Entertainment
‘Sopranos’ Star Tony Sirico Dies At 79
(CTN News) – Tony Sirico, who played Paulie Walnuts in “The Sopranos” and brought his tough-guy swagger to “Goodfellas,” died Friday. The 79-year-old died.
Tony Sirico died at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to his manager, Bob McGowen. It was not immediately clear what caused the death.
The family of Gennaro Anthony Tony Sirico confirmed his death “with great sadness, but with a lot of love, pride, and fond memories.”
McGowan, who represented Tony Sirico for more than two decades, described him as “loyal and giving.” For the Army veteran, that included helping ex-soldiers’ causes.
McGowan said Tony Sirico was unconcerned about playing bad guys, including Peter Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in the acclaimed HBO drama starring James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano from 1999 to 2007.
Despite playing a mobster, McGowan wouldn’t play an informant, or as Tony Sirico put it, a “snitch.”
A native of New York City, Sirico grew up in Flatbush and Bensonhurst neighborhoods where he said, “Every guy was trying to prove himself. You either had a tattoo or a bullet hole.”
During this period of his life, he was arrested repeatedly for criminal offenses and in prison twice. In his last stint behind bars in the 1970s, he saw a performance by a group of ex-convicts and became obsessed with acting.
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