Actor suspected in officer’s slaying

NEW YORK – A young police officer dying from a bullet to his chest shot two burglars early Saturday, one of them identified as an actor who played a misfit mobster on “The Sopranos.”

Officer Daniel Enchautegui, 28, collapsed in the driveway of his Bronx home and died shortly afterward.

“They took my son away from me,” the officer’s mother, Maria Enchautegui, told the New York Daily News, as family and police consoled her.

The wounded suspects were quickly captured. Investigators identified one as Lillo Brancato Jr., an actor who got his break in the Robert De Niro-directed film “A Bronx Tale” in 1993 and played doomed mob wannabe Matt Bevilacqua during the 1999-2000 season of “The Sopranos.”

Brancato, 29, of Yonkers, was also arrested in June for alleged heroin possession.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the actor and another man were breaking into a vacant home when Enchautegui, who had just finished a late-night shift, heard the sound of smashing glass next door.

Enchautegui was off duty and in his street clothes, but he alerted his landlord and dialed 911 to report a possible burglary in progress. Then he grabbed his badge and a gun and went out to investigate.

His landlord heard Enchautegui shout, “Police! Don’t move!” followed by a burst of gunfire, Kelly said.

The alleged gunman, Steven Armento, of Yonkers, was shot four times and was in serious condition. Brancato, who police said was unarmed, was shot twice and was in critical condition.

Police said Armento had a lengthy history of arrests on weapons, drugs and burglary charges and was running with the weapon used to shoot Enchautegui when an officer spotted him near the officer’s home and ordered him to stop.

Because of their injuries, there were no immediate plans to arraign the suspects, said Steven Reed, a spokesman for the district attorney. He said he had no information about whether the suspects had lawyers who could comment.

Enchautegui, who was single and had been on the force for three years, was the second officer to die in the line of duty this year. Officer Dillon Stewart was shot in the heart Nov. 28 during a car chase; a suspect has been charged with murder.

“This is a loss to the department and the city,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “We now have another life to mourn, taken from us for no sensible reason.”

Bloomberg said that even though Enchautegui was off the clock, his killing would be considered a line-of-duty death because he was trying to stop a crime.

Kelly praised the slain officer for his “incomprehensible courage.”

Sources said Brancato and Armento both have arrest records.

Armento, who is in serious condition, has been in trouble repeatedly since 1976 and had done at least four stints in jail.

The two of them may have been hunting for a stash of dope they believed was in the house next to the officer’s home, police sources said.