The Sopranos Star Slims Down  1/2/06

The Sopranos star Joseph Gannascoli is sporting a slimmer figure in the latest series of the hit gangster show, despite his passion for food. 

The actor, who plays gay mobster Vito Spatafore on the US TV program, recently penned a cookbook/novel and released his own line of sauces, but still found the motivation to stop over-indulging on his favorite foods. 

He tells website PageSix, "I'm down 160 pounds. I had stomach surgery - not the bypass, the band. And I've been exercising. Diet pills help, too. I feel a lot better." He adds of his kitchen-inspired literary venture: "It's about a chef who gets mixed up in the mob and becomes a food fence, like hijacking shrimp, bootlegging olive oil, things like that. I did stuff like that when I was younger."