Tony Darrow

Tony Darrow (born Anthony Borgese; October 1, 1938) is an Italian-American actor.

Darrow was born in the East New York section of Brooklyn. He had plenty of opportunity to observe would-be mobsters and their attitudes while growing up in his neighborhood in Brooklyn. As a teenager, he gravitated towards show business, entering and winning talent shows while working odd jobs.

After ten years of singing in nightclubs, Darrow received an offer to appear in what turned out to be a cult film, Street Trash in which he played a mobster. Several months after Street Trash, Darrow was contacted by the film director Martin Scorsese. It turned out that Scorsese had seen Street Trash and wanted him to audition for a role in Goodfellas. He was successful and was cast as the owner of the Bamboo Lounge, Sonny. Darrow was also in the Woody Allen films Bullets over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Deconstructing Harry, Small Time Crooks and Sweet and Lowdown.

In 1999, Darrow played a large role in Analyze This with Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. Later the same year, he appeared in Mickey Blue Eyes with Hugh Grant, and got another big role as mobster Larry Barese in the HBO hit series The Sopranos, which he was on for the entire series run (1999–2007). More recently, Darrow starred in the independent film Lynch Mob.

In June 2009, Darrow was charged with extortion in a 2004 incident. Along with Gambino crime family soldier Joseph "Joey Boy" Orlando and associate Giovanni "Johnny" Monteleone, Darrow was accused of ordering the maiming of a man in Monticello, New York who owed money to a loan shark.[1] Darrow and Orlando both pleaded guilty in federal court to these charges on February 2011, in exchange for a sentence of up to 33 months. However, Monteleone cooperated with the FBI. At sentencing, Darrow's attorney successfully argued that Darrow's 50+ year history of community service, medical condition, and lack of prior criminal history warranted a sentence of house arrest, followed by a period of probation. Orlando was sentenced to 51 months in prison and Darrow received six months of house arrest.[2]

Partial filmography

References
  1. John Marzulli (2009-06-06). "'Sopranos', 'GoodFellas' actor Anthony Borgese a.k.a. Tony Darrow charged with trying to extort money". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-06-09.
  2. "Ex-mob goon who beat up man as favor to 'Goodfellas' actor turns rat, gets probation". The New York Times. November 22, 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
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