Salumeria Rosi’s Cesare Casella may be playing the mob-favorite Atlantic City restaurateur in Martin Scorsese’s pilot, “Boardwalk Empire” – a bent-nose epic HBO hopes will prove as addictive as “The Sopranos.” After all, prosciutto is just ham by any other name. The exuberant Tuscan import who recently got tweaked by Frank Bruni for what most Casella fans consider a rather charming affectation – sprigs of fresh rosemary he sports in his pocket – had to be persuaded. “Me, be an actor? I wasn’t going to do it,” he confides. “But then I start to like the idea – I even took a coach with me to the audition.”  Steve Buscemi will play Nucky Johnson, boss of a liquor distribution ring, in the pilot written by Terrence Winter based on a book about Atlantic City. Given Winter’s 25 “Sopranos” episodes, Scorsese’s genius and Casella’s way with salumi, how can it miss?  As the chef left town for a barbecue gig in Texas today, he was still waiting for word.

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