The Connect- with Johnny Mitchell - Star Of ‘The Sopranos’ Opens Up About Hollywood, 'A Bronx Tale' & Catching A Murder Case

Episode Date: October 7, 2023

As a teenager from Yonkers, Lillo Brancato was discovered by Robert De Niro to shot to fame starring in the critically acclaimed A Bronx Tale. A decade later he found himself addicted to drugs, struggling to work, and facing a second degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of a police officer. He joins us to talk about his road from actor, to inmate, to community leader. Check Out Lillo's Recovery Work And IG! More Life Recovery Center: https://moreliferecoverycenter.com/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/lillo_brancato/ This Episode Is Brought To You By The Following Sponsors: HelloFresh: https://www.hellofresh.com/50connect Promo Code: 50CONNECT PrizePicks: https://www.prizepicks.com/connect Promo Code: CONNECT Mood: https://hellomood.co/ Promo Codes: CONNECT20, CONNECTFREE Join The Patreon For Bonus Content! https://www.patreon.com/theconnectshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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He said, don't move. I moved, I turned around, boom, boom, boom. He started shooting. I got shot all three times. Today we have Lilo Broncato. You might recognize him as collogiloh from a Bronx tale or Matthew Bevelaqua from season two of the Sopranos. This guy is an amazing story, okay?

He started off as a child actor. He got discovered when he was 15 years old by Robert De Niro to play the part of C in a Bronx Tale. Then went on to have a really good career, but unfortunately he became a junkie. And in 2005, he was breaking it. into somebody's house and he ended up being involved in a cop killing which sent him to prison for almost 10 years now he's out he runs a sober living house he's back acting writing and producing

and he's here to tell us about his arc how he made it out of the depths and back into society this was one of my favorite episodes we've ever done he is everything you think he could be and more you guys are going to love it and of course for a bonus episode with him head over to patreon Patreon.com slash the Connect show. Without further ado, I give you Lilo Bruncato, right here on The Connect. You could have money, have it all, but if you don't have that sobriety in your recovery, nothing is possible. That's when I see the lights behind me start to flash.

And I didn't even think. I just hit it. I was driving like my life depended on. Then I parked the car, popped out, closed the door, and I started running. And he pulls out a burner, shang. It's like six inches. And he passes it to me. And he goes, here, that's yours.

Don't ever leave the cell block. without this. He was the reason I made it out of that place alive. So did you know wise guys and yonkers growing up? Or did you know of them in the neighborhood? We see them around now. That's just like a part of that whole culture growing up yonkers, the Bronx. Wow. You see that all the time. Still, you still see big guys. Are we on the record right now? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, but you still see that, you know, Italian organized crime in the boroughs, like when you go up to. Yeah, I mean, you see, like, you know, you don't see them down here. You don't see them down here. You I mean, I'm staying in little Italy while I'm in New York.

There is no, like, you know, track-suited gold chain guys walking around, you know, giving little kids dollar bills. Like, that is done. Yeah, but I think that's more of like a caricature of what. You know what I mean? Yeah. Sometimes you would these, like, some of these guys would walk right by and you wouldn't even know. Yeah.

That, you know, like, it's much, like, I got to say, like Tony Sopranal, the way that guy looked, he was real looking. Like, the way that character looked, oh. old fat. Yeah. He looked like he owned like a couple of like tire stores. Like he just looked like a business guy from New Jersey. Yeah, he was,

he was perfect. Like he wasn't like an exaggerated version of what someone like that would be. You know what I mean? Like he was perfect. But, you know, the element's always around. You know, it is what it is.

It's just part of, I think, New York culture. You know, it is what it is. You're fully Colombian, right. But adopted by Italian parents.

Right. And why did they do that? Why do they choose to adopt? Well, my mom and dad, they had a miscarriage of someone that, you know, a kid that would have been five years older than me right now. I guess after that wasn't successful,

they tried and tried and tried and just were not able to conceive. So then, you know, like they're old school Italian. They wanted a child. Yeah, yeah. Are you the only child then? No, it's my brother Vincent. We're nine months apart. Once they found out that they were going to get me

and all the paperwork went through, my mom got pregnant with my brother. Get the fuck out of here. It's very psychological. That's wild. It's wild, right. Same thing happened with my friend, my friend John. He and his wife, you know, tried and tried and tried and tried.

Nothing happened. They did the in vitro. Yeah. They were having kids. And then right after they had the kids, he said, we had a little sangria, we got a little fresh, and she got pregnant, just like that. We were trying for years. You know what it is?

There's less pressure. Right. Your parents knew there was one of the ways. They just relaxed, and then they slipped one by the goal. Pressures, you know. Yeah. It's like when you're trying to get it up on a date and, you know, you're putting so much pressure on yourself.

And then, you know, you're like, take a step back. you're like, I'm the man, you know? Yeah, well, that's what happened with them, and then, you know, now I'm here. So you grew up in Yonkers. Do you remember Columbia at all? How old were you? Were you just a little baby? I was four months old.

Oh, yeah. You don't know my mother. But you basically grew up Italian, then. You grew up culturally Italian. Absolutely. You look Italian. Absolutely. Yeah, I grew up Italian.

Your friends in school that you grew up with in the neighborhood, Italian? My block was Italian with other than one family. Puerto Rican, the Hernandez family. They're still there. They're still on that street. A lot of people are actually. That block was Italian, but I wouldn't say Yonkers was Italian or my neighborhood. It was like Polish.

Yeah. It was a lot big Polish community in Yonkers. Irish. Really? Portuguese. Black? Yeah. Yeah.

They got the projects up there. And they got the nice riverfront now, too. So it was a whole mix. I lived down there. I lived down in that riverfront in those buildings. It's, uh, Yonkers definitely changed a lot. I mean, down by the water, you know, there's Lionsgate down there now. Oh, wow.

Lionsgate, they have a studio down there, um, which I was at a few times. It was there September 5th. We're working on this film, doing some post-production on a film called Sleepy Head. Okay. So, uh, it takes place in hell. It's actually a cool, cool story. Nice. Um, so we're, we're, we're, reworking that.

So when, when did you get into acting? Have you always been an actor? Um, no, actually, they found me. I was on the beach when I was, you know, 15 years old. Oh, that's wild, dude. That does not happen in Hollywood anymore. You had like, that happened to Matthew McConaughey. You know that story, right? No, I don't.

He was going to law school in Austin, Texas, at the University of Texas. And what's his name? Richard Linklater was in a bar drinking, and he sees this guy, and he's like, this dude's got something. And he goes, hey, man, he strikes some conversation. He's like, hey, I got this film that we're getting ready to shoot down here. It's called, uh, what is it, almost famous? Now, help me out here, producer.

it's the one that popped him, but he goes, do you want to, I can, like, write you in or something. And he just kind of shrugs and he goes, yeah, okay, let's, let's go for it, man. And fucking the most famous guy in the world five years later. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, look it up. Was it David confused? Dazed and confused. There we go. Yeah, yeah.

He was like the, uh, all right, all right, all right. High school girls, you get older, they stay the same. Like, you just brilliant. And, you know. You guys, I got to take a minute to thank. our longtime sponsor and friend of the show, Mood CBD. Mood is the number one Delta 8 and Delta 9 products company in the country. And they deliver everywhere.

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free five count pack of gummies, use promo code, connect free. And they'll just send you a free pack of gummies. All you do is pay for shipping. Go over to hellomood.co right now and get you so. What's up, everyone? I'm coming on the road to do stand-up. October 12th, I'll be in Toledo, October 15th. I'll be at hilarities in Cleveland. November 1st, I'll be at the stress factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, November 2nd. I will be in New Brunswick, New Jersey. On the 5th of November, I'm going to be at the New York Comedy Club doing the New York Comedy Festival right here in New York City. November 15th, I'm in Dallas at Hyenas. November 16th, I'm in Austin at the Vulcan, Dune, not missed that one. On December 14th, I'm in San Diego, and on December 21st, Zanies in Chicago.

This is a big one. I got a lot of fans in Shytown. Come out to that. Let's pack it out. Get your tickets at Johnny Mitchell.biz. All right, let's get into the episode. So they found you on the beach. Was it for a Bronx tale? Yeah, that was the film. You know, it's going to be 30 years old, September 30th. Wow. It's a 30-year anniversary of the film. That's crazy. You know, my girlfriend's like super. She's like 24, like, you know, on TikTok all day. He doesn't know anything about what's good. I put on a Bronx tale a couple weeks ago.

I was like, I'm getting ready to interview this guy, babe. And she loved it. She was like, oh, my God, this is so good. I'm like, yeah, no shit. Like, they don't make this stuff anymore. Yeah, Transcends time. It was a very, you know, De Niro was very careful making that film. He put so much time into it, so much effort.

You know, he directed it. That was his directorial debut. No, no, no, De Niro directed that? Yeah, he directed that. Oh, oh, oh, oh, Chad. wrote it. Wrote it. Chaz wrote it.

Made it pop as a play first. A one-man play. Yeah, yeah. Did a one-man play that De Niro saw, went and saw, and liked it very much and thought that it would be good if it was made it as a film. And, you know, it was the same thing as, like, Stallone, who wrote Rocky. They loved the story, but no one wanted Stallone to play Rocky. They wanted to play it safe and actually go get somebody who was already.

It was bankable, like a, you know, a star. And they kept off. and more and more money. Right, but Stallone stuck to his guns. And, you know, I don't think there was anybody on the planet that could have played Rocky. I mean, that is him. He is Rocky.

Yeah. But Chaz held out and De Niro, it was De Niro's idea. It was a brilliant idea saying that Chaz would be great as Sonny. And I think he was. Right. Because, like, here comes this guy. Who knows the material better than him? He wrote it.

Yeah. This is, you know, for him it had been a long time coming. He had wrote that long time. This is like, you know, took place in the 60s. Even growing up as a kid, so he had this here and like, he's finally going to get made. So I think De Niro recognized that as well. Like, this guy has a fire, a passion inside him to play this character.

You know, not that he created it because it was based on real, you know, real people and a real story. But I thought that was a great choice by De Niro. Who discovered you on the beach? This guy, Marco Greco. And was he, like, a casting director? Oh, yeah, he was like a scout. I don't know if he was a casting director. He was a casting scout.

But at one point in time, the Bregmans who did... Yeah, Marty Bregman. Right. Purdue, big producers back in the 90s. Right. And before, I mean, he did Dog Day Afterno. Oh, yeah, right. Carlito's Way.

Oh, my God. Taxi driver. No, no, no. Taxi driver, someone else. But Scarface. Scarface, yes, yes. So the Bregman's... Carlito's Way, yeah. They option the script.

And when they optioned the script, De Niro was always going to play Lorenzo. But they love Al Pacino. So Al was going to play Sonny. And that could have been like, you know, if you want to talk box office, that would have made the most money. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.

That would have made the most money. But then again, you got two of the best actors, two of, you know, the best actors around. But then again, because they are two of the best actors around and they are going head to head in something like this, would it be too distracting? Like, you know what? Would you be watching it to say, well, who's doing better than he or oh, wow, that was good. Oh, wow, that was good. Oh, man.

But then like, are you following the story? and what it's about and the direction in which it's heading. And movies that with De Niro and Pacino, besides heat, historically have bombed, you know? So, yeah, I agree. The Irishman didn't do well. No, no, man.

I mean, I liked it, but people hated on it. It was, yeah, there were a lot of problems with it, you know? It was, my main problem was, it was just too long, but it did have, it was, there was a lot of greatly great stuff in it. Do you know what Hollywood, when I watch a movie like the Irishman, It reminds me of the presidential election that that generation will not go away. Like, why are they still leading films? Why do we have Trump and Biden running for president?

