From The Pocono Record

'Cha Cha's' take on 'Sopranos'

Michael Sadowski
Pocono Record Writer
June 10, 2007

"You know what I'm doin' now?" asked John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia, who plays Albie Cianflone on "The Sopranos," which ends tonight.

One can only imagine — but it's not gun shots. It's the Little Italy chef and restaurant owner making homemade lentil soup, pulverizing the ingredients.

"Homemade," he said. "That's how you do it."

Ciarcia, who calls himself the unofficial Mayor of Little Italy on his Sirius Radio show, "The Wiseguys," finishes up his 12-episode arc with an appearance in Sunday's "Sopranos" series finale, one of the most anticipated and mystery-shrouded finales ever. If nothing else, it must be considered by far the most-anticipated finale ever on cable.

While he could barely talk about the finale during a Tuesday phone interview — "I'm alive, that's all I can say" — he did say he'll be in the area giving post-Sopranos insight.

On June 17, he'll be with Vinny "Big Pussy" Pastore and Steve Schirripa, who plays Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri, at Caesars Paradise Stream Resort on Route 940 in Paradise Township to participate in a sit-down Q&A with the audience about all things Sopranos.

But why wait? He recently talked about his thoughts on the show, the portrayal of Italian-Americans in Hollywood and his upcoming movie shoot in the Poconos:

Q: Who made you the unofficial mayor of Little Italy? Was there a vote?

A: (Former New York Knicks broadcaster) John Condon gave it to me. Whenever the Garden would have Italian athletes come in, he'd send them to me to show them around, and we always ended up in Little Italy.

Q: You've had about 13 film roles. In five of them, your name is Cha Cha. You like that name, huh?

A: I don't give it to myself, it's from the writers. It's funny, on "The Sopranos," my name was gonna be Cha Cha, but thank God they changed it. I don't want to be walking down the street everyday with people thinking I'm a gangster.

Q: If you were writing the ending to "The Sopranos," what would it look like?

A: (Laughing) Albie would kill everyone. He'd wipe out the whole Soprano family, then he'd be the boss.

Q: Do you think there is too much ethnic stereotyping in Hollywood ?

A: I think there is too much Italian stereotyping, and I think there is an anti-Christian movement in Hollywood . I think they're use Italians as scapegoating for that. A lot of people know it, but won't voice their opinion because they think they won't get another job. I don't care, I create my own work. But not every Italian in the world is in the mob.

Q: Does the mob still exist?

A: Not like it did in the '20s and '30s, but I think it's still out there.

Q: You think?

A: (laughing) Yeah, but how would I know?

Q: You co-directed a short film with Tony Danza. Who's more Italian, Danza or Gandolfini?

A: I'd have to say Danza. He's a great influence for Italian-Americans. He speaks Sicilian, he cooks Italian, he's a great guy. He's going to be in a movie I'm producing called, "Payback's a Bitch." We're shooting it next January up at Caesar's in the Poconos. It's a mob-horror movie.

Q: Enough of the easy stuff. Give me something about the finale.

A: I don't even know. They shot three different endings. For these last two seasons, all we got are our lines before the show, not the full scripts.

Q: Of the following characters, who wins in a fight. First, Silvio and Paulie Walnuts?

A: Silvio is my character's boss on the show — but Paulie is a street guy. Silvio isn't a fighter. Paulie's gotta win.

Q: Dr. Melfi and Carmella?

A: Carmella. It's not even close.

Q: Meadow and A.J.?

A: Meadow.

Q: And finally, Tony and Albie?

A: Albie kills him. Never awaken a sleeping tiger.