With some 200 cops packing a Bronx courtroom to watch, onetime Sopranos actor Lillo Brancato Jr. was arraigned Monday in the slaying of an off-duty New York City police officer during a botched burglary.
Brancato, 29, and Steven Armento, 48, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, burglary and weapons possession as a result of the shooting death of Officer Daniel Enchatutegui, who tried to stop the men after they allegedly broke into an apartment looking for prescription drugs.
Armento was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder for his role as the purported shooter.
According to the indictment, Brancato and Armento left a strip club on the night of Dec. 10 and broke into a Bronx residence in the hopes of scoring Valium. The 28-year-old Enchautegui, who lived next door, heard a window shatter, called 911 to report a burglary in process and then went out to investigate.
During the ensuing confrontation in an alleyway, Enchautegui identified himself as a police officer and ordered them not to move. At that point, police say Armento pulled a gun and began shooting.
Enchategui was hit in the chest but managed to get off several rounds, hitting Armento six times and Brancato twice, before collapsing.
The two men were caught by police arriving on the scene and taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated for their wounds. They were charged in their hospital beds.
At Monday's five-minute court hearing, Brancato and Armento's attorneys told the judge that their clients would need ongoing medical treatment while behind bars.
Judge John Collins ordered the suspects held without bail--a move that went unchallenged by the defendants' lawyers.
Brancato, best known for playing Robert De Niro's son in 1993's A Bronx Tale and for a recurring role as a wannabe wiseguy offed by Tony Soprano in the second season of The Sopranos, appeared much healthier that earlier reports indicated.
Outside the courtroom, his lawyer, Mel Sachs, told reporters that Brancato was not packing that fateful night and had no idea Armento was carrying a weapon either.
"Lillo Brancato did not shoot the police officer," Sachs said. "He is not criminally responsible for the murder."
Late last month, Brancato told the New York Post that if he had known Armento, his ex-girlfriend's father, was carrying a gun, he would never have allowed him in his car and expressed regret over the officer's death.
"If I had the chance, I would want to meet his family and look them in the face and tell them how sorry I feel about what happened," he said before admitting that he had a history of drug and alcohol problems, which he blamed in part on his being adopted.
But the cops weren't buying that argument.
"He's an evil man and you cannot take evil out of a person--actor or otherwise," Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolment's Benevolent Association, said, per the New York Times, before referring to Brancato and Armento in police slang as "mutts" and "perps."
"New York police officers will be there to make sure justice is done," he continued to bursts of applause from scores of fellow officers.
Before the hearing, the cops clapped enthusiastically as Enchautegui's mother and father, Pedro and Maria, entered the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Brancato isn't the only Sopranos alum in the legal hot seat.
Vincent Pastore, who played deep-sixed snitch Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, has been slapped with a $5 million lawsuit by his former fiancée, Lisa Regina, who alleges he physically and mentally abused her, forcing her to forego her acting and coaching career.
In November, Pastore pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of attempted assault stemming from an April 2005 incident. Prosecutors said the actor knocked Regina around before throwing her out of his car in Little Italy. In exchange for his admission of guilt, Pastore avoided jail time and was sentenced to 70 hours of community service, ordered to attend six weeks of anger management classes and fined $190.
According to the New York Post, Regina filed the civil action to teach the 58-year-old Pastore a lesson and make sure he doesn't repeat his behavior.
"I want him to confront his problem. I want him to get help. I want him to say he's sorry. And I want to put the money to help other women who have suffered as I did," she told the newspaper.
Court dates aside, Sopranos fans have something else to note on the calendars. After a nearly two-year layoff, the HBO series finally returns for its sixth season on Mar. 12.