A “Sopranos” actor and his junkie pal accused of killing an off-duty cop in The Bronx tried to cover their tracks by wearing latex gloves in the burglary gone bad, a witness testified yesterday.
But they accomplished the opposite.
A forensics expert testified in the murder trial of Steven Armento in Bronx Supreme Court that the four bloody gloves link Armento and actor Lillo Brancato to the death of Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui in Pelham Bay on Dec. 10, 2005.
Prosecutors say Enchautegui was gunned down when he tried to stop Brancato and ex-con Armento from robbing his next-door neighbor’s home.
Dr. Tara Santore of the city Medical Examiner’s Office said DNA found on the four gloves matched that of Brancato and Armento.
She told jurors a bloody glove found on the windowsill beneath a shattered pane in the house next to Enchautegui’s had Brancato’s DNA on it.
Three other bloody gloves were found on Arnow Place, along the route that authorities say Brancato and Armento took to flee the shooting scene.
One also had Brancato’s genetic material on it, and the other two had Armento’s DNA, Santore said.
The sound of the window breaking in the early-morning hours had prompted the off-duty cop to go out to investigate.
Authorities alleged the drug-addicted Brancato and Armento were looking for prescription drugs after a night of partying at a strip club.
Prosecutors said the cop confronted the men and told them, “Police! Don’t move!” A shootout erupted between the 28-year-old cop and Armento, 51, who has a lengthy arrest record. Brancato, 32, who also starred in the movie “A Bronx Tale,” was unarmed.
Enchautegui managed to shoot both before succumbing to a gunshot wound to the heart.
Armento is on trial for first-degree murder, a charge he denies.