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Tony Sirico’s life seems like it was plucked right out of the revolutionary series’ screenplay, which ran from 1999 to 2007 and is widely considered to be one of the best shows in television history, having received 21 Emmy Awards. However, the lines come directly from Mr. Sirico’s arrest record from 1970, which details the circumstances surrounding his arrest for extortion and possession of firearms.

Mr. Sirico was a real-life hoodlum who was imprisoned 28 times and spent two spells in prison totaling over three years before he became famous for playing a silver-haired enforcer for New Jersey mob leader Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini).

Mr. Sirico played Paulie Walnuts, one of television’s most memorable characters, for all six seasons of “The Sopranos,” and he never let go of his past. Mr. Sirico, who was 79 years old, passed away on July 8 in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, assisted living facility.

His brother, a Catholic priest in Michigan, released a statement announcing his passing. He supposedly suffered dementia.

Mr. Sirico had previously portrayed a mobster in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990), appeared in several films directed by Woody Allen, including “Bullets Over Broadway,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” and “Everyone Says I Love You,” and co-starred with Sylvester Stallone and Ray Liotta in the police corruption drama “Cop Land” (1997).

Ray Liotta, star of ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Field of Dreams,’ died aged 67

At the time of his audition for “The Sopranos,” Mr. Sirico was 55 years old and sharing a studio apartment in Brooklyn with his mother. He went out for two roles and was told by David Chase, the show’s creator, that he didn’t get either of them.

“He responded, ‘No, I got you in mind for somebody else,’ ” Mr. Sirico said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” in 2001, “and here came Paulie Walnuts.”

Peter Paul Gualtieri was Tony Soprano’s father Johnny Boy’s faithful subordinate and had a more official name. During the first season, Paulie Walnuts reflected on his life as follows: “I was born, grew up, spent a few years in the Army, a few more in the can, and here I am, a half a wise guy.”

When he attempted to steal a truck full of televisions, he earned the moniker “TV Hostage.” Its cargo turned out to be nuts.

Mr. Sirico, like Paulie, wore a ring on his pinky finger. He claimed to already own a shirt quite similar to the one the show’s wardrobe department had chosen for him. In the show, Paulie would sit outside a butcher shop that doubled as a hangout for the mob and open an aluminum reflector to enhance his tan.

And then there was his hair: a pompadour that had been carefully shaped since the fifties, with two silvery wings slicked back on the sides for added emphasis. Mr. Sirico spent hours on set spraying and combing his hair before each take.

In the course of the series, his character was responsible for the deaths of nine more people than any other, but that wasn’t all that “The Sopranos” dealt with. It addressed issues of addiction and despair as well as the complexities of many types of families (both criminal and nuclear).

“I had some troubles,” Paulie said after hearing that Tony Soprano was also visiting a therapist.

Mr. Sirico once quipped, “If Paulie can’t curse, he can’t talk,” and he delivered some of the show’s funniest lines in a deadpan, serious manner, often punctuated with profanity. One time, while preparing lunch for his friends, he stopped to give a lengthy lecture on the perils of wearing shoes with wet laces.

Why would they be wet?” he remarked as he ate with the group. “You go to public bathrooms? You’re just standing there, using the urinal?… If you peered inside the stalls of women’s restrooms long enough, you could spot some maple walnut ice cream floating in the bowls. On the other hand, the men’s? Heh! … You can avoid dragging your laces through pee if you always keep your shoes tied, but even if you do that, the following statement still stands.

Mr. Sirico’s best season was probably the third, when he and fellow mobster Christopher Moltisanti (played by Michael Imperioli) went to the barren Pine Barrens of New Jersey in the dead of winter to track down a Russian rival.

With a “Bad connection, therefore I’m going to talk rapidly,” Tony Soprano gives Paulie his commands. You’ve found an ex-commando who should be able to help you out. He was responsible for the deaths of 16 Chechen rebels.

“Get… outta here,” Paulie said.

