From Wiseguy to Actor: The Turbulent Life and Journey of Tony Sirico
Before the world knew him as mobster Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri, actor Tony Sirico grew up in Brooklyn living a life not that far removed from the one he portrayed on TV
Background
Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri, Tony Batts, Charlie “Cement” Charlie Nuts, Rosato brothers hood, associate, mobster, thief, tough guy, escaped convict, himself. These are some of the movie and television roles played by beloved actor and tough guy Tony Sirico over his more than four decades in show business.
To say that the Brooklyn-born actor was typecast would probably be an understatement. However, it is unlikely that Siroco minded, considering that acting probably saved his life. Tony Sirico had an on-screen presence that oozed authenticity and menace.
That’s because prior to becoming an actor, Tony Sirico was a street guy who, by his own admission, was involved in extortion, armed robberies, ripping off bookmakers, and numerous assaults and street fights, which eventually led to him being shot and serving time in prison.
Early Life and Criminal Activity
Born on July 29, 1942, Genaro Anthony Sirico Jr. was raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a youth, he was known by the nickname “Junior.” During a 1989 interview, Sirico was asked what people called him.
“I’m stuck with the name Junior.” And you don’t like it? Sirico replied dryly, “I’m 45 years old. Would you like it?”
It was in his Bensonhurst, Brooklyn neighborhood where Sirico began to run afoul of the law. He described how he and his mostly Italian neighborhood friends fought with local Black and Irish youths.
During one of these confrontations, Sirico was shot in the back and leg by a group of Irish kids on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Fortunately, the wounds were not life-threatening.
Sirico recalled that he worked construction as a young man during his first marriage, but after an affair with a woman in his neighborhood, Sirico’s marriage ended.
After this, he says he began to hang around with the wrong crowd and soon found himself living a life of crime, from carrying guns to armed robberies, assaults, and extortion.
Sirico said, “I grew up in Bensonhurst; there were a lot of mob-type people. I watched them all the time, watched the way they walked, the cars they drove, the way they approached each other. There was an air about them that was very intriguing, especially to a kid.”
Sirico’s gangster lifestyle saw him arrested nearly 30 times, with convictions for extortion, coercion, and felony weapons possession. “I was a pistol-packing type of guy,” he recalled.
“The first time I went away to prison, they searched me to see if I had a gun--and I had three of ‘em on me. They’d ask why I was carrying, and I’d say I live in a bad neighborhood.”
He also liked to use disguises during his robberies. “When I would rob a place, I’d be mustached up, wigged up,…everything!”
Incarceration and Acting Career
After a February 1970 arrest, Tony Sirico was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. During his trial, prosecutors called Sirico “An antisocial character who has been virtually unemployed for the last couple of years, yet he drives in expensive cars and wears expensive clothes.”
Sirico ended up serving 20 months of his sentence in New York’s notoriously harsh Sing Sing prison. While incarcerated, he decided to make a change in his life after watching a prison performance given by a traveling troupe of ex-convicts.
He recalled that the actors not only made him laugh but also gave him hope. “I told myself, I can do that.” When he was released, Sirico reached out to a friend of his, actor Ricard Castellano, who famously portrayed the role of Clemenza in The Godfather film.
Notable Roles
In fact, one of his first acting roles was an uncredited part in The Godfather II. Sirico excelled at playing street-wise tough guys. With his heavy Brooklyn accent and slicked-back hair, he gave any role he played instant credibility.
In the early 1990s, Sirico struck up a friendship with filmmaker Woody Allen, who cast the former criminal in several of his films, including 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, 1995’s Mighty Aphrodite, 1996’s Everyone Says I Love You, and 1997’s Deconstructing Harry.
Both men bonded over their shared experiences growing up in Brooklyn during the 1950s and 60s.
However, it was his iconic role as Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri in the critically acclaimed HBO mafia drama The Sopranos that made Sirico a household name.
Consistently a fan favorite, Sirico nailed the role of a conniving, morally bankrupt mobster who is only concerned with himself and his status among his underworld peers.
Reportedly, Sirico only agreed to take the part under the condition that his character never became a rat. He was also one of the few characters to survive until the end of the series.
The Sopranos ended in 2007, and Sirico continued to act for the next decade-plus, appearing in many television and film roles and even guest-voiced characters on animated series like Family Guy, American Dad, and The Fairly Odd Parents.
Health Problems and Passing
Around 2019, health problems began to take their toll, and then, in July 2022, it was announced that Tony Sirico had passed away at a facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was 79 years old.
Sources:
“THE SOPRANOS - Tony Sirico's real life MAFIA past - “PAULIE WALNUTS” actor's criminal history!” Youtube, Uploaded by OC SHORTZ - Organized Crime Shortz, 21 May 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1O4Y4kHhzE
“Tony Sirico (Paulie Gualtieri from The Sopranos) interview in 1989.” Youtube, Uploaded by angklungeds, 17 October 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxddINwarJk
Thanks for this. Junior Sirico was my roommate, briefly, in the 80s, when I was living in a Lower East Side dump and he was working on the film, So Fine, with Ryan O'Neal and Richard Kiel (who startled me when I came home to find him sitting on my couch!). A crazy time, the 80s being what they were in NY, totally cocaine-fueled, Junior will make a brief cameo appearance in Episode 57 of The Dirtygirl Diaries. https://jdoff.substack.com/