{"id":311796,"date":"2026-08-02T05:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T05:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:22:10","slug":"little-italy-mourns-death-of-vincent-pastore-of-the-sopranos-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311796\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Italy mourns death of Vincent Pastore of \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bronx is mourning Vincent Pastore, the veteran actor best known for playing mobster Salvatore Bonpensiero \u2014 Tony Soprano\u2019s best friend turned FBI informant \u2014 on HBO\u2019s \u201cThe Sopranos.\u201d Pastore died at 80 at his City Island home<\/a> Saturday, and tributes are pouring in from friends and community members who remembered his local ties.<\/p>\n

A representative for Pastore said he was found by friends.<\/p>\n

Jerome \u201cGino\u201d Raguso, the owner of Gino\u2019s Pastry Shop and Cafe in The Bronx’s Little Italy said he is grieving the loss of Pastore, whom he described as a friend of 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just, it\u2019s heartbreaking. It is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raguso said Pastore stayed connected to the community and the people in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never forgot his roots, never did. And he never forgot his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastore was known for roles in dramas centered around organized crime, with fans saying he brought authenticity to his performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hundred percent. A hundred percent dude. Come on, you see a big guy walk in,” one fan recalled to NBC New York. “He\u2019s all suited up with the pinky ring. He\u2019s good. He got you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Levin of Jericho said of Pastore’s Sopranos role, “I think his character, they all portrayed themselves with what you would expect to be from that type of show or movie.”<\/p>\n

When he wasn\u2019t performing, Pastore \u2014 who was born in The Bronx and grew up in New Rochelle \u2014 was remembered as a charismatic figure by people in City Island, where pictures hang in a storefront.<\/p>\n

Mike\u2019s Deli on Arthur Avenue was among Pastore\u2019s go-to spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s like a lot of Italians, you know what I mean? You give him whatever cheese, whatever, cured meat, the guy, you know, will be happy with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raguso added that Pastore loved a good cannoli, and he said their friendship meant the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say ‘leave the gun, take the cannoli.’ They took Vinny. And it\u2019s sad, it really is,” he added, borrowing a phrase from the classic mafia movie “The Godfather.”<\/p>\n

Pastore\u2019s longtime manager told NBC News he will miss the actor\u2019s friendship, loyalty, humor and generosity, adding, \u201cMay his memory be a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bronx is mourning Vincent Pastore, the veteran actor best known for playing mobster Salvatore Bonpensiero \u2014 Tony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,36603,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-311796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-in-memoriam","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}