Actor Chazz Palminteri comes home to the Bronx

Jennifer H. Cunningham for New York Daily News

Bronx-born actor Chazz Palminteri with Jerome (the Cannoli King) Raguso inside Raguso's Gino's Pastry Shop on E. 187th St,. in the Belmont section

Bronx boy-turned-Hollywood star Chazz Palminteri is back on the block.

The Belmont product has returned to the borough to perform his autobiorgraphical one-man show, “A Bronx Tale,” on Oct. 17 at Lehman College. Proceeds from the one-night-only performance — Palminteri’s first ever in his home borough — will benefit his charity, the Child Reach Foundation.

Palminteri, who is 61, sat down with the Daily News’ Jennifer H. Cunningham in his favorite Belmont pastry shop and discussed the personal experiences on which he relied to write and perform the play, his work with sick children and his favorite places in the Bronx.

Daily News : What is the play about?

Chazz Palminteri : It’s really me. It’s about my life. It’s about a young boy growing up in the Bronx. And through his father and a mobster, he takes the best out of both men and becomes a man. The moral of A Bronx Tale is the working man is the tough guy.

DN : What inspired you to start the Child Reach Foundation, which funds research for a cure for pediatric diseases and gives grants to law enforcement families with children with special needs?

CP : About 15 years ago, my friend Phil Foglia came over to me and said, “We’re looking for Italian-Americans to do a foundation for thalassemia (a group of genetic blood disorders that disproportionately affects kids with Mediterranean ethnicity). Then I met some of the kids who have the disease. You meet these kids, and your heart breaks. There may be a cure for it in the future.

I started making strides in finding a cure. I think this is a disease we could beat in my lifetime.

We (also) wanted to help police officers with kids with special needs, and we’ve given a lot of money away. We try to do as much as we can for thalassemia and for our police officers.

DN : What was it like growing up in the Bronx?

CP : I grew up at 667 E. 187th St., near Belmont Ave. If you watch the Bronx Tale, Jennifer, that was my life growing up. I witnessed a killing. I dated a black girl when I was 17 years old, in 1968. I threw dice for the wiseguys.

DN : So, you really could’ve gone either way.

CP : No, just like in the movie, my father always said, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent,” and he never wanted me to waste my talent.

What are some of your favorite places in the Bronx?

CP : “I always go to Gino’s Pastry Shop and I see Jerome, “The Cannoli King.” I live here and I live in Hollywood. I’ll get on a plane just to come here.

Casa (Della) Mozzarella — the greatest mozzarella in the world. Borgatti’s Ravioli. And my two favorite restaurants are Roberto’s and Rigoletto (Pasquale), right on Arthur Avenue.

The Bronx Botanical Gardens were like my backyard. We would go there, play football. It was great.

Chazz Palminteri in “A Bronx Tale,” Oct. 17 at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theater, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., Tickets from $55. For info, visit www.lehmanstages.org.

jcunningham@nydailynews.com