Television
tough guy Vincent Pastore turned himself in to cops yesterday, days
after the
former "Sopranos" star allegedly roughed up his fiancée and left
her on a Little Italy street.
The
actor, who played mobster Sal (Big Pussy) Bonpensiero on the HBO hit
series,
was charged with beating up Lisa Regina, 44, on Saturday.
Pastore,
who planned to wed Regina in June, was led out of Manhattan's 5th
Precinct
in handcuffs after being slapped with assault and harassment
charges.
Unlike
his character, who spilled his guts to the FBI to avoid jail on a drug
rap,
Pastore kept his mouth shut as cops put him in a marked police car.
"We
want him to stay away from her. We don't want him to kill her,"
Regina's attorney,
Jeffrey Schwartz, told the Daily News. "She's terrified of him."
Prosecutors
said Pastore, 58, flew into a rage about 1:45 p.m. Saturday when Regina
got into his sport-utility vehicle in front of her Little Italy
apartment.
Pastore
was furious - punching the steering wheel and cursing - because he was
forced
to wait so long he almost got a ticket, prosecutors and Schwartz said.
Then, while driving,
Pastore went nuts and slugged her in the back of the head, cops said.
Not
even a block away, Pastore pulled over on Mott St., ran to the
passenger door and
yanked Regina out by the arm, Assistant District Attorney James Zaleta
said. Regina banged
her head on the door frame and landed on her back as she tumbled onto
the sidewalk, Zaleta said.
Pastore
allegedly tossed her purse and an overnight bag to the ground and sped
down the block
- leaving his black-eyed bride-to-be bruised and heartbroken.
"She wouldn't get out of the car," Pastore later told cops.
At
Manhattan Criminal Court, Pastore pleaded not guilty to two counts of
assault,
attempted assault and harassment.
"Mr.
Pastore regrets what happened the other night," said his lawyer,
Dominic Barbara.
"He and Ms. Regina were in love for a long time and he will have
nothing else to say about this."
Pastore was released without bail pending a May 5 court date.
After
his appearance, the hefty actor stayed in character, first looking for
cigarettes, then inhaling
a hot dog as Barbara urged him to leave a crowd of reporters. "I
haven't eaten all day!" he shouted.