They're geriatrics. But they don't want to cede power to the younger generation. Or maybe those are just failing institutions. And they don't have anybody younger that they've reared to, like, fill the shoes of a Pacino or De Niro. you know, same with politics. I don't know. It's an interesting thing, though. It's like, it's a...

Well, the world is much different now, so you wouldn't want, you know, like, you would want someone who would like, you know, fill in that, you know, like, fill, you know what I mean? Fill in that space and what they were as actors and what they bought to, you know, to everyone. But I just think it's so... I don't know. Also, the game is so much different. You can't blow up by writing a script and starting a one-man show. You can't come up the way that Pacino and De Niro did in New York.

You know, those like those 60s and 70s trained actors that, you know, got the role of a lifetime after doing these small little bit parts. Movies barely matter anymore, you know. Movies don't matter. TV and even TV to me is becoming less and less relevant as social media takes over. I think the business, you know, the movie industry, that the entertainment definitely took a huge hit. I don't know if it'll ever be the same again, you know. Um, the Oscars. Because of, because of COVID or the technology or the strike? Like, why do you think? There's a little bit of everything. Everything. Everything sprinkled in. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, how do you

recover from this? You know, I mean, and I think the longer the strike goes on, you know, the harder it is going to be to come back and just do what we did. And, you know, and it was like so confusing. And, you know, like after the pandemic, I kind of like, just the way everything was, you know, the Oscars just seemed a little more confusing and just the way everything was. and some of these films that were in the Oscars I'd never even heard of before. No, of course, because you pay to get your movie in. It's all rigged, man.

Like, I'm telling you, the game is... Hollywood, to me, is done for the most part, in my opinion. But look, there's still... Movies will always be around. There's still money in it, you know? No, I think if you can make something that touches people's hearts and people can resonate with people,

something like, you know, I wrote a film, it's about addiction, it's with a girl from a Bronxdale. I wanted to do this. Which one? Well, it's a film... The black girl? Yeah, yeah. Oh, what's her name?

Terrell Hicks. That's right. It's called Never Meet Your Heroes. It's about addiction. I'm a gambler in the film. I meet her at a karaoke bar. She's an aspiring singer. Yeah.

And we're both in our element when we meet. She's on stage and I'm at the Joker Proker machine. Then I hear her voice. And then, you know, I promise her I'm going to stop gambling. And I think, you know, and then we have a daughter. And then she becomes an addict. It manifests in a different way. Okay.

And it's real. I mean, I've lived this. I've lived this. So you're still stay in touch with Terrell. Yeah, she's a really good friend of mine. Oh, wow, that's awesome. Dude, she was so good in that movie. And then when she grew up a little bit and belly, oh, she was hot.

You remember her? Kisha and belly? She looks better now than she did back then. Oh, unbelievable. Black don't crack. So getting back to that, though, like, so you're 15. What are you doing? What kind of kid were you?

Were you already, like, kind of whiling and headed towards your addiction? Or what were you doing? No, 15. I was, you know, I'm drinking a few beers, you know, get a little buzz. and that was about it. But at 15, then we started doing the film. How old were you?

I turned 16, August 30th. They found me July 5th of 1992. So then we started doing the film. How much did they pay you for that? The Bronx Tale I made, all together I made it be like $20, $25,000. Yeah. Wasn't a lot of money.

It wasn't a big budget. No, well, it was not, no, it was not even that. It was, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't anyone. Right. So it's like, why do I got to pay this guy? He should be paying us, if anything. We're giving him this shot. Yeah.

But I was getting scale, which was $1,620 a week back at that time. But, you know, like, I was just happy to be there and to be in the presence of De Niro and just everything that was going on. It's a dream come fucking true. Absolutely. Never took an acting class before that? No. Never did nothing?

Never had aspirations? Wow. No. So did they give you classes? Did they give you acting lessons before going in? Did they give you a teacher or coach? Well, I remember one thing, and my nephew, Like he was in this film that I did, you know, recently.

Like, you know. And I try to do with him what this woman did with me. Because I remember it worked. Because obviously, like, you know, like, even if you have it in you, it may take a little effort from whoever to get it out of you. It's there. Some people just don't have it. It's like speed. You can't teach that.

You have it or you don't. But like, you know, like, say this particular kid, he does have it because we've seen flashes of it. I know what's in there. But now we got to fucking get it out of this kid. We had this lady, she was like an acting coach. So like I was going down there every day. I didn't have the part yet. They were working with me because the kid who shot Sunny,

he was supposed to be Colodaro, but he was 21. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were set on him, but the movie would have been different. Who was the guy that shot Sunny? Oh, at the very end. Yeah, Phil Garberino. He was barely in it though, right? Yeah, yeah.

He was barely, like I think you only see his face when he shoot Sunny. Yeah, you know what it is? He tried to read for one of the parts as one of the friends, but it didn't work because he was 21 and all the kids and my friends, all 15, 16 years old. that wouldn't look right. Yeah, yeah. Right.

Your casting was perfect. But you didn't have the role yet. They said come read for it. Right. They said, come read for it. So now I got this woman that I'm working with this acting coach. And, you know, she said, I want you to, she goes, I want you to do this for me. She goes, I want you to scream your head off.

And I want you to run back and forth in the room. And I'm like, really? She's like, yes, just do it. Trust me, it'll work. I'm like, really? I'm like, ah! I'm running one way. I'm going.

I'm going nuts. And you know what? That helped. Because it's like I just made such a fool of myself in front of this woman that I don't even know. And I'm sure they heard me in the other room. And they knew it was me screaming. So like anything else I do now, why would I be nervous when I just did that? Yeah, they make you do that goofy shit in acting class.

But it's to lower, it's to shed your inhibitions. Because as you become an adult, you put up all these walls. So that's essentially what it is, is to, yeah, it's to, so you feel. like liberated from whatever kind of self-conscious feelings you have. Well, yeah, you're shy. Yeah. It's, you know what I mean? It's a nervous because you don't, I mean, it's for many reasons because you know you have

gotten yourself, whoa, in a position where this could happen. Yeah. You've gotten far enough. You've gotten past the gatekeeper. Okay. So now you're in a place where you're in consideration. They're considering you for this role. Yeah.

So now, because. this was like, because I went there, it was like 20 kids, and then I go the next day, like 15, and then the next day. And then like, it's just me. It's common sense. Everybody else's was weeded out and I'm here for a reason. Is a bunch of shaggy-haired, uh, tally, and lucky kids? So now I know they're really, fucking, you know,

they're really considering me. So now it's like, oh, and that did help because I, because I feel like when I first got there, you would think I would be more nervous, but because I didn't have anything to lose at that point. because I didn't know how far in the running I was. You know what I mean? So now at that point it was just like a Hail Mary,

whatever happens, happens. If not, I could say I got to this point and I'll talk to tell my kids, you know. Yeah, I almost got to work with De Niro. Almost, almost. You know what I mean? People come, I almost had you, I almost had you bought.

So, but you would think the nerves and everything would go away as you're getting callbacks. You know what I mean? You would think that that would instill and build confidence to where like, you know, man, whatever I'm doing,

it's working because they keep calling me back, but it was the opposite. And then when that lady did that, because now I know they're really watching me. When they have all these people there, they're watching, you know, they're sitting in the room. Was De Niro in the room? It was every day? Spring weekends are all about family, sunshine, and evenings on the patio. Before everyone arrives, I stop by my local total wine and more to grab a great bottle to share. With such a wide selection and the lowest prices, it's easy to find something amazing for every. everyone to enjoy. If you're not sure what to pick, their friendly guides can help. Find what you love and love what you find only at Total Wine and More. Shop Total Wine and More in store or online.

Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly. Be 21. Wow. That's huge. When you're actually in an audition with the director there, that means you're in the running for the part. Like you're in like that top top three. Yeah. Wow. And some Sometimes in the room... Do you remember, are there any actors who are famous now that we would know that we're up for the part? Well, from what I heard, Johnny Depp wanted that role of Kolojaro. And I heard Holly Berry wanted the role of Jane.

Wow. They were already like 30, though. That wouldn't have worked. Well, they would try to make it. I mean, look at Beverly Hills 90210. They were all high school kids. Yeah, yeah. During their 30s.

Yeah, exactly. All banging each other underage and shit. You know. Yeah. Luke Presley, rest in peace. his hair line is back here. Well, mine was too, and that's why I ever shaved head. But, uh...

Why was you on the finasterite? Look at this guy. My God. Yeah, I know, I know. He's just a boy, dude. He's just a boy. Well, what's going on? Why didn't you get on the fanasteride?

Or you get the little implants? I could have hooked you up. I got a guy. He's in Spain, but he's good. Well, they say turkey's the place to go for the, for the, for the... Yeah, but it's a sandy country. You're going to go to a scene. Get yourself blown up.

Go to my guy in Spain. They'll be a jerk off. Well, God, you got me talking like you. You heard what he said? Nick, Nick, what he said? So listen, listen. So you get the part,

what was, I mean, what was, it's such a broad question, but what was working with De Niro like? Oh, surreal.

Surreal? Yeah, because... Is he in character or is he just kicking it? No, he's a very, like, he's very introverted,

you know, like until he knows he gets comfortable with you, he's like a very shy guy, very introverted. So that's why it was surreal because you see this guy playing these prominent roles and these roles that, you know what I mean? Like, you know, last a lifetime. And he's playing these big tough characters.

Larger-to-life. Yeah, yeah. Jimmy Conway. Same thing. Like even Pacino, he's 5'4, but on screen he looks like he's 9 foot tall. He's so huge. But that's the same thing with De Niro. Yeah.

So you're expecting, even if it's not that, maybe a little bit less, a little bit of a diluted version of that. But then when you meet him, it's like something totally. totally different. So that's where the surrealism comes from. Like, holy shit, I thought this guy was different. And then he's just like, you know, like he gets shy too. How do you direct when you're shy?

No, well, well, not at that point. Because by that point, he's, you know, he didn't just cast us. You know, we sat with him and, you know, we read these lines inside and out. And we read them with every possible combination of kids. All right. Now put him with him, take him out and now see how this group works. trust me, there was no mistakes. So when you guys were actually on set,

were you able to bond a little bit? Were you able to talk and, you know, get to know each other so you could be as believable as possible, father and son on screen? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Wow. No, no, absolutely. So I think it was easy for both of us

because my dad was around his age and he had a son, Raphael, that is my age. Yeah. His son Raphael is born in November. I'm born in August of 76. So right there, you know what I mean? It's not a foreign thing to him just because he's got a son that age. So there was a little father's son dynamic with you guys.

Absolutely. Do you remember any advice he gave to you or anything profound that you carry with you today? Advice where is it? Acting purposes or just anything? Anything. Everything and anything. You know, I know this is not like, you know, but it's, and it's very simple, but he always said less was more. He always said, because, you know, like, I think, you know, when you don't know,

film and how it works. Film picks up things that you do, you could do this. And on film, it looks like you did that. Everything's bigger. That's why people look bigger. Everything's bigger. So he told me, he said, trust me when it comes to film, less is more. He said, you're better off doing nothing than too much. And he, he, and I always remembered that. Because I'm thinking like right now, I have a choice. I could make this big, but Bobby said less is more. So you can do it in a less way, which could be more. And I always, even though it's simple advice, but he was very adamant about it. Lela, because he was directing and sometimes he'd watch something and be like, I know this kid could do it the right way. So listen to what I'm saying. Less is more. You don't

got to do all that. Yeah, because it's just, essentially just behavior for the editing room. That's what it is. And he mastered that more than anybody, the less is more. Like, how many times does he just look at you in a film and it says everything? There's nobody's face that can say as much is his. He's done it so many times, just like in Goodfellas with the cream, and he's looking at him with the zoo, even in the untouchables. When he was, remember at the opera, and he had that fat fucking face with the bald head fucking out, and he had the right, and they had that camera, it was just close up. You see him crying. And then he just turns and it's just like his whole face turns into

something else. There's nobody can do that. You kind of look like De Niro and untouchables right now. But trust me what I tell you, the way. He did that. He was crying, watching the fucking opera, and then he just collected himself and he turned into that mob boss, Alcabod, just he did it.

