Vincent Pastore, the Bronx-born actor who portrayed Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, the mob informant who winds up sleeping with the fishes, quite literally, on The Sopranos, has died. He was 80.
Pastore was found dead by Steve Villano, the actor’s self-described “right-hand man,” in his Bronx home on Saturday, he told The Hollywood Reporter. He apparently died in his sleep, he added.
The son of a real-life wiseguy, he said, Pastore made a living running and owning bars and nightclubs for two decades and didn’t get into acting until he was 42. Yet by the time he was done, he had appeared in nearly 200 movies and TV projects — most often as an Italian American bad guy — and twice in singing roles on Broadway.
After landing bit parts in films including Martin Scorsese‘s GoodFellas (1990) and Brian De Palma‘s Carlito’s Way (1993), Pastore was impressive as the right-hand man of Alan Arkin‘s mob boss in the comedy The Jerky Boys (1995) and as the caporegime Angelo Ruggiero opposite Armand Assante in the acclaimed 1996 HBO telefilm Gotti.
Sopranos creator David Chase hired him for the role of Sal — the character wasn’t even known as Big Pussy yet — soon after he auditioned for the HBO drama in 1998. It came down to Pastore and Johnny “Roast Beef” Williams, the actor recalled in 2022 on Chazz Palminteri’s podcast.
