DOCUMENT: Crime

Big Cash Score For Soprano Family

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Big Cash Score For Soprano Family

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JANUARY 28--America's favorite Mafia family made a huge score last month at the expense of Best Buy. And, no, a load of plasma screen TVs did not fall off the back of a tractor-trailer. Eight cast members from "The Sopranos" will whack up a $1.5 million payout from the electronics chain as part of a confidential settlement of a legal beef, The Smoking Gun has learned. Last January, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Tony Sirico, and several co-stars filed suit over a Best Buy newspaper ad containing a photo of the cast posing on a New Jersey boardwalk. The actors alleged that the retail giant misappropriated their images. The case was closed out last month when the parties signed the below settlement agreement, which includes a pledge of omerta when it comes to specifics of the financial terms. The document does not indicate whether the boss, Gandolfini, gets a larger taste of those seven figures. But what's unclear is why four other cast members pictured in the Best Buy ad--Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior), Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano), Drea de Matteo (Adriana La Cerva), and Joe Pantoliano (Ralph Cifaretto)--did not join in the lawsuit or benefit from the settlement. (10 pages)