It's not easy to do that. And people watch and they look, it's a two-second thing that you did a two-second thing with his fucking face. That's not easy. That's the hardest thing to do. Because you're saying something

without saying it, so you really got to be able to sell it. That shit's God-given. That's like a rubbery talent. As we said, it's like speed. That's the things you can't teach. Right. Right.

So what was your favorite scene? You have so many quotables in there. I'll tell you my favorite first. I got to tell you. My favorite is... Oh, go, go, go. Go, go. Okay.

My favorite is... No. My favorite is... It's really not you. It's Sonny. But Sonny's telling you... What, he's a friend of yours? The kid won't pay you $20.

Does this kid a friend of yours? No. No. All right. Well, there you go. He's out of your life. You got off cheap. That's beautiful.

My favorite, I got to say, is probably the funeral scene. Because you got, you got De Niro, you got Pesci, you got Chaz. You got a little peace with everybody. You know what I'm saying? Chaz ain't saying nothing because he's dead, but he's still there the whole time. And he was in there so long, like sometimes even when he had an opportunity to get out, he said, no, let me stay in there. Because then it's a pain in ass to come back and get settled in back.

Oh, like when they were shooting De Niro, he could have gotten out when the camera wasn't on him. But he stayed in there anyway. Not even that. Well, he would. Yeah. He stayed in there out of respect for De Niro. Because it's harder. As an actor, even though this is off camera, but I'm still supposed to be looking at somebody that's dead.

And there's some meaning. There's a meaning. I have an intention. I have intentions right now with this scene. And I just think with you there and me able to look at you, even with the makeup. And, you know, you're playing the role of a dead guy. You're not saying anything. You got that makeup, you know.

And I just think that, you know, definitely helped him out. But you got jazz. He fell asleep. He snoring. De Niro was trying to do the scene. And it was low, but then he got louder. And then he was really trying to fight. But then we all started laughing.

But, like, even Pesci, like, you know, that area, that neighborhood, man, that's prominent. Let me tell you some real street, you know, some real tough. Like, that's one of the toughest neighborhoods around. The Fordham section of the Bronx? Yeah. To this day. Still. One of the toughest neighbors around.

the five boroughs. They don't get tougher neighborhoods than Fordham. Is it still Italian up there? Yeah, it's Italian. It's Italian. It's Albanian. Talk about some tough cats. Yeah, but there's still a very big Italian presence. So, and you, that's where you filmed it in Fordham. Yeah, and those street stars, you know, they're street stars. And then Pesci, if you watch the movie again, Pesci was a somebody, because remember he was Carmine, when you watch, remember outside when you hear the narration and you see all the people pulling up

and this and that, watch. Pesci's car. pulls up, somebody opens the door for him, and they can't get in front of him, they're all kissing him, greeting him. So you know he's a serious dude. Right, so he... There's no way these grown men are coming to kiss you if you're not a thorough, serious guy.

And then when he comes in, like he was so... Like sometimes, like I think about the Bronx tale, you know what I mean? Even though I was in it, but now because I'm so far removed from that age and that character of that, now I could watch it as a film because I love these movies, you know? And that one is like top-notch, man.

Because like when you see Pesci, like the way they did that, you didn't know that was him in the beginning. When he goes, fuck you, you freehole. That word, freehold, that's a very authentic. What is freehold mean? It's like you jerk off, you fucking freehold. But they don't really say that in Brooklyn or anywhere else. That's a Bronx word. Wow.

Freehold. That's very, or even when I said, remember when I said she was tall, she was beautiful and she was classy, but she was black. And that was a no-no. That was a no-no? They say that to this day. I know guys from that neighbor that were that age then. Oh, that was a no-no. That was a no.

Anything. Oh, you don't go in anybody's rest of mind. You start screaming. That's a no-no. So I'm like, wow, this movie's so authentic. So authentic. Because I'm, you know, like, my, like, the arrow, really, really. But the way.

Let me ask you, I can't, I can barely say it without getting chills. And it kind of like, it brings, like, tears up. But that last scene where you asked Pesci, you would kill that man over a parking space? And he goes, no. He said, no. What does that mean? It was over respect. Is that how you interpret it?

Like, what did he get killed for? He goes, no. Like, what do you think he got killed for? It could be, it's some kind of street reason for whatever it is. Yeah. To me, it was respect. Like, he disrespected him by. You never know.

You never know. This guy couldn't have been, listen, it could have been, a lot of times it's because of money. It's because of money. This guy may be making this much money, but now this guy comes, and because of him,

it's doing the same shit he's doing. Now he's making less money. So he's going to say, hey, if you're going to do that, you can't do that here because this is where I am and this is where I've been doing this for like this many years. So you got to go. And then this guy could choose to say, all right, I respect that. I know where you are. No problem. That's how you see it.

And then I'll go find another place to do my business. But then some people say, no, I don't give a fuck. Fuck this guy. Tell him to come. You know what I mean? And then the guy does come and then happens. But it was so beautiful because it did just leave it up for interpretation. He goes, no.

But that's great. parking space. It was great. That's great. It's one of the best films. You know, I had an idea. I had an idea. Everybody, you know, like, and she knows because, and I talked about to view, but everyone logically would think if they made a movie about the Bronx. I don't think C would never become a gangster. His life, he, trust me, he was scared straight. After Sonny got killed and all that, C went back to being the good boy, Lorenzo's son. But that's why you were the perfect cast is because they could look at you and see somebody

who wasn't a gangster. He was just brought up in the neighborhood as a good kid. Right. That was a father-son story. Right, of course. That happened to be in that element. Yes.

You know, that's what it was. It could have been taking place at the zoo or whatever, but it was really a father-son story. But if they had cast like a tough kid, it wouldn't have made sense because the redemptions, the other kids were tough.

But that shows the contrast, the juxtaposition between mine and my friends. But see, like, come turn, you should have been the boss. That would never happen. Okay, so that's not real. You could choose to do a movie a prequel to answer that question.

Why did he kill him? Right? That would have been No, fuck it up though, man. The Sopranos movie, God, what a piece of shit that was. I'm sorry, David. Look, let's just call on what it is. It was disappointing. I can tell by the, I can tell just by the trailer, I'm like, oof, this is going to stink. You know, I actually thought it was actually going to be, okay, do you know, do you know, you know the title? The title is a play on words. Did you know that? What, the title of?

The Many Saints of Newark. Oh. Okay. Okay. Explain. It's a play on words. The movie was about Dickie Maltesanti. Right.

Okay. Malti santi means many saints in Italian. Multi Santi. Yeah. So they were the Malti Santis of Newark, the many saints of Newark. So just that alone, I said, wow, that's pretty fucking clever. Yeah. And you know, the Sopranos was fucking unbelievable.

Greatest show. It's a greatest show. They nailed it. Every line is comedy. It's, it's, it's, fear. It's amazing. But here's the thing. Hold on. Hold on. Let me get into this.

Let me, because I want to back up. This is about you. After a Bronx tale, your life's changed, I assume. Of course. Is Hollywood calling? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get an agent. Got an agent. William Morris, Frank Frateroli. It was like right away. Wow. And were you getting offers?

Of course. What was a big role that you went out for post a Bronx Tale but before Sopranos? So many. I mean. I mean, I read for Robin in Batman and Robin. Wow. Yeah, I mean, I read for, you know, I had an audition with Steven Spielberg, but I fucked that up because I went, I chose when to choose, do drugs the night before. Oh, shit.

It was a Friday, 10.30 in the morning audition in the room. In Hollywood. No, in New York City. That's what I'm saying. Spielberg was here. What was the movie? You know, saving Private Ryan. Oh, no.

Yeah, it was for the Vin Diesel role. Oh, Leel. Not to say that I would have been better than Vin. I know Vin and I thought he was great and I thought you know you could have did it though you could have did that but but you know the bottom line is you know that's what happened

I went out sniffed coke the night before and I said you know what I'll be all right I said I'll probably be able to get back and 10 30 that's late I'm gonna get home I'm gonna get home five six of my sleep right now it didn't work out that way and then I called my manager what happened you were up all night

yeah I called my manager and I said you know can we reschedule he reschedule he's leaving yeah he's been here this week he's in New York seeing actors in New York for this, you know, like, and you have an appointment to sit with this guy.

And he's Steven Spielberg. Do you make the president reschedule? You know? Damn. Yeah, but this is, you know, this kind of stuff haunts me. You know, I think about this, and there's people that would kill

to even be near that guy. Right. But they had the opportunity be in the room, and this guy's like, his eyes are on you. His focus is you for whatever that amount of time is. Or real quick back sopranos. They've done that.

John, a million, million times, gangston, but now they made that, and it started in 99, right? 98, 99. The writing was great. Everything was so fresh and so new, but they never, ever sacrificed authenticity. The show never became silly,

even though the writing, it's kind of stupid. But right or wrong, it always stayed authentic. Like, even like the stuff they came up with some of the right, even when I got killed. Okay, do you see the writing in that?

Michael Imperiole wrote that, Christopher. That scene? Yeah. Do you know how brilliant that is to come up with fucking soda? Diet Coke? Dude, when you were drinking this? Come on, when you were drinking, drink that.

Drink it, drink it, give it a deep drink. That's right, dude. But just, but just, but just remember to say,

you know, like, you sure you don't want a sugar, a soda with some real sugar. There's only fanta. And freaking, he's a rat, he got a wire on him.

Yeah, yeah. That was awesome. Oh my God. Yeah, the guy who gives you the fanta is, Vince and Pussy. Big pussy. Big pussy. who's wearing a wire the whole.

whole time as he's killing you. That's correct. We're going to get to that, though. So, but I'm curious to like the progression of like your drug use. Like how does that, you know, after a Bronx tale, you got a little bit of money. You certainly got some clout. But you're still a kid, basically. You know, you're 17 years old, 18 years old.

Very much. So do you, does that kind of stardom or that, you know, being a somebody now, does that accelerate the drug use? Of course. Okay. Because, you know, like I've talked about. before. Like, I seen, like, I saw a psychiatrist when I was a kid, and he always said that I could see someone with your personality and the things that you spoke about. And you always talked

about excitement and, you know, how you, you know, he said that I knew someone with your personality would gravitate toward drugs. And he also said that I would be good in the dramatic arts. Wow. He also said that. Because you have that. You're a very, like, strong up, you know, guy, you got a lot of latent energy, man. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look at you now. You're fucking ripped. You go to the gym. You're eating. beef jerky. What decade are we living in? But, uh, so, you know, so you got that, but, but drug addicts and I've been to jail, I've been to prison, trust me, I know drug addicts. Yeah, I mean, this is a crime podcast, you know, I was a big time drug dealer, but, you know,

so I was around a lot of drug addicts. But, um, do you think it was something about being adopted? Like, if you looked into, like, how that maybe, like, a sense of abandonment, fucked your psyche up? You know. Does that have anything to do with it? My brother thought that, and that's why maybe my mom and my, you know, they thought I should go see something. They thought that's why I was doing drugs. Hey, listen, as far as I'm concerned for what I can see on the surface, no, that's not a problem. I don't, because I consider myself lucky because people do, you know, like sometimes you, I don't necessarily look at it as being abandoned. You know what I mean?

I also, I kind of frame it a different way to like maybe these people's lives were so bad. And they knew there's no way they're going to be able to give this child a good life. No. So it's better off we do the right thing and actually give him a shot. And some couple who can't have children a shot to have a fucking kid. No, it's a beautiful thing. I don't deny it. And I was so young.

