Sopranos' Johnny Cakes Commits Suicide

Actor Costelloe played a gay mobster's lover
By Rebecca Smith Hurd,  Newser User
Posted Dec 25, 2008 3:15 PM CST

The actor who played Johnny Cakes on The Sopranos is dead, the New York Post reports. John Costelloe, 47, shot himself in the head in Brooklyn last week, police and friends said. The former firefighter served a brief but pivotal role as the gay lover of a closeted mobster in the HBO series. Costelloe was currently getting rave reviews in an off-off-Broadway play.

Costelloe’s death stunned those who knew him. “I was shocked when I heard, and it still hasn’t really sunk in,” said Joseph Gannascoli, who portrayed Cakes’ TV love interest, Vito Spatafore. “I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him.” A funeral was held Tuesday. (More The Sopranos stories.)

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