On Sunday Boardwalk Empire premiered the first of eight episodes for the HBO drama's fifth season.

'Boardwalk Empire' Preview Promises More Change Ahead

With the series drawing to a close this year, actor Vincent Piazza sat down with Sway in the Morning (featured below) to discuss his time as the infamous Lucky Luciano on the iconic program.

"It's been incredible," declared the actor, somewhat in awe of his own experience on the show. He's honored to have worked with such incredible actors, all of whom who greatly respects.

Nucky Will 'Look Inward' During Final Season of 'Boardwalk Empire'

Though a respected actor now, Piazza had originally started out in sports. He was a hockey player in college before he chose to make the switch into the performing arts, deciding to "act violent things" instead of actually being a part of them.

As for the character he has played to much acclaim for five seasons, Piazza did quite a bit of research when he first landed the role of Lucky Luciano. "I took all the FBI files, like six hundred pages…" he explained, "And all the aliases were on the front page. It went through everything."

Luciano was a prominent figure in the 1930s, having risen through the ranks during prohibition. Piazza noted that he got the nickname "Lucky" after winning a rigged game in his teens, though it is commonly believed that the moniker came from living through a kidnapping and attempted murder years later.

"He [Luciano] had a vision and he didn't like all the needless violence…" added Piazza. "He wanted to make it about business, to Americanize the mobs and gangs."

While Piazza is not necessarily like his character in real life, he does share some of Luciano's Italian heritage.

The actor is Italian on his father's side, though unlike Luciano he is not 100 percent Italian. The actor is German-American on his mother's side and referred jokingly to himself as a "half-breed."

While Piazza is often associated with Italian characters, the actor himself doesn't seem to worried about typecasting.  Nonetheless, he intends to "be very patient and try to pick the right thing" when it comes to new projects.

"I guess the most popular things I've done so far have been in the Italian-American thing…" admitted the HBO star, referring to Boardwalk Empire and the recent film Jersey Boys, "but actually those are the first two Italian American roles I've taken on."

Boardwalk Empire continues on HBO with its fifth and final season Sunday, September 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Tags: Boardwalk Empire hbo television