I was four months old. So it's not like I came when I was like already seven or eight where I was in one place realized what was going on. And then like get the fuck out. We don't want you anymore. And then it's like then you go to somewhere else. Then of course, then you would, you know what I mean? Yeah.

But I think. because I was so young. My parents are great. My parents are great. They get me everything. It's baffling. It's baffling how some people just maybe just are predisposed to being addicted, and then you try it and you like it, and then your habit gets away from you, right? Absolutely. So now you graduated high school. Did you go to college at all? I did some college in, I got an associate's degree. I earned an associate's degree.

But did you ever go out to L.A.? Did you ever say, I'm going to move to L.A. to try to make it pop, or did you stay out here the whole time? I stayed out here, but I've spent significant amount of time out there. You know, and I'd go out there two, three months at a time. I would, every, like, pilot season, I'd go out there beginning of the year, and I'd start going out for all the pilots. So did you work between a Bronx Tale and the Sopranos? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I did Renaissance Man Crimson Tide. It did some pretty good stuff. Oh, right. Okay. Okay. So were you doing drugs in between the roles? Well, yeah.

I mean, Bronxdale started, you know, we did that in 92, came out in 93, and I started dabbling the weed in 92 November. That's when that started. You know, the alcohol was always there, but that's like acceptable. Of course. You know, you go to the store and it's not, but. So then Crimson Tide, Renaissance, Man, was 94, then 95 was Crimson Tide. So I would say, 96, 97, 98, that's when it started getting bad.

The cocaine. Yeah. It was a weekend thing. Right. You know, I'd be good Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then fucking Thursday. You know what I mean? It's basically the weekend on Thursday. Yeah, it starts.

But this is the way, this is how I would do it. I would go out Thursday. I'd go so fucking crazy Thursday. I'd sniff so much below. And I only did it out of the right side of my nose. So, because the other side wasn't strong enough to pull it. It wasn't strong enough to pull it. So I'd do it through the right side, right?

So then I guess because like it affects the muscle in your eye that turns their eye left to right So I guess because it fucked up that muscle so bad and you know overdoing it for all those hours They make me like this But the next day it'd be fucking because like the muscle was like so weak Cross-eyed Yeah cross-eyed and fucking tearing out of one eye He was fucked up That's fucked up

My mother's like what's wrong with you Yeah damn and this is when Coke in New York City is still really good too Oh I remember when I first did it We got it off Fordham Road across street from the V hospital in the Bronx. Wow. This was back in like 93. Who was serving it back then?

93, 94. Who was Dominicans? Right, of course. You go in the building. I remember it was 47. You don't knock on the door, you ring the doorbell. When you ring the doorbell, they look, and then if they know what you, you hear like six locks. Yeah.

They open the door, and you look straight ahead, right? There's a hallway, and then there's a kitchen all the way down there, but the lights off. and there's a guy literally with a gun just sitting against the stove he doesn't say nothing he's gonna say something if you try to rob the place it's gonna leave you dead in that place yeah okay so you see that already you notice

it's not a place to you know you're like this is gonna be good coke yeah but it was fucking it was great it was like you know like when you did the shit and your whole everything got numb and your throat was so numb that you don't even realize you're swallowing but you are but you can't

right and then you can drink all night yeah yeah yeah yeah And, but, you know, that's a combination of the shit was really good. And also it was new to your body. Yeah. It starts because like, I think it's like the devil. Like, you know, there's a saying in Italian, when the devil caresses you, he wants your soul. So I think that's the period of caressing.

It's very seductive. That's the way you, you know, you perceive it. And then before you know it, and then you're fucking experiencing psychosis and looking on the couches. And that happened to you. Of course. Of course. I was just in the back of my head. I jumped out of a car.

Yeah. Wait, what? I jumped out of a car one night. I was fucking doing like 60 miles hours with my friends and I got like really paranoid off the blow thinking these guys are going to kill me. And I fucking jumped out of the car. Holy shit. It's crazy shit. You're lucky to be a lie.

Yeah. And the screenplay I'm right. And that psychosis. Yeah. I'm not going to tell you the premise. But trust me, there's never been a film that showed that psychosis. I lived it. I used to see the shadows in the walls fucking dry.

I used to go like this. Yeah. I used to be against the wall and the motion. by myself for three days, all right, totally naked, all right? Blow on the fucking thing, there's nobody in, and it's like the middle of the summer, and it's like a fucking Tuesday, and it's like two o'clock in the afternoon, I'm in this like, piece of shit, motel,

and naked against the wall, and wired out of my mind going like this. You know why I'm doing that? To see if that's my shadow on the wall. Because if I go like this and it moves, it's me. If it doesn't, we got a problem. Probably. Dude, dude, it's like you're a crackhead.

Yeah. It's the same. It's crackhead shit. It's the same shit. I've done that too. Me and like three, four guys, like, you know,

carpet surfing is? No. Oh, you're looking for the shards, right? Yeah, you're looking for anything. You put popcorn in the stem.

Oh, it looks like something. And then you put, like, that's what that stuff does. It brings you to your knees, man. So it starts to get bad around 96, 97,

98, but then look what happens. The Sopranos pops. and season two comes around. That's where your character, Brendan Bevelaquaqua, right? No, mine, Matthew Beavalaqua. Matthew Bevaluqua, got you.

And my friend was Sean Gizmante. Gotcha, okay, cool. So, yes, Matthew Bevaluqua. Great name. Just like, I never forgot that name. You know what that means? Bebevaluqua? No.

Drink water. Wow. Bevehavala. Alagua. All right, gotcha, gotcha. When did you read for that part? And were you up for any other roles in the Sopranos? Well, I read for the first.

season, Christopher's friend, Brandon Fallone. Oh, Brandon Fallon. The kid who got shot in the shower. Shot through the eye, yeah. Exactly. I read for that role, they said it was young. But at that point, it was just basically a concept. It was an idea. They didn't know I was going to go over that big. So they said, if we get another season, we'll bring you in for something that's, you know,

you feel you're right for. Do you feel like your character was better than Brandon? It was, right? Because Brandon was kind of a... A lot of people don't even remember Brandon. Yeah. Not to say, not to discredit Anthony. DeSanto because I know him he's a very good actor I just think the part was small number one and number two it was all the way in the beginning right and then eight seasons later right it's harder to forget him right it was a different show by the end right it was even a different show by the second season yeah right it evolved by the second season your character was had an arc like a real

arc like and you were the guy you were the guy that wanted too much too fast and your partner it. Because if those of you haven't seen it, go watch it. Well, what are you doing? You've been living under a rock. Go watch the entire Sopranos series. But season two, you guys are just punks that are trying to get in good with Tony's crew. Exactly. And your partner wants to be like, no, look, we got to, we got to just stay in line. We got to, you know, wait our turn. Whatever they say, do, we do. And you're like, no, we got to make a move, right? Yeah, no. We got to do something big. Yeah, these people, this guy's treating us like shit. Like, what the fuck, man? We went to Pace College. But it was great, though, like, you just got to have a, you had a very meaty role.

Yeah. You know? Did you lay off the blow when you had to go to work? No. Really? No. That's something, it's like, at that point, it was hard to lay off. If it was there and I was drinking, I'm doing it.

Was anybody doing Coke on the soprano set beside you? I didn't see anybody. But you would get high and then go act? Well, what would happen is I wouldn't go get high and go act. I would be high from the night before. and I would sleep for a fucking hour and I'd still like feel the effects and those are 12 hour days on set

Yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah I remember one time I was high on heroin From the night before because I sniffed so much blow That I needed the dope just to come down So I could go to work and actually like fucking be a normal guy And is that how you got into heroin Was that the beginning of your heroin habit Well no it started when I jumped out of that car

Because then I fucked my head up so bad That they were giving me the pain pills And then the pain pills turned into that Right But on the day the Sopranos was Furio comes to the, remember, you know, what he wants his money? He cucks you guys out. Yeah.

That scene, that night, you know, like, it was crazy because that night, the night before, I was out sniffing and partying and all that. So I was high on dope from, because that shit was powerful. I didn't do dope all the time. Right. You know, so like, you sniff one bag. You're feeling nice for two days. Yeah.

Sleep like a baby fucking itching. But it's like, what is that? It's all empty. You know what I mean? Yeah. Nothing good ever comes out of it because I've seen it on the other side. And it's like, what did I do all that for? It did nothing but destroy my life.

It was nothing but destruction. But that scene, what we did, that was high from the night before, they didn't know what was wrong with me. So obviously, you know, when you're on set, Lilo, you want a water, you want a water. There's water's everywhere. You know, everybody's got, hey, leave water, you get nine, you know, but that's a nice thing.

It's a good thing. But I'm drinking that water. They'd have a bucket for me. Puking. That's right, because that's what you do when you're coming down on dope. Well, not even that yet. When you're high on dope. Yeah, I didn't you.

used to it. Yeah. You're vomiting. But it feels good after you vomit. It's like, oh, it's like euphoria all over again. It's like the best vomit. Well, you couldn't tell because they kill that scene is great. I mean, you guys are like standing in your underwear as this big fucking, you know, guy from the other side just basically shakes you down for cash. And then he goes in Italian, he's like, they suck each other's cocks.

Yeah, question of those, that's what he says. He's too suck each other's cock. Do you speak in Italian? I do. Okay. Did your father speak Italian? How did you learn? Your parents?

Yeah, yeah. Oh, so they're from Italy. Oh, yeah. Oh, these are real whops. Yeah, that's not, you know, that's not common that people from Italy, like immigrants, would adopt. No. But they love children. They all want children.

The fact that they couldn't have one made them so desperate that they would even consider doing that. And then they did. Right. Especially a non-Italian. Right. And then, you know, you had my brother Vincent. I'm born August 30th, 19. He's born May 12th, 1975.

It's nine months. Yeah. You know? Maybe your mother in Columbia did some, because Coke started, was starting to explode in Columbia in 76. Maybe she treated her nose while she was pregnant. You never know. You never know. You know?

And it got into your bloodstream. Who knows? I mean, it didn't even have to be from her. It could have been something that she was passed on because I think that, you know, the coca, the coca leaf in Columbia is used for many things. Not only for that. They got colas. Yeah. Colas that are, you know, from that stuff.

They got fucking food that's made with that. Put it in your tea. Yeah, no, they use that coca for a lot of stuff. Yeah, of course. So of course it's going to get in the body. You know what I mean? And then it becomes part, you know what I mean? But then the way they make it, you know,

like to that white power from a plant. There's a lot that goes through there. You're making poison. Of course. So how many episodes of season two were you in before you get killed? I was in five. Yeah. And then I was in a flashback.

Right. Which I get residuals for. That's sick. So I'm not complaining. So you get HBO residuals. Right, yeah. Okay, great. It's not a lot, but it's still, you know, you never know when they're coming and, oh, wow, I've just got to check that.

How do they, let's pull the curtain back a little bit. So your episode, your role ends when you get shot to death because you guys try to kill Chris, the made guy. Right. They catch, they catch you. He wasn't made yet. No, he wasn't made. You're right. You're right.

But he's the nephew of the boss. Remember he lost his spleen? That's right. And he got no spleen, Gene. Yeah. Yeah. So how do they, how do you get shot? You get shot so many times.

How do they make it look like blood? They put packs on you? Yeah, yeah. What is it? They're called squibs. They're like little packs of like sugar blood. And this whole thing, it's like I got this whole, like this is made by special effects. Yeah.

You watch that scene. You see the sweater's puffy. No one will ever notice it. Ah. But you watch that sweater's puffy. Right. Because I got like a whole fucking thing underneath that's rigged with like seven blood packs. Right.

