Actor Lillo Brancato bears no blame for the killing of a Bronx cop because he’s avoided guns all his life, his father said yesterday.
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“My son never touched a gun in his life,” a relieved Lillo Brancato Sr. said outside his Yonkers home yesterday.
“His brother [Vincent, 31] did, because we hunt together. But Lillo – he only hunts women.”
Brancato, 32, who had roles in 10 movies and a small part in “The Sopranos,” was acquitted Monday of murder charges in the Dec. 10, 2005, slaying of Officer Daniel Enchautegui, who was shot in the heart by Brancato’s junkie pal, Steven Armento.
The dying cop then fired back, wounding both Brancato and Armento.
The actor was convicted only of attempted burglary, a felony that carries a penalty of 3 ½ to 15 years. But he could get out of Rikers soon if the judge gives him the minimum and counts the three years he has spent in jail as time served. He will be sentenced Jan. 9.
Brancato Sr. insisted that the Bronx jury’s decision to let Lillo off on murder charges was the correct one because, “my son is not at fault . . . because he didn’t do anything.”
The “A Bronx Tale” co-star’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said he will file a submission next week outlining why his client deserves the minimum – including that he has no violent criminal history, didn’t have a gun and the jury found he didn’t know Armento was carrying a gun.
Brancato Sr. said his family is now planning a big Christmas Eve celebration in honor of his son’s court victory this week.
But there will be no Christmas festivities at the Lynbrook, LI, home of Yolanda Rosa Nazario, Enchautegui’s sister.
Nazario, 44, a teacher’s aide who has five children, hasn’t celebrated Christmas since her brother was killed in December 2005 and doesn’t plan to do so this year.
“There’s no Christmas tree. There is nothing here. There is nothing in this house,” she said, fighting back tears.
Noting that her brother was killed when he went to investigate a possible burglary next door, she said, “If I could go back to that time three years ago, I would say, ‘Danny, go back to bed. This is how they repaid you. This is the justice you received.’ ”
“I’m so mad,” she added. “I’m totally disgusted. I’m more angry today. I woke up angry.”