‘Sopranos’ Actor ‘Johnny Cakes’ Dead In Suicide

Police say the actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on “The Sopranos” has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New York.

Police spokesman Lt. John Grimpel says former New York firefighter John Costelloe was found dead in an apparent suicide at his Brooklyn home on December 18. He reportedly had killed himself two days earlier.

Police were called to his residence after family members were unable to reach him.

The 47-year-old actor gained fame in 2006 when he was cast as short-order cook Jim “Johnny Cakes” Witowski opposite Joseph Gannascoli, who played gay mobster Vito Spatafore on the hit HBO show.

“It’s beyond me. This is too much for me to handle right now,” the actor’s dad, Michael Costelloe, 77, told the New York Post yesterday.

Costelloe had worked for 11 years at Ladder Cos. 109 and 110 in Brooklyn before retiring in 1998, according to the Post.

Costelloe was performing as a hustler in a theater production of “Gang of Seven” at the time of his death. He had recently received strong reviews for his performance.

According to the Post, former “Sopranos” actors Steve Buscemi and Joseph Gannascoli attended the wake and funeral this past Tuesday at St. Michael’s Church in Sunset Park. 

“I was shocked when I heard, and it still hasn’t really sunk in,” Gannascoli told the Post. “I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him.”