Okay. And it's hooked up to wire that goes through my pants all the way through the bottom of my pants that are all linked up over there. And you got some special effects guy in the corner. And he knows, because you'll rehearse it. You rehearse it for camera. You know, like basically it's going to go like this. You know, Jimmy's going to take the first shot. Bang!

And then there's going to be a little deletrecent. because then he looks at him, so then it's going to be bang, bang, bang, you know what I mean? And then he pulls the pack to make it. I'm sure now that was in 90, that was in like 2000, 2009, 2000. I'm sure now the technology, they don't, it's more sophisticated.

Wait, but I'm saying back then. Yeah. It was wire. And then they say, just act like you're getting brutally shot to death. And you just, and how many takes did it take? You can't do a lot of those. You can't do a lot of those. How many shirts are you going to have?

You know what it is? There was so much stuff. there was so much coverage because you got the two shot. Then you got him shooting. Then you got him shooting. Then you got my fucking leg where the blood's coming down.

You could use that. If you get like literally a millisecond of me just doing that and you cut right back to him, that's all you need. Yeah. That's the beauty of editing. Editing, it makes everything. Totally.

You could go in a hard driver. You can go looking like whatever, you know, whatever you footage you have. Now, you have, have something that's part of this scene. But because it's just you here and we don't see the wardrobe, huh, you know what? That was a really good fucking look. I think that would make it great reaction for when he said this, let's just put this in this scene. They'll never, you know what I mean? I've seen that done before. Like, wow. That's amazing. That's movie magic. But that's why you can't

teach somebody that. Right. Somebody has to know that. You can't go to school to be an editor and they're going to You know what I mean? I mean, they could teach you that, but just to have that, just to pull something from somewhere else. Of course, they can teach that. The best editors could also be great directors. Because they have that artistic eye that you can't teach. Today's episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh.

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Thank you to prize picks. Let's get back into the episode. Tell us about James Gandalfini. I mean, it's just the greatest character of all time. The Tony Soprano. Yeah. He's amazing. What is he like?

Did you have any interaction with him? Oh, yeah. I mean, I knew him prior to that. Really? Yeah, we did Crimson Tie together. Oh, I forgot about that. Did he help you? Did he put in a word to David Chase?

I don't know if he did. I mean, but I'm, you know, we did have a good report. You know, I did have a good report with him. We did like each other. And, you know, I knew him from then. And, uh, I mean, I don't think. Maybe he did. You know?

Maybe he did. Did you hook up with anybody on the set? Did you bang? No, no, no. What's her name? Drea? No. Well, we did a film together where I play, we play heroin dealers.

Oh. No, but she's my friend. I don't like doing that on. You don't look up. Yeah, you can't do it. You don't want to be irresponsible. What's not even that? Coming in on dope.

No, well, now that's, those days are over. But, you know, and something like that back then I couldn't really control. Yeah. But now I can't control it. Now, if I go back and do it, it's a conscious, you know, it's a conscious, you know, It's conscious. It's a conscious, you know, it's not a fucking disease and all that bullshit. I'm 18, I'm 17 years into it.

If I go back now, it's a choice. It's a choice. There's nothing to do with me having a disease. I don't even think that exists. Ah. But I don't. I'm talking about that, yeah. You know, but, you know, the way you look at, it's like such a beautiful opportunity

to be on a set and to have the opportunity to work and, you know, do something that you love, that I just don't think it's the place to do that. No, of course not. You just don't. And I'm not just saying that to sound. Well, for the Patreon, we're going to talk, we're going to do a little bonus episode after this, where I want to talk, like, some behind the scenes, Sopranos stuff, just because it's, you know, it's fascinating.

It's part of American history. Like, it really is part of American film history. Did you get paid well? Did they pay well? I did okay. It was all right, you know, but I did a show on CBS. Obviously, you get a lot more money. Yeah, network, right.

Exactly. Right. HBO was HBO, and, you know, that's Sopranos, that was groundbreaking. There weren't shows like that before that. That's paved the way for shows. Yeah. Then the wire and then the rest of his history. Wire was just as good.

Yeah. The writing wasn't as good because they used local actors. They didn't use real actors and some of the writing was, in my opinion, a little on the nose. But, you know, we can argue that. Yeah, yeah. What happens after the Sopranos then? Like now you're back on the map, I assume. Are you still getting calls?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I did a film with James Kahn right after that. I did a film called In the Shadows, Cuba Gooding Jr. This was back in 2000. Matthew Modin. Okay. Had a nice role in that. Like a stuntman. Wow.

And then, you know, Abel Ferrar. Yeah. You know, Bad Lieutenant's my favorite film. Oh, my God. And I just watched King of New York the other day. And I pay homage to it in the film that I wrote. Okay. Just like with the book he keeps calling.

Yeah. It's kind of similar. And you think, you know, like, and then the way that movie threw you off, like the Dodgers lost and the Mets won't. The Dodgers really want it. And then when the Mets were, I was like, what the fuck? And I would love that. I'm throwing you off in this, because that's my favorites.

I kind of want to play homage to it too. But, uh, so, yeah, I met Abel Ferrarra. I met him in a strip club in New York City, the guy, the writer of the film that we actually did, it was called R. Xmas. His name is Scott Pardo. He comes up to me, he says, hey, Abel Ferrar is here. You know, I was like, really? Abel Ferrar, you know, because I love that.

And I love King, New York. I like Lieutenant better, but King of New York was all. So great. And I said to him, I said, oh yeah, he said, he would like to meet you. He thinks she got a great look, and he thinks that you may be right. And then he's like, hey, aren't you?

And then he's like, oh, you're that kid from there. You are an actor. Then I met Abel. Yeah, yeah, you know, like, it's like, you know, it's like, I don't know if you ever met him. I never met him, but I've seen interviews with him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's got the hair like in his face.

It's a fucking trip, man. And he rocks back and forth. Yeah. But he's a great guy. He's clean now. We emailed one time he was in Rome. He's living in Italy. Yeah.

He's living in Italy. He's got a baby. I'm so pretty like, you know, he's a good dude. I mean, because we were both in active addiction back in early 2000s. Yeah, yeah.

I believe it, man. And we were both fucked up. And for this guy to say, like, I want you to be in this film, I literally auditioned in the hallway. In the hallway. I was up against another actor. I won't even say his name.

Personally, I don't know. I think that kid would have been more right for the role than me. What was the movie called? R. X-X-Miss with D. That kid would have been more right, but Abel just liked me. So like we're in the hallway, all right?

Lou DiGamo casting, you know, Lou? He did, friggin, the gladiator, the godfather. Lou's as big as they get. And his son took over the thing. So that casting company was casting R. Xmas. First of all, Abel shows up late. And when he shows up, he's got a brown paper bag with a 40 ounce of Budweiser, right? And he walks like that.

And his eyes are like half open. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you look great. All right, no, no, no, no, all right. Just come outside. All right, yeah. All right, do it. Just do the action. So I was doing it.

I got the part, all right? No, he's got the part. That's what, all right, let me go. He's such an artist. He's such like a fucking- Come in, I did too. Yeah, all right, all right. All right, all right.

All right, got the part. And he just, all right, I'm leaving. And then he leaves, but I got the part. Yeah, yeah. So you're working still. Yeah, I guess. You know, what, what leads up, lead us up to when you, the incident happened

that set you to prison? Because when I, when I heard that, my buddies and I, like, I was in college when this happened. How old do you know? I'm 37. Okay. So this happened. Yeah.

So I think it happened to what? 05. And I'm like, Reggie, you're not going to fucking believe this because we're huge sopranos fans. We're like, this fucking kid, you know, so we got it convoluted. I think the streets that didn't know any better thought you were the one that killed a cop. Right. So we were like, damn, respect.

Yo, you know, that kid, you know, the kid from a Bronxdale, Colodulo? He was really about that mess. I guess. So and I don't want to make light of it, but you know, it was just like a funny thing because that's not what happened. So I want to talk about, tell us about those years and what led up to it and and your addiction and what, you know, unfortunately came that fateful night that, you know, well, at that point in time, you know, like when I jumped out of the car, then I got into the pain medication. And then once the pain medication, that changed my whole life because the cocaine was like a weakened warrior type of thing.

And I don't think it would have ever, I don't think it would have ever went past that because I used to get cocaine, I used to do cocaine, just get all weird on it. So there's no way I would be doing it all week. It's only when I drank when I was sober, I wouldn't go anywhere near it. And the heroin?

But the heroin is just like, you can act normal, you can eat, you can go to sleep. And you're like, what the fuck, man? Why didn't I do this shit first? It's like, you don't even want to do cocaine anymore. The cocaine, the come down's right away. You do it no more, and now you're like bugging out

until you fall asleep. But the heroin, it just happens so subtly, you know what I mean? Because you're like, you do it, you go to sleep, you eat, and nothing's, everything's cool. You wake up the next day, like nothing happened. Excema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with ebbglis, a once-monthly treatment for moderate-tissaphyr ex-ma. After an initial four-month-month-longer dosing phase,

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You don't nod-off? You don't nod-knaw. Yeah, yeah, you are a little. But the bottom lines, like, the cocaine is affecting your life. Mm-hmm. I'm missing appointments. I'm doing stuff like that because I get all geeked out. But then it's like this stuff feels better than that.

And there's no fucking back. There's no repercussions. I was able to wake up. So then you start to slowly move over to that. So now that becomes your new drug of choice. So then you're doing that, doing that, doing that without realizing that it's a physical addiction. So now that, you know, nine days into it, you know, know like I was doing the pills all the time because they felt so fucking great.

Like oxies? No, this was the Vicodin and print this before oxies. Right. You know? And you're doing them, you're doing them. And then like the one day, like, because my mom, they had them all over the house. They didn't realize like, these are fucking drugs. And I'm stealing them and I'm telling them like, wow, these things are great.

And then the one night when I didn't have them, I didn't realize what it was, but I went to sleep and I'm like sweating and tossing and turning. And I thought I was sick. But it was something off. I'm like, but I'm not. I don't feel like you know when you feel sick inside you don't like the call you just feel it you know Something's wrong but I didn't feel that way It didn't feel like something was all the way wrong, but something was wrong enough to prevent me from can sleeping So I'm like what is this shit, you know and then I remember talking to somebody and they're like yeah

Bunkers you've been taking those things you don't have anymore boy you're going through withdrawals I'm like oh shit like I'm becoming a junkie you know what I mean? Yeah, you're slowly becoming that and so when when did you start going strictly to heroin? I would say by early 2005. Okay. So you're picking up powder heroin? But you know, oh, one, two, three, four. That was pills.

Yeah. And then why did you get rid of the pills? Why did you say forget the pills? Because the pills, believe it or not, would be coming too expensive. Ah. They were becoming too expensive because I was doing so many. I was 30 in the morning, 30 at night.

30, 60 pills a day. Yeah, that's the times three. That's like, you know, it's big money. Yeah. But you had, you know, like it got that bad. So it's like, what the fuck do I do that? What is 60 pills? What is the equivalent of that for the same high in heroin?

A gram? Well, it all depends on the heroin. Because the pills, they're made in a lab. So you know exactly what you're going to get. When you get a 10 milligram of this, it's going to be that every time. Because, you know, it was made. But now you go get dope. It could be the same stamp, and which has a good reputation.

And it's known to be potent shit. But now you maybe got a batch that. It's a little older, it's not as fresh. So you can't count on it being what it was. But just for some reason, the dope, I don't know if it was psychological. I was paying all that money. And then I had this kid Mike from my neighborhood.

He was like, used to go to work in Manhattan with a suit and tie. And he would stop off in the Bronx on his way home and he would get dope. Wow. And I would fucking give him money. And he would get me to dope. And in the beginning, it was like three bags a day,

30 bucks compared to all the shit I was just spending. Right. So you're like, this is the best thing in the world. I'm getting just as high. You know what I mean? And I'm a killing my liver with all that Tylenol. I'm sniffing a little powder and I'm feeling just as good. So you're like, this is great.

