Paulie was an old-school gangster, but he had hidden depths, bridging the gap between traditional mob depictions and the modern mob portrayed by creator David Chase. The multi-faceted Paulie may have slept with prostitutes, but he was a germaphobe and watched TV from an armchair wrapped in nylon. When boss Tony (James Gandolfini) admits to his team that he’s been seeing a psychiatrist, Paulie admits he’s briefly done the same, shrugging, “I’ve had some issues.” You don’t say.
Perhaps Paulie’s most memorable moment was the third episode of the Pine Barrens series, a definite fan favorite. Effectively two-handed with co-star Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher, it saw the pair stranded in a frozen forest after a botched assassination. Polly lost her moccasin in the snow. With nothing else to eat, the hapless couple ended up gobbling down ketchup packets found in the glove box of an abandoned van. Their double act was like a Samuel Beckett play with added guns and swearing. Imperioli paid tribute to Sirico today, saying the two actors “found a rhythm as Christopher and Polly … I’m proud to say I did a lot of my best and funniest work with my dear friend Tony.”
Sirico’s own story would make for a compelling drama. Born in New York to an Italian family, he had ties to the Colombo crime family. He first got into trouble when he stole coins from a local newsstand at the age of seven. His offenses eventually escalated into armed robbery, extortion and gun possession. “Where I grew up, every guy was trying to prove himself,” he told an interviewer. “You had to either have a tattoo or a bullet hole. I had both.” He was once shot in the leg by a rival criminal in a dispute over a woman, but as Sirico later said, “At the time, all I could think was, ‘Cherta ruined my white suit.’
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