NY- Three weeks after Officer Daniel Enchautegui was gunned down, the hero cop's father can find nothing but hatred in his heart for the "Sopranos" actor accused in the crime.
"I'd like to put him in the electric chair and get permission to press the button myself," Pedro Enchautegui said yesterday of Lillo Brancato [pictured].
Brancato, 29, has been peddling a sob story about the Dec. 10 shooting, claiming he didn't know his junkie pal Steven Armento, 48, had a gun when they allegedly broke into an apartment next to Daniel Enchautegui's Bronx home.
But the disgraced actor's protests - a bald attempt to get a murder charge reduced - drew nothing but contempt in the Enchautegui household, where Christmas was a joyless event this year.
"I want them both to have the same charges," the cop's father said of Brancato and Armento, whom authorities say were hoping to steal prescription drugs when Enchautegui interrupted the burglary.
Even after being mortally wounded, the hero cop managed to fire eight shots, hitting Brancato twice and Armento six times.
The slain officer's mom, Maria, said that with her son gone and buried, the time has passed for lame excuses from the alleged killers.
"The only thing that guy wants is to get out of it," she said of the actor-turned-jailbird. "It's too late for that."
Officers from the 40th Precinct in the Bronx, where Enchautegui was assigned, have rallied around the grieving couple.
They attended Christmas Mass with the family in the Bronx, then gathered at the fallen officer's sister's home for dinner that night.
"It was a very sad Christmas," said the sister, Yolanda Rosa Nazario, 41, of Ozone Park, Queens.
"It was too close to the holiday without him. I brought my parents to Queens so they wouldn't have to suffer alone."
Just yesterday, two cops stopped by Pedro and Maria Enchautegui's house in the West Farms section of the Bronx.
"We know this is a tough time for them," said Officer Charles Spruill. "We gotta make sure the spiritual support is taken care of. We gotta make sure the family gets as much prayer as possible."
Maria Enchautegui appreciates the effort, but it's done little to repair the gaping hole in her life - one that she says Brancato's mother cannot imagine.
"I just want my son back," she said. "He was the light of my life, the light of my soul. I don't think the other mother cries like me."