But that's not the way it stays. The heroin creeped up and gave me such a habit so much faster than the pills. So before you know it, you got to sniff 20 bags a day to be like normal. Not to be like, just to be normal. Just to be well. Yeah, to not have aches and pains and just to be able to go about. your day normally, you know? This is why dope dealers, they say heroin's a better drug to sell the Coke because heroin

is a physical addiction. You have to have it. It's every day. Or you're going to get sick. Right. It's every day. But that's all, you know. So you're spending a couple hundred bucks a day now on smack?

Yeah, both. And then the other shit till then went toward the end. They got to the crack and that. So I'm spending like four or $500 a day. Holy shit. And then that night, you know, shit happened. We weren't there. Like I've said this from a minute that.

We weren't there to rob the house. There was two witnesses that heard me screaming the guy's name. Okay, after I got shot. You don't do that. So tell us about that night, because I actually don't really know what happened. Well, I was with my ex-girlfriend's father. She didn't want to be with me anymore. She was like, you know, doing really well in school and had, you know, ambition.

You know, she wanted to really do something with her life. And, you know, I was getting in the way at that point. She didn't want to be with me. I moved back home. And are you kind of a junkie now by 2005? Oh, yeah. Call you like a mess, you know, you're a dope head. By, like, the fall, like, you know, of, like, and then.

And like, yeah, absolutely. So then I became friends with her father as a reason to be able to go by the house so she didn't call the cops. So then we went out that night. We never hung out after hours. There was always go to the bar, pick him up. We go get drugs, drop him off, and I go my way. But it wasn't like that.

Oh, so he was getting high too. Hey, he was getting high too. So we went there that night, and I knew the guy whose house we were going to and I wanted to just get his attention. I knew he had a little cool. Yeah, I broke his window. But when you're a junkie and you know that's your friend. Because it was my friend, I made all that noise.

I don't understand. Your friend? It was your friend's house? Well, it was my friend, but they're saying it was a burglary. Why were you going over there, though? Because he had Tylenol with codeine, and we couldn't find dope anywhere else. So I just needed to get well till tomorrow morning. Right.

To fight another day. Right. Because the codeine is still an opiate. Yeah. I mean, you may not get high as fuck, but it's going to take away that pain. Sure. And you're going to go to sleep, and then tomorrow it's another day. Yeah.

And then, you know, and that's what it was. But I knew the guy, and that's why I made all this noise. and, you know, there was witnesses heard me screaming Kenny after I was shot. Hold on you went there. Okay, so tell us, step by step. You go there, you're knocking his door, you try to wake him up to get the Cody?

Well, I try to go through the garage. I went through to try to go through the garage. We left and came back. And then, you know, well, we, you know, I broke the window, then came back, you know, and then there was like, it was just some, I don't want to go through the whole thing.

I mean, I don't have a civil case anymore. Right. And, you know, like, I mean, that's another thing, too. Like, I, one, the civil case as well. Okay. You know, criminal and civil. It's not like I'm bragging, but like people to this day, like on my Instagram, I get people every single day, you know, you're a cop killer, a piece of shit. Your friend was a cop. No, well, they just say calling me a cop killer. But I'm just asking about the facts. He was a cop. No, no, no. The guy who got killed was a cop.

He lived next door. He heard the broken window. So he came out. He started shooting. I got shot, Roll three times. Holy shit. Yeah, yeah. So you know, like... So you guys are basically trying to break in or get your friend's attention. Right, he was no innocent victim, you know what I mean?

He came out shooting first. And, you know, it's not about him being a cop. Nobody even knew he was a cop. He said, don't move. I moved. I turned around. Boom, boom, boom. He's shooting an unarmed man.

And then somehow, some way, I get lumped into this as a murderer. Okay. You're a cop killer. How? I didn't even have a gun that night. Death was, was caught. caused by a firearm, right? Yeah.

So how am I a cop killer if I didn't have a gun and I was shot? See, this is the greatest lie ever told. I was a drug addict, but I'm putting out, you cop killer, but no, I'm not. I want to ask people, what's the guy that did it? What's his name? Do you know his name? So obviously you're not that vested in this whole thing. You want to act like the guy's your best friend.

So, okay, so he comes out, shoot you three times. Basically, doesn't even give you a chance to explain who you are. No, no. He said, don't move. But I moved, but it's 5.30 in the morning. Of course. You know, who's not going to fucking move? Yeah, when a guy with a gun is...

Yeah, boy, I didn't know he had a gun until he... Until I got shot. Did you feel it? Did you know you were hit? Oh, yeah. I could see it. I could see him pointed at me in the... And the flash coming out of the gun.

Where did he hit you? One and two, and then I got grazed. Oh, you're lucky to be alive. Yeah, I know. So lucky. He hit you where you hit Chris Miltes Sassi. Yeah, I lost my screen too. Get the fuck out here.

Yeah, I did. Right? If you ate an actor, if you ate a actor, if you ate a... Italian, bro. Don't tell me you're a Spanish kid. You're an Italian kid because this is operatic. Okay. I got no spleen gene for real. That is fucking, okay. So then what happens? Then you get hit, you go down. No, I fucking, my fighter flight kid did. I started grabbing my stomach and I got to a safe place. Because at this point, he's shooting the guy I'm with. And the guy on Woods goes, ah! He's like getting riddled. So he got lit up? Yeah. Did he get killed? No. He got shot nine times. And he was

able to get off the one shot that hit the police officer in the heart and killed them. Whoa. Pierced his heart. So did he shoot while he was still standing up? See, you didn't know that, right? That we got shot. Of course, God. That's why I brought you in here, dog. Imagine that's nine shot, 12 shots versus one shot, but we're protecting ourselves.

We were drug addicts. We were looking to get more drugs. Whoa. As being a drug addict, the good thing? No. Is it something that you can't help? Pretty much not. You can't help it at a certain time.

It's not like we intentionally went there to do this. They make it like, you know, we're like some fucking group that goes out and kills cops. I had never had any problems with cops. I had friends that were cops. I still, to this day, I have friends that are cops. You know what I mean? And it's such a sin that this was turned into this. He hit this guy nine times, didn't kill him.

The guy, does he fall before he gets his gun out to shoot at the cop? I wasn't there. Because you were running. I didn't run. I was like walking really fast to get out of there. Wow. Okay. So he kills him instantly with one to the heart.

I don't think it was instantly. I think he died on the scene like an hour. later um wow i'm sweating this is wild okay so how do you get to the hospital how does he get to the hospital ambulances yeah you get to you so somebody you get the ambo there you're charged with first degree murder like what happens i'm charged with second degree felony murder he's charged with first degree and uh how long did you fight the case for i was there for three years before you were in jail yeah for three years yeah right right Rikers? Yeah, it was Rikers. How the fuck was that?

Well, it was what it was. It's a bad place. You know, but you make it through and you just hope. Because I spent eight months in county, county jails kind of like Rikers. Yeah, because it's city jail, county jail. Yeah, it's brutal. There's nothing like Rikers, though. Nothing like Rikers. Nothing in this country. There's not, no many things like, as far as a jail, I don't think there's any jail in this country. Well, it's a penitentiary, really. It's a, it's such a brutal place because it's a penitentiary for people. that have not been convicted of crimes, which is against the Constitution. The only thing I can compare it to

is the L.A. Downtown, they call it the tombs. Well, they call this the tombs and downtowns. But in L.A., the L.A. County Jail is that they call it a mini penitentiary. Somebody gets killed there every day. But, wow. So you're fighting your case with that you don't have bail, or you can't come up with the money?

No, we could get back. We put together bail packages with houses and this. They would not give me bail. Wow. And that's a bunch of bullshit, too. That should be illegal. only reason why they said a bail is to secure one's appearance in court. That's the only reason for bail is to secure the appearance.

It's not for punitive reasons. Right, right. But they use it for punitive reasons all the time. There's no reason I shouldn't have got bail. Did this happen in Yonkers? No, it happened in the Bronx, in Pelham Bay. Oh, okay. So that's a, that's more of like a conservative place, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely. It's like a wise guy area. Yeah. There's some organized crime in that area. Yeah, but it's also like you get a lot of people love the cops, and so that probably has something to do, if you're getting tried up there, that probably has something to do with... No, well, it was Bronx, Bronx Supreme Court. That's weird, man. And I don't think Bronx people really like cops. Really?

Yeah, for the most part. Okay. This is a Long Island. I'm thinking of, I'm like stereotyping like Brooklyn or Long Island. Yeah, my, my lawyer said that it couldn't have happened in a better place than the Bronx. Right. You have your best shot in the Bronx. It's no shit, because cops are killing a lot of people up there themselves. Well, you know, It was just in, I remember at that time, the statistic was 73% murder conviction rate, and that was in 08. 73% conviction? Right. That's not a lot.

Murder. Murder conviction rate. Yeah. Murder's hard to prove, especially what's like premeditated. Right. Prove a lot. Well, DAs are stupid too, and they overcharge. They overcharge people.

And then the jury's like, okay, they did kill the guy, but it wasn't premeditated first degree. in a bar fight. Yeah. They went outside and shot the guy. That's a manslaughter. Right, right. So, okay, so you're fighting your case for three years. Your boy or your ex's father, is he also at Rikers?

Yeah. Wow. And so he's together, but then they split us up. So he's charged with first degree murder. Now, what happens with that? You guys take it to the box. Are you, do you have separate lawyers? Yeah, yeah.

Do you go to court separately or are you there in court together? We went to court together for the. first few years, but then we had a case severance. We severed the case. You ever hear of the Bruton rule? No. The Bruton rule is like the right to cross-examination because the statements that he made against himself,

they were so strong and they made the case so strong. They had to try us separately because they didn't, this was the choice. He has these statements that are very incriminating against him. So it's either, you keep those incriminating statements, but you got to sever the case. Because now this, this, he's mentioned in the statements,

you can't, it's too much confusion. And it's, you can't try together. So you either throw all the statements away, we start fresh, or you sever the case and you keep the statements. What kind of damning statements, though? It's self-defense. What's the, what am I missing here?

Well, they didn't think it was self-defense. They're trying to say that he shot first a cop that was carrying a 9mm a K-9, a car 9. So they're saying Stephen Armento shot him first. He only got shot once. It was a fatal shot that pierced his heart and killed him. Okay, so obviously it's a very fatal shot. It did a lot of damage this shot. So you're trying to say that after 357 bullet, okay, with hollow tip bullets, hit you from that close,

that, you know, a bullet, a shot that eventually killed you. So you're going to say, and after that happened, you were able to shoot all, both of us? Nine times. Lordly wounded on the floor. That's number one, but right, but if you're saying this guy is the aggressor and he shot first, what's to say he's going to let you shoot him? If he shot you first, right?

And now you're on the floor and you're collecting yourself. If he already shot you and you didn't even see, he didn't even see the gun, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. You're just saying he shot you just off BC and you, boom, he shot you. But now you're showing a gun and you're lifting up. He's just going to stand there. Can't, don't they have a bullet? Right or wrong, no, he's just going to stand.

No, of course. It's ridiculous. No, it's ridiculous. But don't they have- I stop when you have the gun? Don't they have ballistics people that can tell like, oh, okay, the bullet was shot from a standing position? Like, didn't your lawyer bring in any of these people to discredit that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, listen. Did you have good lawyers? Yeah, I had Tacopina. He was Trump's lawyer. I mean, he was Trump's lawyer now, but I had him, you know. Wow. Yeah. And I mean, it's crazy that your boy, the guy's lawyer, the other co-defendant's lawyer, would let him make these damning statements that are going to.

