In 1999, having had no previous acting experience, Van Zandt was cast in New Jersey Mafia drama The Sopranos, and proved a revelation in his role as mobster and strip club owner Silvio Dante. The show is about how they interact with each other — those three lives of the mob world, the rock-and-roll world, and the FBI world.... Earlier this year, Van Zandt revealed that Bruce Springsteen, and his band members, had received death threats while on their Land of Hope and Dreams tour in the US. "It's a very specific political theme to this tour and there's been a lot of threats, death threats. Revealing that Springsteen has had to "beef up security", Van Zandt added, "it's mostly just talk.