"Sopranos" Actor Cleared Of Murder

Lillo Brancato Acquitted In 2005 Shooting Death Of Cop, Convicted Of Attempted Burglary

(AP)  Lillo Brancato, who played a bumbling aspiring mobster on "The Sopranos," was cleared Monday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty policeman during a drunken, late-night search for drugs.

The jury convicted Brancato of a lesser charge of attempted burglary. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on that count, but the former actor could get credit for time served because he has been behind bars about that long.

Brancato showed no reaction as the verdict was read - his face impassive, his fingers pressed together. His mother, seated a couple rows back in the gallery, began sobbing.

Prosecutors say Brancato and accomplice Steven Armento broke into a basement apartment to steal prescription drugs after a night of drinking at a strip club. Officer Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door, came out to investigate.

Armento blasted the 28-year-old officer with his .357 Magnum, hitting him in the heart. The dying officer fired back, wounding both men. Armento was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Yolanda Rosa Nazario, the victim's sister, said she was baffled by the verdict.

"What message is this sending out to the New York City police officers today? It's wrong," she said.

"This would not have happened if not for this animal's drug habit," said Patrolmen's Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch. "The only good thing is that this skunk is not walking out to spend Christmas with his family. The sad part is that neither is Daniel."

Brancato was led out of court in handcuffs. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.

Defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina said his client was relieved with the verdict. "There was never going to be smiles," he said. "This is not a case that warrants that."

Tacopina added: "This will be a second chance for him in life. ... Lillo's committed to taking advantage of it."

Brancato rose to fame in the 1993 movie "A Bronx Tale," playing a young kid from the neighborhood who is torn between two worlds and two men: a local mobster played by Chazz Palminteri and his straight-and-narrow bus-driver father, played by Robert De Niro.

Other roles followed, most notably a stint on the second season of "The Sopranos." His character carried out a series of low-level crimes for the New Jersey mob before being gunned down by Tony Soprano and his sidekick as he tearfully begged for his life.

Brancato, 32, and Armento, 48, were drinking together at a strip club in December 2005 before deciding to break into the basement apartment in a hunt for Valium, prosecutors said.

Brancato testified during the trial there was a never a break-in. He claimed that he had known the owner, a Vietnam veteran, for several years. He also said he had permission to go inside and take painkillers and other pills whenever he felt like it, and didn't know the man had died earlier that year.

The pills were part of a drug problem that he said began when he was "introduced to marijuana" on the set of "A Bronx Tale." He later became hooked on crack and heroin, he said.

He told the jury that while suffering from judgment-impairing heroin withdrawals on the night of the shooting, he accidentally broke the kitchen window of the apartment in a desperate attempt to wake up his old pill-supplier.

"I was becoming dope sick," Brancato testified. "Mentally, I was a mess."

Brancato tried to deflect suggestions by the prosecution that his testimony - at times punctuated by vignettes about his drug-crazed downfall - was another acting job.

[gioconda1-2009]

Once upon a time, I toyed with heroin. As a victim of severe *** abuse, although I was an upper class Caucasian girl, I self-medicated. Never did I think junkies carried real guns, until I walked into a terrifying ripoff scenario in NYC. I quit drugs that night. Been clean 30 years.

From personal experience, I can state it''s credible Brancato did not know his sleazy pal had that piece.

On the other hand, Lillo have known Argento had a weapon. Prosecutors could not prove or disprove either story, so jury had to let him walk on murder charges.

That said, a 2007 New Yorker article paints Brancato as a narcissistic child star who indulged every whim and led a life of hedonism, heroin and *** w/a different groupie every day whilste professing undying love for a teenage girl from his ''hood [the daughter of the guy who shot the off-duty officer.]

Lillo, if you read this, you have a great opportunity to use your performing skills, and amend for this tragedy. Travel the US, talk to children about the horrors of heroin & crack. Give back.

God & a sympathetic jury gave you a second chance.
Don''t blow it.

[brannigon]

Some people take their job too seriously!

[dogsoul]

...I meant,YOU should go to jail for life...

If I killed the owner, absolutely I SHOULD go to jail for life.... but not you.

[dogsoul]

"Dogsoul....what a name....obviously knows nothing about the law......if you are part of the crime you are just as guilty"

So if you and I go into a store to shoplift - and once spotted, without your prior knowledge I pull out a gun & mow down the owner - I should go to jail for life...

You sir, are an idiot if you believe that load of garbage.

[navyjimfl]

AMEN - look people... enough of this cr*p where you try to apply law based on some kind of emotional whim. This guy got convicted of exactly what he did, breaking into some place to score drugs. Just because his idiot buddy - who''''s rotting in jail indefinitely btw - decides to whip out gun & kill an officer doesn''''t mean HE''''S responsible for it. If you and I are hangin'''' out & drinking in public, and I decide to throw an old lady off the bridge - are YOU responsible for that? Same goes for that woman who impersonated a boy & that teen girl killed herself... what she did was wrong, but not illegal - or at least barely illegal - yet again, people think we should emote law & sentence based on our feelings...
Posted by dogsoul

Dogsoul....what a name....obviously knows nothing about the law......if you are part of the crime you are just as guilty.....this actor guy was lucky to have the jury he had

[navyjimfl]

this scumbag is one lucky sob

[dogsoul]

"I wouldn''''t convict him of murder either. He didn''''t pull the trigger and just because he was there he shouldn''''t go to jail for life. The killer is in jail."

AMEN - look people... enough of this cr*p where you try to apply law based on some kind of emotional whim. This guy got convicted of exactly what he did, breaking into some place to score drugs. Just because his idiot buddy - who''s rotting in jail indefinitely btw - decides to whip out gun & kill an officer doesn''t mean HE''S responsible for it. If you and I are hangin'' out & drinking in public, and I decide to throw an old lady off the bridge - are YOU responsible for that? Same goes for that woman who impersonated a boy & that teen girl killed herself... what she did was wrong, but not illegal - or at least barely illegal - yet again, people think we should emote law & sentence based on our feelings...

[blogthis1]

I wouldn''t convict him of murder either. He didn''t pull the trigger and just because he was there he shouldn''t go to jail for life. The killer is in jail. let it go! Now lets hope he''s not an azz like OJ and gets arrested again. He got his one and only 2nd chance.

[neonink]

Even two-bit actors get off free now?

Amazing. Too bad we don''t have ''actor''s memoribilia'' he might want to steal.

[rudy6543]

Irrational people blame Bush and Cheney for anything and everything that happens around the world.


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Posted by rhs648 at 10:10 PM

Really stupid people, however, lick their boots and maintain they are blameless for EVERTHING they have done.

[rhs648]

It was Bush/Cheneys Fault. Why not they are the cause of all the other problems in this country?

Posted by d7767w

d7767w - Should we add the severe snow, ice, and cold that the northern states are suffering from? Irrational people blame Bush and Cheney for anything and everything that happens around the world.

[hitoyou11]

He did not do it, so stop the BS. Go cry for some one else, He can go home, just what he needs to do. Let face it NY cops are as big as crook as any body.

[rudy6543]

I hope he takes this new chance and really does something good with his life.

[summarex]

Glad he''ll be out soon.

[andsab]

This is so sad for the victim and his family...what a sad day and age we live in!

[opedanderson]

it shows the genius of David Chase.....he needed an actor to play a stupid, wannabe gangster, loser.....and he found one in this chump.....

[mercurygrand]

Justice is blind for the rich. I guess three years is enough. But what would a poor joe get?

[yeswedid]

Just goes to show having $ gets you out of ANYTHING in this country...