Well, he made him in the hospital when it first happened. Oh, they can use those. His words, his actual words were I shot the cop. That was one of the things. One of the things they said, uh, why did you, he had late to. text gloves on. I didn't have late text gloves on. He said, in case I went in the house, I didn't want to leave prints. So you're basically saying every year, like what else? You know what I mean? Okay. So those statements, they need them. He just basically said, I'm putting them on. So when I

do the burglary, no one gets my prints. Right. So that, that right there shows it's not premeditated. You're there to burglarize a house, not kill a cop. No, but the fact that he had a gun and you're going to do a burglary, they can easily infer that you bought the gun in case someone got in a way to burglary. But still not first degree, though. Well, because it was a cop. That's why it was a first degree. But, you know, he, they charged him with intentional and felony murder.

The intentional murder count, because they couldn't prove that he shot first. They didn't prove, they didn't prove either way. But the bottom line was there was plenty of reasonable doubt that he didn't shoot first. Because how can you do that? They have to get in damage and hit or a bullet. See, like, one thing they can tell is, you know, like when you shoot someone, that flash comes out of the gun. That flash comes out of the gun, it burns you. And those burns are in dots.

You know what that's called? That's called stippling. Okay? Stippling. So now, it's like when you throw sand at someone, obviously, the closer you are, the less it's going to dissipate. It only went like that. But now you're first. that's going to come out more.

So now, based on the concentration of the dots, they can tell, okay, this guy was about 12 to 18 inches away, or this guy was that. They were able to tell that kind of stuff. But the only way they can really tell who shot first if somebody was there watching it, and said, all right, this guy shot first, and then it's like, okay, well, did you have your glasses on?

Oh, no, I didn't. Oh, was it dark out? Yes, it was. So can you honestly say that you know 100% what you saw without your glasses on? Can you say 100%? No, I can't say 100. That's it.

You know, but... So what were the convictions? They got him on felony murder, murder in the first degree, and burglary. They convicted him of burglary. They convicted me of attempted burglary. Why?

I don't know how they... Because technically, a burglary, once you break the plane, whatever the plane is considered, where the screen is or whatever, once you break that fucking plane, even if you didn't go in the house and you're like in the house, technically, once you do that,

that's the plane who broke the plane, that's a burglary. This is an attempted burglary. But I guess because they saw where the screen was broken, which I broke it, I broke and ripped it out because it's going to, like, because it was further in. So they can say that he did break the plane, plane because of where the screen was.

So I guess in his case, his lawyer didn't do a good enough job to argue that. Because let me tell you some. A burglary and an attempted burglary was a big difference. Sure. You know what I mean? Like I got convicted of an attempted burglary in the first degree with serious physical injury to a non-participant. So because it was an attempt, the sentencing guideline was three and a half to 15 years.

Now, if that's a burglary, instead of the attempt, that's an eight and a third to 25. Right. So I got 10, three and a half to 15. He basically went right in the middle. He couldn't give me the max. I got no conviction. You can't wait because it's a cop.

Right. You let your ass with that. Nobody cares. There's law. The sentencing guidelines, regardless of who it was. It could have been gizmo. Right. It's still the same thing.

So they gave you 10, but you already have three in, so you got time served, right? Right. And then I only had to do five. Well, five and a half because out of 10, you do 85% for violent. In New York State. Right. And then nonviolent would have been 65%. Right.

So you got to do, so what would, how much time do you do total? Five, because I did my college. I paid for it. It was a degree program. At a North course, it was a school in Georgia, Ashworth College. I used to get the stuff. What do you mean? Oh, so, oh, you did college when I was there.

Not from through the facility. I paid for it. I did my research and I found like a school that was a real degree. How much, how much time do they give your, the CODI? They gave him natural life. Wow. And did he... Without the possibility.

And is he still in there? Yeah. Did he... Oh, yeah. Is he going to win his appeal? Or is he lost all his appeals? I don't even know... I don't know what's going on with his appeals or anything.

But it's like such a, you know... Damn, that sucks, dude. You know, the sister of the cop, you know, she seemed all into it. You know, meanwhile, I heard from an officer from Rikers Island that his sister Rosa, Yolanda Rosa, she was like all Miss Good Sister and concerned about her but I heard she didn't even really She was estranged from her brother I had heard that

And then but like now because there's money to be made Like you know I look at this It's like you're throwing me under the bus You know what really happened here I guarantee you there's someone in your family That's an addict I guarantee you but because you see this You don't see what's really behind this

The fact it was the fact that he was a cop Made all of that Nolan void Because when you're kidding A cop. It doesn't matter if he's a scumbag. He might be on the take. He's probably an addict. He's a cop from the Bronx, dude. He hits his wife. He's probably a piece of shit. That's not even a big stretch of the imagination to say, I'm sorry if you're a cop in the Bronx. We don't have any cops to listen to this show. It's about criminals. It's, but the fact that you kill a cop, we're so blinded in this country. So we revere law enforcement so much. Now, if that had happened today, by the way, in this anti-police environment, political environment we live in, The co-defendant, he might have got some leniency. But in general, up until this specific period of time in history, Americans are brainwashed to just think any violence done to a cop is, it must be punished to the full extent of the law.

You know? I lived it. Believe me, I saw it. I know. I know. This is such a fascinating. They should study this in law school. You know, this kind of case study.

I mean, it's a guy who was the gun legal? Was it 357? He was carrying it was illegal. It was his father's gun that they had a chance to take off the street after the father died. Oh.

I remember it was a newspaper thing about it. But, you know, but yeah, that was all in the past. I went upstate. I got my degree. Where'd you go? I went to Oneida

and then I went to Hudson because they closed Oneida down. I got my degree. Was that a maximum? No, medium. Okay. Medium B. You know, after I'd learned that,

you know, and I got sober in jail November 12, 2006, I overdosed. I was getting morphine and fucking heroin at church. In jail? Yeah, in Rikers. And then I just got clean, November 18th, 2006. Wow. And I never look back.

I'm clean still to this day. You know, I work out. Yeah, you look great, man. You know, that's my, that's my drug. You know, big family man. I got two beautiful nieces. They're seven. My nephew.

You know, I'm out of rehab. You know, I'm director of public relations. A place called More Life Recovery. You know, pretty, you know, like few of the guys, you know, addicts as well, they own the company, good friends of mine. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing, you know what I mean? I'd rather that over meetings, like going to N.A.

meetings and stuff. Sure, sure. I never saw, like, you know, like, and I want to say this. Like, oh, I shouldn't say that. Why not? It's like what I believe in it. Like, I don't see why people go to meetings 30 years later. It makes no sense to me.

It's to save your life, not to become your life. You know, like, it's like, because, you know, like when you say they see, like, you know, you've got a disease and stuff like that. It's like almost like you're like somebody, like they jettison you off the fuck. Right. Put the people with these, these. Crazy fucking freaks. Right.

Put them over here. It's like, I don't think if you feel that way and you recognize yourself as having a disease, I don't think you could truly ever get better. Because I know, it's like cancer, man.

Once you get it, it's like, you know, it's like, damn, am I going to get it again? You know what I'm saying? Right.

And I don't know. But once you beat cancer, you don't keep taking, uh, you'll keep doing chemo. No. To your point. So,

I don't know. Look, I go to meetings for other stuff that's going on, not drugs or alcohol, but, you know, fucking, you know, running around with the, you know, ladies of the night, maybe, we'll say. But, you know, but I love my sweetheart. I'm in a monogamous relationship now. But, you know, there's guys in there 85 years old that are like, if I didn't go to these meetings, dude, I would be, you know, having sex with a hooker in the back of my El Camino next week.

You know what I mean? Like, so. Why wait until next week? Next week's a long time away. Yeah, you might be dead by that. And you're 85. See if I can put something together to let's see what we can muster up tonight. I'm like, dude, you're 85.

Who gives a fuck now? Let me see what I got. Let me see what I got. I'm here really quick. So, damn, man. So when did you get back into, oh, congratulations? I mean, did you feel like, do you feel like you're grateful for the experience somehow, going to prison in this event happening to you? I mean, because you are lucky to be alive.

And what a tale. The guy who gets shot in the Sopranos and killed in the Sopranos gets shot in real life. and you take a gut shot, man. Yeah. That's wild, dude. You know, yeah, I mean, you know, it could have turned out much worse. I could have not went to prison. I could have beat the case and got hired that night.

Could have came home and fucking, I've been on every TV. I would have been the hottest thing on the news. Yeah. It would have went right to my head. I would start drinking. Hey, Merry Christmas. Because the trial, the day they gave the verdict was December 22nd. Can you imagine if I beat the case?

You walked right out of that courtroom? You might have been, probably dead. I would have been probably dead. I would have ruined my mother's Christmas. For sure. Because once I had a couple of drinks, and they're like, fuck this, I just did three years. I was never coming home.

And you would have definitely justified sniffing some blow. And then you're wide out of your mind. My mom can't seem like that. And your tolerance is low because you've been in jail. And you die. You're going to die. And that's why there's so many overdoses in Rikers, even to this day.

Because maybe you don't get it for a week when you first go in. Your tolerance goes down. And then a batch comes through and you take it. You know the real reason why? It's all fentanyl now. Fentanyl now, too. Nobody even wants heroin. Is that true?

Yeah, they don't even want heroin. I tell you, I'm at the rehab. I'm there every week. Right. And we were actually talking about that today. And I remember one girl says, nobody even wants heroin anymore. They just want the pure fentanyl. The shit that's killing you, they want that.

Yeah. Wow. Especially if they hear someone dies, they want, oh, where did he get it? Where did she get it? It's probably, you know. Think about that mental illness. Yeah, it's nuts. The dope dealers, they want somebody to, when the batch comes through,

they want somebody to die because that's going to up sales. Think about that. Yeah, yeah. That's fucking crazy, man. Fentinthals are really, really dangerous thing. And these fucking people selling that, man, they should seriously go to hell. I mean, look at Robert De Niro. Oh, his grandson.

Oh, my God. The stuff doesn't discriminate. You know, my praise go out to the family, Trina, Bob De Niro. I mean, it's crazy. Now, let me ask you. Like I said, I would be afraid to relapse right now. Yeah, of course. You'd be afraid.

A fucking drop. What would I say? A grain? A grain can kill you. Yeah, I know comedians. because I'm a comedian in L.A., you know, I have many comedian friends who were, you know, got a hold of that shit and, you know,

they're no longer here. Did you, have you talked to, what was your relationship like with Hollywood and the business after you got out of prison? Or did you become untouchable because of what had happened? Yeah, of course. I mean, like, you know, I remember, I'm not going to say the person's name,

but, you know, like, obviously I'd been away for eight years. You know, I looked different, you know, like a lot changed me. Yeah. That's not that I changed a lot, a lot changed me in this time. And it's stuff like as an actor that I can bring that I probably couldn't bring before. And not too many actors can just because they didn't feel those things. But, you know, I just think that I told my manager, I said, listen, we have to start fresh.

Okay. So maybe not even auditions, but maybe you could set up some general meetings. I got a partner to Woody Allen film doing that with the lady Patricia DeSerdo. went in general meaning she said i'll let you know if there's something right Woody Allen's film was right which one uh wonder wheel it got like kind of like fucking like I feel like I saw that yeah I'm gonna rewatch it though for you yeah it was a it was small very small but which Belushi Tony Cheriko was in it okay uh I still got the pictures they had a

freaking hairpiece on me wow that's what the lady Patricia DeSerto said she said she said Woody loves you he loves you think you got a great voice And then she treaded really, she said, Lilo, what do you want to know? Would you wear a hairpiece? My hair line was fucking back here. Not like you. You all got that problem.

Yeah. I was like, yes, I will wear a hairpiece. Yeah. Well, you won't be in many Woody Allen movies anymore. I don't know if you've seen what's going on with that guy. Nice. You know, I got to be honest with you. I didn't really like working with him.

