Gay ‘Sopranos’ mobster finds a bit of fame

updated 10:35 a.m. ET April 10, 2006

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhall and ... Joseph R. Gannascoli?

In what Gannascoli cheerfully calls “the year of the queer,” when “Brokeback Mountain” became a phenomenon and Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar playing Truman Capote, Gannascoli’s character (spoiler alert: read no further if you haven’t seen the episode yet) was outed Sunday night on “The Sopranos.”

Dressed in appropriate leather bar attire, Vito Spatafore — the heretofore closeted gay mobster — was sighted by a couple wiseguys who came by the sweaty S&M joint to collect their protection money.

“It’s a joke,” Vito weakly offers, then begs: “Don’t say nothin’!”

By the end of the episode, he’s checked into a motel with a gun, looking suicidal.

Fans of the HBO series were stunned last season when Meadow’s boyfriend, Finn, saw a security guard sitting in the driver’s seat of a truck — and then Vito’s head popped up.

This season, Vito has hung around the hospital while Tony Soprano was recovering from a gunshot wound, trying to ingratiate himself with Tony’s wife while plotting with Paulie Walnuts to grab her cut of a big score. And he’s chomped on carrots while prattling on about all the weight he’s losing. (In real life, he’s down to 260 from a high of 400 pounds.)

Now that the gay story line is heating up, the 47-year-old Brooklyn-born actor is immensely pleased, in part because it was his idea to make Vito homosexual.

“I saw him as, like, a cross between Mike Tyson and Liberace,” Gannascoli told The Associated Press in an interview at his home. “I wanted to make him sort of in self-denial, self-loathing, a real gay hater.”

Gannascoli’s suggestion was inspired by the book “Murder Machine,” about the Gambino family, which had an openly gay member also named Vito.

“They didn’t bother him about it, because I guess he was good at what he did, which was chopping up bodies,” Gannascoli said.

Gannascoli concedes that he had a self-serving motivation for making the suggestion: Breaking out of the pack.

“I thought that was a way of separating myself from the other actors, because I would have been in the background most of the time. You know, line here, line there, and nothing really substantial,” said Gannascoli, whose character previously was best known for whacking Jackie Aprile Jr. “To really make an impact is all I can ask for.”

He also thought it would create an interesting acting challenge. But even amid all the recent gay buzz, Gannascoli knows the reaction to Vito won’t be all positive.

“I’m a Brooklyn guy. I was just in Brooklyn last night. And, you know, I had some real wise guys that look at me and they give me dirty looks. I’ve had guys, like, come after me in clubs,” he said.

He just hopes the “cerebral people” will appreciate his performance.

Gannascoli said “The Sopranos” has changed his life “in so many ways.”

“Recognition, I’d say, the most. It allowed me to get married.”

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