METUCHEN, N.J. (PIX11) -- Lillo Brancato was a rising film and television star who became addicted to drugs in the ‘90s and was then arrested for the murder of an off-duty NYPD officer in 2005.
Brancato, who played Matthew Bevilaqua on The Sopranos and ‘C’ in A Bronx Tale, was found not guilty of murder but served time for attempted burglary. He is now helping others on the road to recovery, mentoring clients at More Life Recovery Center in Metuchen, N.J.
“You have a real, vested interest - a really personal vested interest - in them getting better,” said Brancato.
Brancato has been sober since 2006 but said he began using drugs in the early ‘90s while shooting A Bronx Tale. By the time he was shooting The Sopranos in 1999, he had started using heroin to balance out the manic highs of crack cocaine.
“All my money went to drugs,” said Brancato. “I wouldn’t even eat for, like, three days.”
At his worst, Brancato said he was addicted to heroin and crack cocaine, spending roughly $700 a day on drugs.
“I’m getting into these films and television, and my life just went out of control,” said Brancato.
Life came crashing down on December 10, 2005, when Brancato and his accomplice, Steven Armento, broke into a Bronx apartment looking for drugs. An off-duty NYPD officer who lived next door, 28-year-old Daniel Enchautegui, confronted the pair and was killed in a shootout. Armento is serving life in prison for fatally shooting Enchautegui.
Brancato was found not guilty of murder but did serve eight years for attempted burglary. Brancato, who was shot twice during the incident, said the drugs still had a stronghold over him.
“I was thinking of escaping from the emergency room at Jacobi Hospital because the guy who sold me crack lived a few blocks away,” said Brancato.
Brancato said his rock-bottom moment came roughly a year later, during a conversation with his mentor after overdosing in prison.
“[He said] ‘What’s wrong with you? Someone’s dead,” recalled Brancato. “For some reason, that day when he said that, I was ready.”
“It just felt like something huge had been lifted off me,” said Brancato. “And I just felt like a free man. I don’t have to live like this anymore. It was like a modern-day miracle.”
Brancato said he began working out and studying, and he got clean. He credits prison with saving his life and now uses his time to help others who are struggling with addiction.
“Sometimes, I look at the police officer who lost his life at the hands of my addiction - I know his family doesn’t wanna hear it this way - but sometimes I think of him like he was like my angel,” said Brancato. “I know it’s a very serious thing that I do what I do and not just go waste it because someone did lose their life.”
Brancato said his old life is firmly in the past, but it still fuels the work he does every day. He said he does not have contact with Officer Enchautegui’s family, but he knows what he would want to say if he did.
“I would really like to apologize to them,” said Brancato. “He was 28 years old. I never in a million years would want to see your brother get hurt. All I wanted to do that night was get high and go home.”
Brancato said the consequences of that 2005 night are living with him daily and driving his current work.
“I think about that night every day,” said Brancato.
Brancato is now working on a screenplay called Never Meet Your Heroes, which centers around addiction.
English (US) ·