Vincent Pastore, Whose ‘Sopranos’ Character Ratted Out Tony, Dies at 80

 

Vincent Pastore in 2002. A character actor who specialized in playing Italian American tough guys, he had his biggest role on “The Sopranos.”

He played Salvatore Bonpensiero, a mobster’s foot soldier turned F.B.I. informant known to his friends as Big Pussy, on the celebrated HBO series.

Vincent Pastore, a character actor who specialized in playing Italian American tough guys, most notably the foot soldier turned F.B.I. informant Salvatore Bonpensiero, known to his friends as Big Pussy, on the classic HBO series “The Sopranos,” has died at his home in the Bronx. He was 80.

His manager, Robert Attermann, said that Mr. Pastore’s body was discovered by friends on Saturday.

Tall and sturdily built, Mr. Pastore was a former nightclub owner who had a substantial career in TV and movies playing mob enforcers, capos and the like before being cast in a major role on “The Sopranos,” which premiered in 1999.

His character was known as Big Pussy — not for any obscene reason, but because he had started his career in crime as a cat burglar. His friends added “Big” to distinguish him from another character, Gennaro Malanga, known as Little Pussy.

Big Pussy, an outwardly loyal and largely sympathetic character in the expansive world of “The Sopranos,” was also a longtime informant for the F.B.I. The tension between his allegiance to his boss, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), and his ties to law enforcement provided one of the central story lines of the hit show’s first two seasons.

Mr. Pastore, right, in a publicity image with some of his “Sopranos” co-stars, from left: Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt, James Gandolfini and Michael Imperioli.

Mr. Pastore won critical applause for the nuance he brought to the role; his Bonpensiero was flawed, conflicted and likable, caught in circumstances partly beyond his control that nevertheless sealed his fate.

His sudden disappearance early in the series yielded a cliffhanger at the end of the first season, leaving millions of viewers asking, “Where is Big Pussy?” And his inevitable but still shocking execution at the hands of Tony, Paulie Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) — on a boat at the end of season two — remains one of the most memorable scenes in the show’s six seasons.

“I saw Big Pussy as a man with a big heart, and that was my choice of how I played that role,” Mr. Pastore said in an interview with Edge Magazine.

Mr. Pastore came late to acting, after spending over 20 years as a nightclub bouncer and limo driver, and eventually becoming a manager and owner of a club in New Rochelle, N.Y.