I don't care. I'll say it right now. He's like he's, he's, I mean, people think like, his films are great and everything and this and that. But I remember working with Chaz Palman, well, what we did looping, the ADR for a Bronxdale. Because Bronxdale, De Niro shot the shit out of that movie. He was his first, you know, film,

and he got all the coverage, you know, possible. Because, you know, he doesn't know what he does, not going to use. Yeah. It's first time in the editing room with his film. So that was cool. So now you're doing that, you think that's standard. You think every script you're going to go on is going to be fucking, you know, a million, you know, a million different shots of the same thing.

and then Chaz was doing Bullets Over Broadway with Woody Allen. And he did bullets over Broadway and he was like, he was like, yeah, we're done for the day. I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, Woody, he only does a steady cam, master. A wide lens on a master. I was like, oh, wow, he's got to do it 15, 20 times sometimes

to get it right. But when it works, it works. Yeah. Because it looks nice. Okay. All right, so we go do this film. This was in Staten Island in like 2017. 16, it was like October, it was right of water.

It was cold that day. I remember Rudy on it was nice. Oh, you cold, he wanted to jacket. He was like, he was like, he said that to you. Yeah, he was like, it was like an old dad, you know what I mean? And he came and said, you got it's cold. Yeah. And I remember if you get you, I'll get your jacket.

And then that was nice. But, you know, like when you got the steady camp master, it's almost like, it's almost like theater. Everything's like, you know what I mean? It has to time out and it has to. So the scene is with Bobby Bacala, you know, Sheripa from the Super Bowl. from the Sopranos and

Steve Sharippa who a known cocksucker by the way. Yeah, he wouldn't take a picture with me that day. He's an asshole. Yeah, he is, he is. He is. He wouldn't take a picture of me like, dude, I liked you and the Sopranos. I didn't know you.

Take that. And I'm just like showing you respect. Yeah, it wasn't because you're on TV. It's because I actually liked you. Yeah. I don't give a fuck if you're on TV. I'll spin on you. He doesn't. He doesn't. I really don't. But, you know, it's like, come on, man. I was like such a hell. He goes, I'd rather not.

Yeah, he's an asshole. Okay. No. problem, you know, but so Woody Allen, you know, like the scenes with these guys and my father was like the guy, I'm holding court. These two guys are there and we got to look for this girl, Juno Tempo was the person who played the part. I'm saying, I don't care, you got to find her. She could really, really hurt us. You got to find this girl. So that was the thing, right? So, you know, the camera's timing out and I just felt with what was being said to me, it felt like I needed to really let it sink in for a second,

think and then say, yeah, I think you're right. You know what I mean? Whatever it was, I don't remember what it was. But unfortunately, Woody thought that was, you know, like, it's not about what I saw from him. It wasn't about the actor's performance. It was about how it's going to look for him to shine.

Right. But in other words, you're rushing me. I don't want to say this this fast. I just doesn't feel right to me. You know what I mean? so he gets up out of his seat he runs he like skips over to me he runs over he goes no pause fast fast fast fast and i'm like all right yeah but it's like it can't be fast like that scene just what was going on there it's not a fast moment there's a moment there that you got to really take that

moment right right and i felt so discouraged it's like i yeah trying to do my best and i can't even do that so scorcese is the opposite he is the guy that actors love to work with so much because he just lets them be free. He says, you know, just go. Just go. Yeah, yeah. You want to take a boss? He'd take a pause. You do whatever you want to do. You know, and it's a lot of freedom. But a guy like Woody Allen. And actually Louis C.K., my favorite comedian, he's kind of like that too. He's a little bit of a tyrant. Uh, you know, your actors are there just to be pawns in the bigger picture, you know? And that is film. Like, film is a director's medium at the end of the day. Hitchcock used to say that. That actors were pawns.

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, turns out Woody Allen, he's not just, you know, kind of a dictator on set. He's, you know, turns out he's a pervert and a pedophile. Yeah. He's a weird guy. He's a weird guy. But like, you know, like I didn't, that's my memory of him, but I've still blessed to have worked and be able to put something like that on my resume. That's huge. That's, yeah, yeah, exactly. I would do a Woody Allen film now. I'm going to come on, I'm going to come on live and say that. I just thought, like something like that, like people were probably, oh, don't say that. But it's like, I think that's a story that people would want to hear. of course. Like, what do we, we're here to tell stuff that everybody knows? Yeah, fuck that. We got to tell them, I mean, we don't want to go too crazy. Yeah. Well, we're going to go too crazy on the bonus episode, which we're going to fade out to now. But, um, I mean, look, you're working, man. You're working. It's very cool. I really, really appreciate you coming in and telling your story. It is an incredible one. Thank you. And there's a purpose in it, you know? And you probably already found it. but like all that stuff was supposed to happen.

And I just think it's great. And it keep working, man. Keep working. Is there anything you want to plug? Do you want to plug your, the rehab that you work with? Let's do that. More life recovery. More life recovery.

It's in Metachia, New Jersey. They have the sands in Florida. But Matatia New Jersey is where I'm at. I'm director of public relations. And like, as we said before, I'm not big on the meetings because I just feel it's the same. It's just the same. It just doesn't do it.

I don't get anything out of it. But doing this kind of stuff. You know what I mean? It's like I run a group. I go there and, you know, and just doing that and speaking from a place like, I don't want to say the word authority or from a place of experience.

Yeah. You know, so it's like, well, this is what I did. And I think if you did this, it would really work out well for you. Is this an inpatient, entreatment? We have PHP. It's got different levels of care. Yeah.

We have the PHP, which is like inpatient. We have housing. We have different levels. Like this is like the newcomer comes here. And then when you get a little more seniority, you move over to this house. Right. So it goes from PHP to IOP.

IOPs is intensive outpatient. So now they still live there. But you don't, you know, it's like you're now expected to get a job. Yeah. Now you're slowly reentering society. Right, right. With the tools. you're acquiring here.

You're doing it little by little. It's not like we just send you out to the, you know what I mean? Of course, of course. You're doing it simultaneously little by little. And unfortunately, sometimes, you know, like, you know, some, you don't get it the first time around. It's a vicious cycle. It's a common, right?

So then, you know, they'll see, like, they get a little complacent in their recovery, like, hey, it's been good. You know, now I'd move to this next level of care. And, you know, they trust me, I got a job. Before you know it, so and so. Not always. Yeah. Well, we're going to put the, uh, the link to,

that clinic in the description of the episode and yeah, we're going to plug it because if, you know, people hear this, you know, a lot of people are listening to this.

So, you know, it's an inspiring story. And if you need to get clean, go check them out. Yeah, that's everything. If you're in the tri-state area, okay? You could have money,

have it all. But if you don't have that sobriety and your recovery, yeah, nothing is possible. Exactly. You know, with it,

not anything is possible. You know, you're not going to become Michael Jordan because you got clean and you've been practicing in your backyard, but almost

anything is impossible. Totally. Totally. And it works if you work it and it's it's possible. Yeah. I'm living proof. Yeah. It's possible. You happier now? That I'm clean? No, I mean like the Bronx tale years. Yeah, I mean the Bronx tale years I was like damn I had no clue of what I was getting into with no experience. It was like the purpose and plus with my personality, no experience. I got parents, they're immigrants. Yeah. You know, smoking weed to them. It was like, holy shit. You know what I mean? The devil. Yeah, so now this stuff, they don't,

they don't even know what, they don't even know what it is. If I put, well, now my mom would. Yeah, obviously, you know, she came to visit me. A poor girl.

Yeah, you know. Back in the day, like you, like half of this stuff like some of these old school of time, they wouldn't even know what it was.

They thought it was a parlor from a fucking donut? Right, exactly. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's not like they were able to help me navigate through this shit.

Like, yo. and you were essentially a child actor. You like a child star in a way. More or less, yeah. And look at what ends up. Every child actor who becomes a star, they all ends the same. You know, there's very few of them that dodge that trap of addiction because they're forced to grow up overnight. No, it's not even that.

It's not even forcing to grow up. You know what it is? When you're a young kid, okay, it's not common and it's not, it's not, it's not the norm where you're going to see yourself on TV. Like I've said this before, the first time I saw myself, in the Bronx tail on, you know, by surprise, the fucking trailer was on. It gave me such a high. Okay?

So a lot of times these kids, they get rolls and they're the shit right now and they're getting all these rolls and everything's great. That's dopamine. That causes your body to release dopamine, your brain. So you're feeling good from that.

And then eventually, like, the rolls start tapering off and you're not doing the same thing. So now there's like, you crave what you felt. felt when you were doing that. So now, if you discover that stuff, because it can mimic that, but it's empty and that's full.

It does mimic it. So now you're confused to think, okay, when I'm not doing that to make me feel that way, now I got this. And we fill it up with dope. Right. And then that's what happens.

Right. Oh, okay. And then before you know, you know, but now, like it's like the second coming. I like writing. I never thought I could, but now I got such real life experiences.

Exactly. I see some of these writers and I'm like, like, they try. to write about things they've never experienced and you sometimes can tell. It's like the nuances. They never like, you know what I mean?

I know like this story that I'm writing. Dude, this is going to be my wrestler. I'm telling you. Oh, good. Trust me, dude. Yeah. It's called Never Meet Your Heroes. It's fucking deep.

It's real. It's about addiction, bro. Send it over. It's going to resonate with people. Trust me. I started out. She knows. It started out on index cards.

I would have dreams. I had all the index because I had a story. Right? But obviously the screen page has got to be at least 90 pages, a page a minute. So I got screenplay, uh, index card. She would bring me home from work. I had, I still have pictures of them.

I had the three acts and I have all the scenes. And now sometimes I got a scene here and one here, but now I got nothing here. But that's the key. The key is to put things down on paper. When you see it, it's a lot easier. That's why they say, write it down, write it down, put it on paper. Bro, it's everything. Yeah.

Because now, if you were like, knew you had the scene and then that scene and you got to try to bridge that gap. If it's in here, it's a lot harder for you to come up. When you're looking at it? Oh, I know what I could put here. I could just put, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it just, I loved it, man. Well, maybe that'll be what a Bronx tale was to Chaz, you know, for you. And send it over. I got some people in Hollywood. They got some financiers, you know? Is it under five million? If you can make it under five million. Under five mil, I can make it under a million. I can make it for, I already got Terrell. She's agreed to do it. Oh, yeah. And like I said, she looks better now than you.

she did back then. Oh. She, you know, she, you know, like we've spoken about what I'm writing. She loves it. And she's a great person. Yeah. She's got a great family. I know, you know, mom or dad, you know, like her husband.

It's like, this is going to be special. I hope it comes together. This is a piece of, you know, I'm going to make sure it comes together. I'm not a quitter, dude. It better, man. The only thing I quit is drugs. But other than that, I'm not, I'm going to do everything I possibly can because I know that this film can actually help people because it's a tale about,

you know, about a family, about, you know, about a family that, you know, from Yonkers and just addiction and how it manifested in different forms and it's just how it destroyed. Yeah. It destroyed their lives. But eventually, ultimately, it turned out okay. But it only, it's not, it wasn't happily ever after because everything that happened to lead up to that, it's like, huh, but it's real. That's the thing.

And that's why I think people will really love it. Oh, man. Well, we're going to check it out. And your, and the clinic, you can go see, see Lilo. Are you on Instagram? Yes, Lilo L-I-L-L-O underscore Brancato, B-R-A-N-C-A-T-O. Lilo, thank you so much, man. That was killer.

Thank you, guys. We'll see you next week. Take care. And switch over to Patreon now. We're going to talk a little bit of fun Hollywood stuff, maybe talk about prison stretch. Go over to patreon.com slash the Connect show. And take care of yourself. Peace.