NEW YORK–Lillo Brancato Jr. was a young actor with a solid resumé: He made his debut in 1993 in A Bronx Tale opposite Robert De Niro, went on to appear in more than a dozen movies and played a doomed mobster wannabe in the HBO phenomenon The Sopranos.

Brancato's real-life troubles began not long after he befriended Steven Armento, a reputed low-level Genovese crime family associate banished for drug addiction.

The 32-year-old's life went into a tailspin with a pair of drug-related arrests and the 2005 shooting death of an off-duty New York police officer who caught the two men breaking into an apartment for drugs, prosecutors said.

Brancato has been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the death of officer Daniel Enchautegui. Jury selection for the trial begins today.

Brancato drove the two men to the home of Enchautegui's neighbour and broke in to steal prescription drugs, prosecutors said. When Enchautegui confronted them, dressed in plain clothes, Armento shot the officer.

Armento, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder Oct. 30 and was sentenced last week to life in prison without parole.

Brancato's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said his client's case is very different. "Lillo didn't have a gun. Nor did he know anyone had a gun. Lillo was shot. Lillo wasn't burglarizing anyone's home," he said.

Family and friends of Brancato have said he was a good guy with a drug problem who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"He obviously had problems he kept well hidden, but that doesn't mean he should be held accountable for the actions of the man he was with, especially if that man was under the influence," former Sopranos castmate Chris Tardio wrote in an email.

Brancato, born in Bogota, Colombia, was adopted when he was 4 months old by the Brancato family and raised in New York. He was discovered at age 15 at Jones Beach by the casting director of A Bronx Tale, directed by co-star De Niro.

He worked consistently through his teenage years with small roles in Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State, but he never became a huge star. Brancato appeared in half a dozen episodes as Sopranos soldier Matt Bevilaqua in 2000; his character was killed off in the mob hit's second season.

Brancato befriended Armento while dating one of his twin daughters. The actor and the older man were drinking together at a strip club in December 2005 before deciding to break into the basement apartment in a hunt for Valium, prosecutors said.

Brancato's lawyer says his client is not criminally responsible for the shooting.

"We're looking forward, after three long years, for Lillo to get his day in court," Tacopina said. "It's a tragic case. It's tragic in a lot of ways. But that doesn't mean he's behind the crime."