4 Celebrities Whose Fictional Crimes Turned Real
Celebrities are just like you and I, only richer and worse. In fact, sometimes it seems like they'll play a character who's involved in some kind of crime or scandal and then think, "Hey, I should try that at home!" How else do you explain stuff like ...
Sopranos Actors Keep Turning Out To Be Real Gangsters
The Sopranos is a classic because even if it wasn't realistic, it was authentic -- the characters were believable as people. This is partly because this show about mobsters was riddled with real-life criminals. Oh sure, some of the cast had prior criminal history. Paulie Walnuts was (once more, allegedly) part of the Colombo crime family. But it seems like a few more were just inspired by their characters.
Anthony Borges played Larry Boy Barese, and in 2011 he pleaded guilty to extortion charges. His fictional cousin Albert was played by Richard Maldone, who was arrested as part of a drug ring operation that was selling cocaine, meth, and ketamine. Meanwhile, Lillo Brancato Jr. played Matthew Bevilacqua, and he ended up being sentenced to ten years in prison while narrowly avoiding a charge of second-degree murder back in 2005. Brancato and an associate were trying to rob a house that happened to be next to the home of an off-duty cop, Daniel Enchautegui. He came over to investigate and Brancato's partner fatally shot him. Both men were arrested, but Brancato was only charged with the burglary. He got out of prison in 2013.
Even Robert Iler, better known as A.J. Soprano, couldn't resist the siren's call of petty thuggery. In 2001, he robbed a pair of teenage tourists of $40 with some of his friends. He pleaded guilty to a larceny charge and got three years of probation. If you notice the date, you may also question how this happened at all. The Sopranos was on TV from 1999 to 2007, which means Iler was a couple of years into one of the biggest shows ever when he decided to steal $40. They said he was high at the time, so clearly he was smoking some incredibly shitty weed.
Related: 15 Recent Celebrity Scandals That Flew Under The Radar
AC/DC Does A Song About Doing Murder For Hire, The Drummer Then Possibly Hires A Hitman
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is clearly the second-greatest song AC/DC ever recorded, next to the testicular anthem "Big Balls." Remember that one? About balls? And it was, like, a double entendre? Like, a two-minute, 49-second double entendre? Anyway, "Dirty Deeds" is about a scumbag for hire who will maybe kill people for you with TNT and cyanide -- or just sleep with them, the lyrics seem to imply both.
Maybe that's why drummer Phil Rudd wasn't sure how to proceed when he (I will repeat, allegedly) went full Dirty Deeds and tried to hire a hitman to take out his personal assistant after his solo album bombed like a handful of turd thrown by a monkey in the zoo. Rudd was eventually sentenced to eight months of house arrest, admitting in a plea deal that he offered $133,000 plus some delightful merchandise for the job (though that part of the charge was dropped).
The supposed intended hitman says the whole thing was blown out of proportion, and that he's no hitman at all. I'm no legal expert, and I can't say what happened, but this sounds like maybe Rudd just asked this guy if he'd mind killing someone and the guy said no. You know how sometimes you get frustrated and you just offer a friend $133,000 and a motorcycle to off someone for you, but you don't really mean it? Like, maybe that's what happened.
If only Rudd had opted to throw a big ball instead. A big, bouncy ball, where everyone comes and comes again. That line's in the song! Balls!
Related: 5 Beloved Celebrities Everyone Forgets Did Terrible Things
A Power Ranger Killed A Dude With A Sword
As you may or may not be aware, physics dictate that a Power Rangers show must always be airing somewhere. Otherwise, reality falls apart at the seams and we're sucked through a vortex and into a universe that's just like this one, only without any Power Rangers shows on the air. To that end, they keep making new shows. One of them was called Power Rangers Samurai, which is not to be confused with Power Rangers Jungle Fury, Power Rangers Mystic Force, or Power Rangers: Rage Of Power, only one of which I made up. Now look here!
That plastic red skeleton guy is called Deker, and look at him use that sword to try to kill every non-cartoon cartoon person in that clip. Dude likes to stab. He was played by an actor named Ricardo Medina, who for reasons unknown, also had a working medieval sword in his house. We know that because it's what he used to kill his roommate. Man, this story took a turn for the worse.
Back in 2015, Medina stabbed his roommate Josh Sutter with a sword, in what he described at the time as a case of self-defense. They were fighting about Medina's girlfriend, he fled to his room, the roommate broke in, and in the ensuing confrontation, the roommate died. Medina was eventually charged with murder, but pleaded to voluntary manslaughter and got sentenced to a maximum of six years. Basically, if the system can't decide whether you murdered someone or acted in pure self-defense, they split the difference and send you away for a few years.
Related: 4 Scandals That Prove We'll Forgive Celebrities For Anything
De'Aundre Bonds Gets Shot In The Ass In A Movie, Then In Real Life
If you haven't heard of De'Aundre Bonds, you're missing out on one of the best stories about an actor gone astray ever. Or it's a story about a man with a prophetic ass. It's hard to say. One thing's for certain, and it's that bad things happened to Bonds in fiction before they happened in real life.
Bonds has been in Spike Lee's Get On The Bus, Tales From The Hood, and Gangster Squad. He was also in the movie 3 Strikes, in which his character takes a bullet square in the ass. Man, how undignified. That movie came out in the years 2000. Lockdown came out that same year, also featuring Bonds. As the director of that movie stated, they had to change the script for Bonds' character to include the actor's limp. Why did he have a limp? Because right before filming started, Bonds was actually shot in the ass.
Now, people probably get shot in the ass all the time. Statistically speaking, over the course of me writing this article and you reading it, both of us have been shot in the ass. But that's not the end (or the worst) of Bonds' prophetic movie mayhem. In Lockdown, Bonds' character stabs his cellmate to death. In 2001, well ...
Bonds had just been cast in Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher. He went to tell his aunt about it. At her home, he pulled into the driveway and knocked over a trash can. His aunt's boyfriend didn't like that. Bonds' story is that they got into a fight and he needed to defend himself. With a knife. The fact he ended up getting 11 years for manslaughter means the court did not agree.
Bonds did get out of prison and did go back to work. Gangster Squad, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, came out in 2013, and he was in that. So at least he turned his life around. Let's check in on how he's done since then ... Ah, he was arrested again in 2017 for (fifth time's the charm, allegedly) trying to stab a relative with a kitchen knife.
For more, check out 5 Famous Historical Figures Who Were Total Perverts - The Spit Take:
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