Cosa Nostra News

Tony Soprano, aka James Gandolfini, died on June 19, 2013, in Rome at the age of 51. Personally, our interest in a new Sopranos project went with him. That's why we've been sitting on this. Even though it's a prequel, the whole idea of a new Sopranos film is bittersweet, at best. David Chase, creator of the iconic HBO series, will co-write and produce the movie, which is set in 1960s Newark. Deadline.com reported that creator and showrunner Chase sold a script to New Line, the Warner Bros. unit. The working title is The Many Saints of Newark. Chase wrote the script with Lawrence Konner, a veteran TV/movie writer who wrote a handful of Sopranos episodes. It's been 11 years since we all thought our cable died in the final moments of the long-running series. The groundbreaking show ran for six seasons from 1999 – 2007. It won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and Peabody Awards for its first two seasons. Other stars on the show includ...

John (Cha Cha) Ciarcia, who played a brief but pivotal role on The Sopranos as the consiglieri of the New York-based Lupertazzi crime family, was a Genovese crime family associate in real life. He allegedly "was involved in everything" regarding the San Gennaro feast, a Genovese capo reputedly told an undercover FBI agent. Whether he was a former or active associate is open to interpretation, but it's suggested that he was active up until his death at age 75 of natural causes. James Gandolfini, RIP...... This story, simple as it is, is unbelievable -- and maybe a decade or two ago, it would have been inconceivable, incomprehensible -- but it's true... That makes two, so far. Tony Sirico, who played Peter Paul (Paulie Walnuts) Gualtieri, was once a Colombo crime family associate . Some mention Tony Darrow. The one and only... He was allegedly a Gambino associate, but he apparently got hooked up with a mob family after his Sopranos stint (or during) as ...

Tony Sirico, who played Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri on HBO's The Sopranos , was dragged into the media spotlight, his mob past highlighted thanks to a crime docudrama that pops up every few months. His inclusion in the show centers on his involvement as a “witness” in the murder of a 1970s B-movie actress. (Not suspect . See the difference?) Who doesn't know about Sirico's mob-related past by now? Tony Sirico -- aka Paulie Walnuts.... Sirico was born Genaro Anthony Sirico Jr. in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. He has played gangsters in numerous films, some poorly made, some pretty decent, including Fingers (probably his earliest mob film worth watching), Goodfellas , Innocent Blood , Bullets Over Broadway , Mighty Aphrodite, Gotti , Cop Land, and Mickey Blue Eyes . Before turning to acting, Sirico was reportedly an associate of the Colombo crime family serving under Carmine "Junior" Persico -- and was arrested an amazing 28 times, according...

“I would say, ‘I warned you about drugs years ago’ — and told him something would happen and something did happen. I would see him and say, ‘I hear you’re doing drugs and you should stay away from that stuff.’ And he’d say, ‘Oh, sure, right.’ “You were there. You caused it. “Here’s a guy who was in the quintessential movie about not wasting your life and that’s exactly what he did,” — Chazz Palminteri when asked what he'd say to Lillo Brancato, an actor he has no plans to get in touch with. Lillo Branchato was led astray by drugs. It should have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- what is known in common parlance as "the big break." But for Lillo Brancato, Jr. (born March 30, 1976), the success of playing the lead role (Calogero Anello) in the film "A Bronx Tale" (1993), which marked the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, was so very fleeting in the end.

I've been thinking a lot about The Sopranos since the death of James Gandolfini. I dug out the box sets and watched my favorite episodes, sometimes my favorite scenes. I grabbed my Kindle Fire and looked for stories about the man. Eventually, I came across one piece that I literally spent Saturday afternoon reading. It has to do with that final scene of the final episode of that amazing television series. The final moment of Tony Soprano's life? I firmly believe that the theory of the writer of the piece, who is anonymous, is 100% correct, and my innocuous analysis of the ending is wrong. Interestingly, it was over that house of questionable construction that Carm was trying to sell. She had meetings that night and thus had no time to cook the manicotti AJ was looking forward to. Hence, they were going out for dinner.

This is one of the last pieces I wrote about Gandolfini ... RIP, Tony, you were an actor's actor... I hated the ending of  The Sopranos ; I mean, I really, really hated it. When the screen went black, I threw the remote, yelled "Shit!" and thought why does the Emergency Broadcast System pick now to run a system check. Then, I thought maybe the cable had gone out -- dying on me at the worst moment. When the credits started rolling, silently, I still didn't get it. I immediately set up my DVR to record the replay, thinking somehow, someway, my cable had dropped out on me for the end of the last scene. Then realization sank in. My anger started rising. That sonofabitch Chase, I thought, he screwed all of us... for all these years we -- the legions of loyal fans of the show -- have all been waiting for one thing: to discover Tony's fate. Would he live or get whacked? Get prison, or escape? I actually thought at the end he was going to rat out everyone -- w...

Yes, I count myself among these fans. From  NorthJersey.com : Every weekend, On Location Tours takes a busload of pilgrims to Holsten's in Bloomfield so they can check out a table in the back. It bears a little sign saying, "This booth is reserved for the Soprano family." Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Robert Iler in the infamous booth in Holsten's in Bloomfield. "They usually go to the booth, sit down, take pictures … get some food, some souvenirs, maybe ice cream, some candy," says Ron Stark, one of Holsten's owners, who notes that fans of the late HBO show continue to stop by on their own, too. It's been nearly five years since Tony, Carmela and A.J. Soprano came together in that booth – as Meadow struggled to parallel park outside – for what turned out to be the most controversial last supper in television history. It was there that Tony put a coin in the jukebox and played Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " – a so...