Actor Joseph Gannascoli, most recently known for playing gay mobster Vito Spatafore on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” was arrested this weekend in Tampa and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Gannascoli made a special appearance Thursday evening at SoHo Cigar in Tampa. He was promoting his cigar, the Cugine. He was arrested not far from the cigar shop.

According to police reports, an officer in Hyde Park spotted a 2010 Dodge make a wide right turn from Howard Avenue onto Kennedy Boulevard at about 2:40 am on Friday morning. The officer saw the Dodge drift in its lane and drive on the lane marker.

After stopping the car, which was driven by Gannascoli, the officer could reportedly smell alcohol on the actor’s breath and noted that Gannascoli had slurred speech and bloodshot, watery eyes. He allegedly failed several field sobriety tests.

Breath tests showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.111. Florida law presumes impairment with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08.

Gannascoli, who lives in New York, was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail and later released on $500 bail. Jail records show he was released at 9:37 a.m. He was scheduled to make another cigar appearance on Friday in Key West.

The actor was in 41 episodes of The Sopranos between 1999 and 2006, according to the Internet Movie Database website. His character, Vito Spatafore, was killed by other mobsters because he was discovered to be gay. Gannascoli also published a cookbook several years ago and had minor roles in films such as Mickey Blue Eyes and Ed Wood.

DUI

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Florida Criminal Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.