An actor who played a wiseguy on “The Sopranos” and in “GoodFellas” — and is a Gambino associate in real life — was sentenced today in Brooklyn federal court to six months house arrest and given two years probation.
Anthony Borgese, 73, known better by his stage name, Tony Darrow, has appeared in a public-service announcement warning against the mob life and has spoken to youth groups about the pitfalls of crime during his 30-month lockup for arranging a mob beating of a man.
Borgese’s good work “tempers somewhat” his previous misdeeds, Assistant US Attorney Evan Norris wrote to a federal judge in Brooklyn earlier this week.
The judge agreed and showed the actor mercy at this morning’s sentencing. The actor faced as much as three years behind bars.
Borgese, who had never before been convicted of a crime and pleaded guilty in February, has said he was born for the roles he played.
In an interview with The Post last February, Borgese recounted how he grew up in Brooklyn’s East New York and his dad was a connected “street guy” who was in and out of jail.
“When I was younger and my father was in jail, [local mobsters would] run a dice game — the wiseguys. They’d go, ‘Hey, Anthony, he’s cutting the game’ — I’m going to take vig from the game. Every time they throw the dice, I take a dollar out of the pot. Then I’d bring it home to my mother,” he recalled.
The whole neighborhood seemed married to the mob.
“The old Italian ladies were sitting up looking out the window,” he said. “They’d whistle when the cop cars were coming.”
One of his early nightclub jobs came through a mob connection, his pal Paul “Little Paulie” Vario.
Little Paulie’s father, mobster Paul Vario, got him booked into the local Bamboo Lounge, then a popular watering hole for wiseguys. Years later, Borgese played the club’s owner in “GoodFellas,” which also featured Paul Sorvino as the mob boss Paul Cicero, based on the Vario Sr. character.
“I knew John Gotti — I knew all those guys from the neighborhood,” Borgese said. “They always treated me well.”