Lillo Brancato you should be in jail for life

[Got Duc]

Truly a shame that he got off easy. He belongs in jail for the rest of his life for taking the life of a Police Officer. Whether he pulled the trigger or not he was part of an illegal act that ended with someone losing their life.

Jurors what would you have thought is this was a member of your family!

The story from my local paper


Yonkers actor cleared of murder in Bronx cop's slaying
By Jim Fitzgerald • The Associated Press • December 22, 2008

NEW YORK - A former "Sopranos" actor from Yonkers was cleared of second-degree murder today in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer during a drunken, late-night search for drugs in the Bronx three years ago.

The jury convicted Lillo Brancato of a lesser charge of attempted burglary. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on that count, but could get credit for time served because he has been behind bars about that long.

Brancato showed no reaction as the verdict was read - his face impassive, his fingers pressed together. His mother, seated a couple of rows back in the gallery, began sobbing.

Prosecutors say Brancato and accomplice Steven Armento broke into a basement apartment to steal prescription drugs after a night of drinking at a strip club. Officer Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door, came out to investigate.

Armento blasted the 28-year-old officer with his .357 Magnum, hitting him in the heart. The dying officer fired back, wounding both men. Armento, also from Yonkers, was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Yolanda Rosa Nazario, sister of the victim, said she was baffled by the verdict.

"What message is this sending out to the New York City police officers today? It's wrong," she said.

"This would not have happened if not for this animal's drug habit," said NYPD Patrolmen's Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch. "The only good thing is that this skunk is not walking out to spend Christmas with his family. The sad part is that neither is Daniel."

Brancato was led out of court in handcuffs, and the next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.

Defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina said his client was relieved with the verdict.

"There was never going to be smiles," he said. "This is not a case that warrants that."

Brancato rose to fame in the 1993 movie "A Bronx Tale," playing a young kid from the neighborhood who is torn between two worlds and two men: a local mobster played by Chazz Palminteri and his straight-and-narrow bus-driver father, played by Robert De Niro.

Other roles followed, most notably a stint on the second season of "The Sopranos," when he played a bumbling aspiring mobster. His character carried out a series of low-level crimes for the New Jersey mob before he was gunned down by Tony Soprano and his sidekick as he tearfully begged for his life.

Brancato, 32, and Armento, 48, were drinking together at a strip club called the Crazy Horse Cabaret in December 2005 before deciding to break into the basement apartment in a hunt for Valium, prosecutors said.

Brancato testified during the trial there was a never a break-in. He claimed that he had known the owner, a Vietnam veteran, for several years. He also said he had permission to go inside and take painkillers and other pills whenever he felt like it, and didn't know the man had died earlier that year.

The pills were part of a drug problem that he said began when he was "introduced to marijuana" on the set of "A Bronx Tale." He later became hooked on crack and heroin, he said.

He told the jury that while suffering from judgment-impairing heroin withdrawals on the night of the shooting, he accidentally broke the kitchen window of the apartment in a desperate attempt to wake up his old pill-supplier.

"I was becoming dope sick," Brancato testified. "Mentally, I was a mess."

Brancato tried to deflect suggestions by the prosecution that his testimony - at times punctuated by vignettes about his drug-crazed downfall - was another acting job.

[cyrus buelton]

Not to ruffle feathers.......

but.....


off duty police officer = civilian

That is a moot point. He was off duty and therefore, his profession should have no bearing in this case.

I am not disrespecting police officers, as I have several that are friends, but at the time, he was a civilian.

Second of all, he didn't pull the trigger. Sure, he made a poor decision to take part in the crime, but he was not at fault for killing the other person. The dirtbag that did that will be spending life in jail.


He was sentenced, by the judge, who uses state case law to determine the length of time he spends removed from society based upon what the prosecution charged him with and what the jury found true.

[cyrus buelton]

Scumbag. 

No doubt, but he isn't a murderer.

[Got Duc]

Not to ruffle feathers.......

but.....


off duty police officer = civilian

That is a moot point. He was off duty and therefore, his profession should have no bearing in this case.

I am not disrespecting police officers, as I have several that are friends, but at the time, he was a civilian.

Second of all, he didn't pull the trigger. Sure, he made a poor decision to take part in the crime, but he was not at fault for killing the other person. The dirtbag that did that will be spending life in jail.


He was sentenced, by the judge, who uses state case law to determine the length of time he spends removed from society based upon what the prosecution charged him with and what the jury found true.

When you are a police Officer at no time are you ever a civilian. By your oath you are sworn to take action whether wearing a uniform or not.

He might not have had the gun but his actions caused the death of a NYC Police Officer.

He deserved to rot in jail.

[cyrus buelton]

When you are a police Officer at no time are you ever a civilian. By your oath you are sworn to take action whether wearing a uniform or not.

Lillo Brancatta is a MURDERER! He might not have had the gun but his actions caused the death of a NYC Police Officer.

He deserved to rot in jail.

Yeah, you are right, but I am a civilian and I would have done the same thing, but I would not have been referred to as a police officer in the case.


Dude, there are lots of cases like this in the country, not involving an off duty officer dying, but civilians being killed by a person in a robbery and an accomplice being there not getting charged with murder. Rightfully so, as that person did not pull the trigger.

Trust me, I side with you on the fact he is a scumbag and should rot, but he isn't a murderer. He didn't pull the trigger.

[Got Duc]

I changed the murderer part.

Got caught up in just reading this. My brother in law is NYPD and the dept is absolutely outraged.

As for the civilians. It does happen. Civilians are not required to take action. This man was. He did in accordance to his oath and he died at the hand of a no good drug addict.

[cyrus buelton]

He did in accordance to his oath and he died at the hand of a no good drug addict.

Your right.

The person who did kill him is in jail for life, as the article notes.

I know you are upset, rightfully so.


Just think about if your wife/girlfriend/son was killed by a drunk driver.

That person will get <5 years in jail.

The killer in this case got life.

How is what he did any different than the drunk driver?

[Drunken Monkey]

And this is turning into politics.

Thread locked.