If only Tony Soprano were still around.
Appearing in court Monday to face forgery charges, an actor who briefly played the𒉰 mob boss’ driver on the “The Sopranos,” recalled with fondness how the late James Gandolfini tried to help his career.
“I did knucklehead things,” said Louis Gross, 31, who played Peꦐrry Annunziata.
“I showed up late a few times and he went out of his way to make sure they didn’t fire me,” said Gr🧸oss, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to eight counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the first degree, a felony that could land him behind bars for up to 15 years.
Gross was busted in August with eight phony $100 bills after he a🌄llegedly tried to buy a burger with fake cash at a Third Avenue bar.
“I’m only doing this because my girlfrien🤡d is sick,” he allegedly told cops. He said he’d bought the cash fro☂m “a guy in Queens,” according to court papers released Monday.
The bad-boy actor, whose character was nicknamed “Muscles Marinara” by Soprano on the show, changed 🧸his story when he spoke to reporters Monday as he left the courthouse.
Gross sold an 🤪Endu🐻ro mountain bike for $2,000 on Craigslist and unwittingly received the fake bills, he claimed.
“I ordered a hamburger and went to pay at the bar,” he explained. “When tꦬhe owner came ou🅘t, he said this is fake. I said I’m really sorry and started walking down the block and the police jumped out.”
Of Gandolfini, he said, “He was one of the best 💟people I met in𝕴 the industry.”