Life Imitates 'Sopranos'

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/01/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Thomas Bifalco, 26, a bit player from "The Sopranos," was sentenced in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday to up to six years in prison for goading elderly victims into purchasing $300,000 of fraudulent stock. Bifalco, from Brooklyn, reportedly ran his stock scam out of a Wall Street boiler room. In court, he refused to "rat" on co-defendants, says the New York Post. Nor did he pay back any of his 30 victims, who reportedly included a couple of nonagenarians and a chemotherapy patient. In other news of "The Sopranos," which concluded its second season on Sunday, about 9 million people watched the final episode, making it the most-watched cable series episode ever, claims HBO. In fact, the episode gave HBO its second highest rating, right behind the pay network's 1999 premiere of "Titanic."