It was the first of two dates that would forever alter the life of Lillo Brancato, Jr.—and it was the good one. It was July 5, 1992, when the 15-year-old from Yonkers, New York and a bunch of his buddies decided to spend the summer day at Jones Beach, about 45 miles away.
Also there on the beach was a movie casting agent, scanning the sands for possible talent to appear in A Bronx Tale. It would be a film version of Chazz Palminteri’s one-man play from a few years earlier, though fleshed out with actors including one big one: Robert De Niro, who would take on one of the main roles while also making his feature directorial debut.
It’s a coming-of-age tale set in the late 1960s about an Italian teenager named Calogero, torn between following in the footsteps of his hard working, honest, blue-collar father (De Niro) or the flashy, well-dressed, violent, wealthy local mob boss (Palminteri). A subplot involves Calogero’s budding romance with a Black girl at his school, which had challenges of its own.
The agent spotted Brancato and was struck by his appearance as a spitting image of a young De Niro. Brancato and his friends had heard rumors of the film, so when the agent approached him, Brancato immediately went into his impression of De Niro in Taxi Driver. After an audition that night and several more, Brancato landed the part.
He had had no prior acting experience, but his performance when A Bronx Tale released the next year was singled out for praise. A new young actor had arrived. And he had his eyes open as to what he could pick up from his co-stars.
“Robert De Niro comes across as this charismatic tough guy. In real life, he’s very introverted, like a real-life genius. And you don’t know that until you’re in his presence. You know the performances, but not the real person,” Brancato says over the phone.
In 2000, he joined the cast of The Sopranos as the young and impulsive wannabe mafioso Matthew Bevilaqua and appeared in six episodes. The last one ended—not surprisingly—with his bloody demise.
The Sopranos, of course, had many memorable death scenes. But Bevilaqua’s was especially impactful. Initially, he and an associate, Sean Gismonte (Chris Tardio) were working for Soprano made man Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), first as fronts for a stockbroker scheme and then as muscle.
Feeling neglected, they made an ill-advised attempt on Moltisanti’s life to impress a Soprano rival. It backfired, the associate was killed, and Bevilaqua went on the run, eventually captured by Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Big Pussy Bonpensiero (the recently deceased Vincent Pastore).
Beaten and tied to a chair, Bevilaqua begs for his life and asks for a drink. After taking several gulps, guns are raised and bullets are pumped into the young man’s chest, but not before he lets out an anguished “Mommy!” The scene is played again during the series as a flashback when Tony tries to assuage his guilt.
According to the Talking Sopranos podcast, series creator David Chase would usually take his actors to dinner and gently let them know that their characters were going to be bumped off. Was that the case with Brancato?
“No, I knew from the beginning it was going to happen. When I got on in the second season, it was the biggest thing in the world. So just to be on there for the time I was was so special,” he says.
“[The death scene] was so emotional. You couldn’t really rehearse it, and I don’t like to rehearse too much. Then it goes stale and you become mechanical,” he says, adding that he actually read for the part of Moltisanti’s doomed pal Brendan Filone for the first season, before the first episode even aired.
“No one knew that show was going to be big then. And when I saw that James Gandolfini was going to play Tony, I thought ‘Why the fuck did they choose this guy?’” Brancato says. “I did the movie Crimson Tide with him before and he was the least obvious choice in the world. But you know what? He was the best. It was because of him that that show is one of the best ever.”
In real life, he says Gandolfini was nothing like Tony Soprano, down to the speaking voice.
Amazingly, Brancato himself is not of Italian descent, but was born in Bogotá, Colombia and adopted at four months old by New York construction worker Lillo Brancato and his wife Domenica. So, he absorbed the only culture he knew.
The second date that changed Brancato’s life forever was December 10, 2005. By that time, the fast-living young actor was heavily using cocaine, heroin, and crack.
With an accomplice, Steven Armento (also the father of his girlfriend), the pair attempted to break into an apartment of an acquaintance with the intentions of committing a burglary or possibly look for drugs. Hearing the commotion was 28-year-old off-duty New York policeman Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door. A confrontation ensued, shots were fired, and quickly Enchautegui lay dead with Armento sustaining an injury.
Both Brancato and Armento were caught and charged with second-degree murder. In the 2008 trial, the jury determined that Armento fired the killing shot but still found Brancato guilty of first-degree attempted burglary. In 2009 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released on parole in 2013.
His case and story were the subject of the 2018 documentary Wasted Talent, which featured lengthy interviews with Brancato along with a fair balance of both supporters and detractors. He also talked about being clean and sober for many years, while the documentary shows him attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings and speaking to groups about the dangers of drugs.
In Wasted Talent, he says plainly, “If I didn’t go out that night, my life would not have been saved.”
When asked to elaborate, Brancato pauses an instead offers an analogy to The Story of the Chinese Farmer by Alan Watts.
“The bottom line is, you never know what the consequences are going to be of a misfortune or a fortune. Even though that happened that night, if I didn’t break my leg on that horse like in the story, I would have had to go to war. A different kind of war with my own demons that I probably would have lost.”
Brancato’s recent film work includes 2022’s Sleepyhead, a psychological thriller that he co-wrote and stars in as a newly dead man navigating the underworld. He’s also an active livestreamer on TikTok and is working on another film project in development called Never Meet Your Heroes.
Conversely, he says that he loves to meet people at events, like the one that will bring him to Houston on October 3 where he’ll sign autographs and pose for photos (both for purchase), and talk to fans.
“You got more superfans of The Sopranos than A Bronx Tale. They’re like Star Wars fans. For me, I love doing these appearances because it’s a great way to connect with people who can know my true authentic self,” he sums up.
“A lot of people have an opinion of me based on what’s happened in the past or what’s been written about me. I like meeting people and contradicting their preconceived notions. I’m very thankful. Oh, and I talk a lot!“
Lillo Brancato Jr. will appear at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 3, at Lifestylez Store, 239 Greens Road, 2nd floor inside the International Market Place. VIP Admission is at 4:30 p.m. For more information visit BiboEvents.com.
