‘Soprano' Friend Convicted in Off-Duty Officer Killing

A co-defendant in the case, Sopranos actor Lillo Brancato Jr., is set to go on trial next month

A jury found Steven Armento guilty of murder on Thursday in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer, three years ago in the Bronx.

Mr. Armento, 51, faces the maximum sentence of life without parole for the first-degree murder conviction.

A co-defendant in the case, Lillo Brancato Jr., 31, who had the lead role in the film “A Bronx Tale” and also appeared in “The Sopranos,” is due to be tried separately next month on charges including murder.

According to investigators, the two men were in search of drugs when they confronted Officer Daniel Enchautegui in the early hours of Dec. 10, 2005.

Prosecutors argued the two had been drinking and that Armento and Brancato showed up at a home on Arnow Place in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx to get prescription pills from an acquaintance who lived there.

The occupant of the house had recently died and the doors were locked -- leading the two men to break a window to get in, prosecutors said.

Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door, went over to investigate and was shot by the suspects, prosecutors said.

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