Act Like an Angel, Dress Like a Soprano

For those of you keen on harnessing your inner Mafioso, mark your calendars: On June 25, James Gandolfini will auction off 24 outfits he wore in the hit show The Sopranos, which ran on HBO from 1999-2007.

Individual outfits that Gandolfini sported as middle-aged mob boss Tony Soprano start at $500, and the whole collection is expected to fetch as much as $36,500.

Any fan of the series can tell you that Tony's duds don't exactly amount to any great shakes. When the hefty, middle-aged New Jersey mobster wasn't shuffling around home in an oversized bathrobe, he tended to frequent (fictional) North Jersey hangouts like the Bada-Bing and Satriale's Pork Store in nondescript slacks and golf shirts.

Of course, to the many Sopranos fans who might find themselves bidding on the items, material value is not the point. It's about the chance to own a piece of pop culture history. Or to stand in front of the mirror in Tony's bloodied undershirt and imagine for a moment that you're something other than a corporate lawyer.

Better yet, you can even explain away your eccentric purchase as an act of charity. Proceeds from Gandolfini's goods go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that assists severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by Liz Gunnison