What do a charismatic mob boss, an Italian-American boy being brought up in a law-abiding family, and Bill Mazeroski have in common? They all factor into actor, writer, director and producer Chazz Palminteri’s “A Bronx Tale.”

Before it was a movie, it was a one-man stage play. The 70-year-old Palminteri is bringing it to Pittsburgh’s Byham Theater next Friday and Saturday (Nov. 11 and 12) as part of a national tour revival.

Any 9-year-old baseball fan living in the Pittsburgh area during the fall of 1960 undoubtedly enjoyed one of the most thrilling moments of their lives on Oct. 13.

That’s when Bill Mazeroski hit his famous bottom of the ninth inning home run in the deciding seventh game of the World Series to give the Pirates a championship-clinching victory over the New York Yankees.

But for 9-year-old Palminteri of the Bronx, New York — where the Yankees play all their home games — it was a heartbreaking moment. Palminteri, who was known by his birth name of Calogero in those days, was a diehard Yankees fan. Maz’s dramatic homer had reduced him to tears.

As he sat crying on the steps of the apartment building where his family lived, young Palminteri attracted the attention of the neighborhood mob boss, Sonny, in what turned out to be a fateful first meeting.

“I was traumatized by Bill Mazeroski when he hit that home run,” Palminteri told the Tribune-Review during a recent Zoom interview in which he wore a Yankees cap.

“I remember as a young boy sitting on the stoop crying. And this wiseguy Sonny came over to me and said, ‘What are you crying about, kid?’ and I told him Mazeroski hit the home run and (Yankees star) Mickey Mantle was crying in the dugout,” Palminteri said.

“And Sonny said to me, ‘Do you think Mickey Mantle cares about you? He makes $100,000 a year. Go ask your father if (Mantle’s) going to pay the rent money.’ ”

Palminteri and Sonny would end up forming a close relationship — but not before the boy witnessed Sonny shooting a man in a gangland killing. When the police showed up to question Palminteri, he refused to squeal on Sonny.

“What happened was I didn’t rat on him. And the next day he saw me sitting on the stoop again and he looked at me and smiled and said, ‘I know that you know that I know,’ ” said Palminteri. “And that’s how it started, the whole thing.”

Sonny and the boy began to spend time together, with the mobster taking him under his wing, dispensing fatherly advice and giving him odd jobs that he overpaid him for.

Palminteri’s actual father, an honest, hardworking bus driver, disapproved of the arrangement. Like everyone else in the neighborhood, he knew Sonny’s wealth came from being an organized crime boss.

Palminteri’s coming-of-age experience, with all of its dramatic tension, eventually became “A Bronx Tale,” which Palminteri wrote in 1988 while he was a struggling actor in his 30s.

“I was desperate. I ran out of money. When I was pushed against the wall and I had to do something spectacular, I said, ‘This story has been in my head all this time and I’m going to write it as a one-man show and tell the story.’ And it changed my whole life,” he said.

“A Bronx Tale” became a Broadway hit and an even bigger hit in Las Vegas. Movie studios were clamoring for the film rights; Palminteri was offered as much as $1 million.

But even though he only had $200 in the bank, he kept turning down the offers because none of the studios would agree to his demands that he would write the screen adaptation and play Sonny.

“People thought I was crazy. About a week after I turned down a million, I was doing the show, I got off stage and the stage manager said, ‘Robert De Niro just saw the show. He’s waiting for you in your dressing room.’ I walked in and there was Bob De Niro just sitting there and he said, ‘My god, that was the greatest one-man show I ever saw,’ ” Palminteri said.

De Niro said he wanted to make a deal with Palminteri for the rights to make “A Bronx Tale” movie. De Niro said he would direct the film and play Palminteri’s father. He agreed to Palminteri’s terms and let him play Sonny and write the screenplay.

The gamble paid off. The movie premiered in 1993 and was a hit with critics and at the box office. More importantly it gave a huge boost to Palminteri’s acting career while also enabling De Niro to establish himself as a director.

By 2019, Palminteri also starred in and wrote the book for “A Bronx Tale” Broadway musical. The production toured nationally, including a stop at the Benedum Center as part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway season.

It was the first time that the same actor wrote a one-man play, the movie version and a Broadway musical — and starred in each one.

But after performing the one-man version of “A Bronx Tale” over 1,000 times on stage, what made Palminteri want to revive the same show he started doing 34 years ago?

“People have said the one-man show is better than the movie, even better than the musical,” he said. “You have to see it because I am Calogero. I am the little boy. So, when I tell the story and play all 18 parts, there’s a visceral, emotional connection that the audience gets when they hear it from me.”

Before the interview is finished, Palminteri asks if Mazeroski still lives in the area. He wants to invite Maz and a guest to see the show and meet him backstage following the performance.

The invitation was passed on to Mazeroski but as of this writing there’s been no word on whether he will attend.

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