While The Sopranos' Artie Bucco still nurses his stirring hand back to health after its inopportune encounter with a pot of molten marinara, the actor who plays Artie, John Ventimiglia, has also found himself in some proverbial hot water: The Smoking Gun posted the police report from Ventimiglia's arrest last night, after cops spotted him weaving his Jetta around Brooklyn with the lights off, only to find an envelope containing cocaine residue in his pocket:

Ventimiglia was observed "exhibiting signs of intoxication: to wit, slurred speech, red watery eyes, odor of alcoholic beverage on breath, and an unsteady gait," according to a criminal complaint. A subsequent chemical test showed that Ventimiglia's blood alcohol content was .12, above the state's .08 maximum. The actor was also hit with a drug count when a cop found a ziplock bag and a small envelope containing cocaine residue in his pants pocket.

The Sopranos is to be commended for not only having one of the most criminally prosecuted casts of all time, but that in each instance, the offense is entirely appropriate to the corresponding actor's character. To wit, A.J. gets booked for weed possession, Big Pussy gets a domestic battery charge, and Paulie Walnuts did hard time in Sing Sing for his years as a mob thug with a diagnosed "character disorder." It's only fitting, then, that the somewhat pathetic and benign Artie get nabbed for a crime that is equally so, and we imagine it won't be long before The Sopranos curse lands Vito in a New Hampshire sheriff's office holding cell after being picked up for a lewd act in the men's room of a roadside truckstop.

• Artie Bucco In Hot Soup [TSG]

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