened to that guy, judging by the plot, he most likely killed him.

Tony Sirico could never reach the level of Paulie Gualtieri, as that character was a capo, or captain of the gang. The rank just below that of a Mafia boss. Sirico always aspired to become one, but his efforts bore no fruit. In 1971, when Tony was 29, he was indicted on charges of extortion, coercion, and illegal possession of a firearm. For this reason, he was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison, twenty months of which he served in the maximum security Sing Sing prison in New York..

He falls in love with acting and becomes famous.

During his time in prison, a theater group made up of former prisoners, Theater for the Forgotten, visited his prison. Sirico saw them and thought, “I could do that.” It so happened that after his release, Tony became determined to become an actor.He studied acting under Michael Gazzo, known for his Oscar-nominated role in The Godfather, who recognized Sirico’s abilities and helped him break into the industry.

It was obvious what his specialty would be. Tony Sirico signed up for every casting that was looking for gangsters. The popularity of The Godfather spawned dozens of productions looking for tough guys to play stylish criminals.He started out as an extra in Dino De Laurentiis’s Crazy Joe and gradually made his way up the ranks, eventually landing more substantial roles.

He spent two decades playing essentially the same character, a tough New York gangster. appeared in all the crime films of the eighties and nineties, including the legendary “Goodfellas”.He also appeared in several Woody Allen films. He had already worked in 35 films when he auditioned for the role of Junior Soprano. Of course, he didn’t make it, but David Chase recognized his potential and decided to hire him to play Paulie, a character written specifically for him. The talent accumulated in the cast of The Sopranos was enormous, and Tony Sirico contributed a large part to it. He died on July 8, 2022, at the age of 79.