From the department of life imitates art

Michael Imperioli knows the script and no doubt know that no good will come from a pipe bomb.

New York police are investigating an explosion at a theatre owned by the former Soprano's star.

A pipe bomb was placed on a ledge of his New York City theatre, blowing out the windows in a van and rattling the tennants in the floors above the theatre.

Feel free to develop your own conspiracy theory as to who dunnit... Russians, friends of Johnny Sac or any number of movie producers and writers that had to deal with Christopher in his Hollywood experience..

Sopranos actor 'baffled' by blast outside theatre
TOM HAYS

Associated Press
September 5, 2007 at 3:45 AM EDT

NEW YORK — Police were searching for a motive for a pipe-bomb explosion outside a theatre owned by a former star of TV's The Sopranos as the actor said he was at a loss to explain the blast.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said there had been “no known threats to the location or its owners” before the explosion at 1 a.m. Tuesday outside Studio Dante, a Manhattan theatre owned by actor Michael Imperioli. He played Christopher Moltisanti, Tony Soprano's nephew, on the popular HBO television show.

Imperioli told the Daily News he was “completely baffled” by the blast, saying he was unaware of any conflicts with the building's tenants or neighbours.

“This whole day felt like a hallucination. It's surreal,” Imperioli said.

Investigators believe someone planted the device — a fused pipe bomb — on a tiled ledge near the theatre entrance before it exploded, Browne said.

The blast blew out the windows of an unoccupied van parked outside Studio Dante, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said no one was injured. Three residential floors above the theatre were evacuated while authorities made sure they were safe.

“While there certainly is no evidence that this was terrorism, we are taking this and every act of violence extremely seriously, and we'll take every step to identify and apprehend whoever set this explosive device off,” Bloomberg said.

Studio Dante is described on its website as “an unexpected jewel-box that was built to house progressive new plays.” Imperioli created it with his wife, Victoria.

Though police sometimes recover pipe bombs while making arrests, explosions are rare. One exception came in 2004, when an emotionally disturbed police officer set off a pipe bomb inside a Times Squares subway station. He was sentenced to one to three years in prison for reckless endangerment.

In 2005, an explosion caused by two makeshift grenades fitted with fuses blew out a window near Manhattan's British consulate. There were no injuries or arrests.