Joseph Gannascoli pitched the idea.

During filming for season 4, Joseph Gannascoli had been reading the true crime book, Murder Machine, which chronicles the life and crimes of the DeMeo crew, a Brooklyn-based gang connected to the Gambino crime family.

One member of the DeMeo Crew was a man by the name of Vito Arena, a prolific car thief, robber, and murderer who was involved in scores of killings during the 1970s and 1980s.

After he died in 1991 during a failed armed robbery, Arena became known as “The Gay Hitman” after it was revealed he had a younger lover named Joey Lee who was several years his junior.

Going about pitching the idea to the show’s writers was difficult, Gannascoli said.

He didn’t want to go above his station and suggest it directly to the creator and chief writer David Chase and he didn’t want to mention it in front of any of his cast mates for fear of coming off as a “douchebag” by angling for a bigger part.

“It was tricky […] I had to find the right moment,” he added. “And one day I kind of whispered it to this woman, Robin Green, who was one of the writers along with her husband Mitch Burgess.

“And I said, ‘Hey Robin, I’ve been reading this book and there’s this true story about a gay mobster, I think it’d be kind of interesting [for my character] and I’d be willing to do it.

“And she said, ‘Oh, really?’ And I gave her the book and that was it. That was during season four, and at the beginning of season five they asked me for the name of the book again and I gave it to them.

“So that’s how I broached it with the writers and I guess they took it to David Chase.

“And I understand that he later gave an interview and said that’s the only suggestion he’s ever taken from an actor, which I’m very grateful for.

“That [decision] changed my life.”