The character Tony says, “Yeah, nice, huh? He worked for the government’s department of interior affairs. This dude is a Russian Green Beret of some sort. There’s no way this guy can survive to tell his tale. To put it another way: “You get it?”

Paulie tells Christopher, “You’re not going to believe this. “, before the phone line cuts out. He was responsible for the deaths of sixteen Czech and Slovak citizens. “Guy was an interior decorator.”

A Christopher remark: “His house looked like s—-.”

Walking through the snow in thin leather jackets and without helmets or gloves, they give chase to the Russian. (The temperature outside when filming was 11 degrees.) As the Russian runs away, Christopher fires at him, but instead hits a deer. Paulie loses his footing while running through the woods and lands on the ground, accumulating snow in his disheveled hair.

Born on July 29, 1942, Gennaro Anthony Sirico Jr. spent his childhood in Brooklyn’s predominantly Italian Bensonhurst neighborhood. His mother was a stay-at-home mom, while his father worked on the docks before opening a confectionery store.

Sirico Junior, as he was then known, was arrested for the first time by the police when he was just 7 years old for shoplifting from a newsstand. He was shot in the leg and back as a teenager for kissing another boy’s girlfriend.

In 1990, he told the Los Angeles Times, “Where I grew up, every guy strove to establish himself.” Either you got a tattoo or a bullet hole scar. It’s true; I have both.

After his military service, he went back to his hometown of Brooklyn and found inspiration in the fashion of the local criminals.

Later he explained, “So I linked up with these people, and suddenly I’m a stickup artist.” I pinned up every bar and club in the Big Apple.

In 1967, he went to prison for the first time.

I carried a weapon about, he told the Times. When I was originally sent away to prison, they searched me and found three firearms; I was eventually allowed to keep two of the guns. They’d inquire as to why I was carrying, and I’d explain that I resided in a particularly dangerous area. It was accurate.

In 1970, he visited New York’s Sing Sing jail, where he saw an acting group comprised of former inmates. He stated, “I thought, ‘I can accomplish it.'”

After serving 20 months, he was finally able to pursue his dream of acting. His gun was banned from school when one of his teachers had to remind him about it.

In 2012, he noted, “Everything I do is inspired by one actor – James Cagney.”

Mr. Sirico first appeared on film as a background actor in the 1974 crime drama “Crazy Joe,” and he quickly found work in commercials and television series, typically in the roles of either criminals or law enforcement officers.

Mr. Sirico, appearing on “Larry King Live,” remarked, “I have been in over 40 films and God knows how many TV shows, and I have had a gun in my hand in most of them.” I don’t feel awful about it at all, Larry. I take care of the mortgage and rent.

Mr. Sirico’s first marriage ended in divorce. Two children, two brothers, a sister, and at least two grandkids are among the survivors.

Mr. Sirico claimed he would do everything except turn on his pals as an informant when he took the role of Paulie Walnuts on “The Sopranos,” in part because he still resides in his old Brooklyn neighborhood. On one occasion, when Paulie was referred to as a “bully,” he requested a change to the script. To him, the label of “psycho” fit well.

Due to his popularity from “The Sopranos,” Mr. Sirico was offered various opportunities, such as the voice of Stewie the talking dog on “Family Guy” in 2013. Additionally, he amassed millions of dollars for charitable causes.

Paulie Walnuts, unlike many of his friends on “The Sopranos,” made it through all six seasons. Mr. Sirico became a local celebrity in his Brooklyn neighborhood and a worldwide phenomenon because to his portrayal of the character. Even among his former opponents in the police department, he was able to make friends.

Mr. Sirico told the New York Daily News in 2000, “I ran out of my local OTB” (an off-track betting kiosk for horse races) and “a cop was putting a ticket under the wipers of my double-parked car.” When he saw me, he ripped up his ticket and demanded an autographed photo, which I have in my trunk. It’s like my entire life was re-donated to me in a span of a year. “Every once in a while, I have to convince myself that I’m actually Tony Sirico, a native of Bensonhurst.”

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