Now that the heat’s on, he’s singing like a bird
A FORMER “SOPRANOS” actor accused in the slaying of an off-duty police officer says he didn’t know his alleged burglary accomplice was carrying a gun.
Lillo Brancato Jr., who appeared opposite Robert De Niro in “A Bronx Tale” and in several episodes of “The Sopranos,” is charged with murder in the Dec. 10 shooting of Daniel Enchautegui.
He told the New York Post in an interview published Thursday that he wept while reading a newspaper account of Enchautegui’s funeral.
“When I saw the picture of his father, it brought tears to my eyes because he looked like one of those old-fashioned men – kind of like my father,” said Brancato, 29.
“If I had the chance, I would want to meet his family and look them in the face and tell then how sorry I feel about what happened.”
Enchautegui was shot after he heard Brancato and Steven Armento breaking into a basement apartment in the Bronx to steal drugs, authorities said. Before he died, Enchautegui wounded both suspects.
Alias Smith and … Smith
A man who stole actor/rapper Will Smith‘s identity to run up more than $30,000 in credit-card debts is going back to prison for two years for violating probation.
Carlos Lomax failed to rehabilitate himself and to make restitution to his victims, a federal judge ruled.
Lomax was sentenced to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to opening 14 accounts at Pittsburgh-area stores as Willard C. Smith, Smith’s legal name.
He has an earlier identity-theft conviction involving former Atlanta Hawks basketball player Steve Smith.
So he was framed?
The photographer whose collision with Lindsay Lohan helped prompt California to adopt an anti-paparazzi law won’t be charged with a crime.
There was no evidence that photographer Galo Cesar Ramirez deliberately crashed his minivan into the 19-year-old actress’ Mercedes-Benz, authorities say.
Ramirez was one of several photographers following Lohan from a trendy Los Angeles restaurant May 31 when she made a U-turn and their cars collided. No one was hurt in the incident.
Next year’s model
Cast off by “America’s Next Top Model,” Janice Dickinson is getting her own reality modeling show.
Dickinson, 52, who claims she was the first supermodel, often quarreled with fellow “Top Model” judges during her four seasons on the show.
She’ll winnow 500 aspiring models down to five as she starts her own agency on what is tentatively titled “The Janice Dickinson Project.” Oxygen has ordered 10 episodes, expected to begin airing in the spring.
It’s a Wonderbra life
Czech supermodel Eva Herzigova says she wants to direct a movie about her rags-to-riches life.
“It would be about a girl from the Eastern bloc who makes it in the fashion world. You know, a Cinderella story,” says the 32-year-old Herzigova, who shot to fame in the 1990s with the Miss Wonderbra ad campaign.
The birthday bunch
Singer-guitarist Bo Diddley is 77. Actor Russ Tamblyn is 71. Singer Noel Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary) is 68. Director James Burrows (“Cheers,” “Taxi”) is 65. Actor Fred Ward (“The Right Stuff”) is 63. Singer Mike Nesmith (the Monkees) is 63. Singer Davy Jones (the Monkees) is 60. Singer Patti Smith is 59. TV host Meredith Vieira (“The View”) is 52. Country singer Suzy Bogguss is 49. “Today” show co-host Matt Lauer is 48. Actress-comedian Tracey Ullman is 46. Actor Jason Behr (“The Grudge”) is 32. Singer Tyrese is 27. Actress Eliza Dushku (“Tru Calling”) is 25. Actress Kristin Kreuk (“Smallville”) is 23.