Aiello first trod the boards in a Chicago production of "That Championship Season" in 1975 and stayed busy on stage during his early career. He won an OBIE Award for his work in Albert Innaurato's "Gemini" (1976) and later re-created his role at the start of its long run on Broadway. He acted in two other Broadway plays by Louis LaRusso (author of "Lamppost Reunion"), "Wheelbarrow Chasers" (1976) and "Knockout" (1979), and in Woody Allen's "The Floating Light Bulb" (1981) and John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves" (1986). He also won the L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Award for his performance as Phil in the Los Angeles debut of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly" (1987), opposite Sean Penn.
Aiello's tough guy, blue-collar persona lent itself readily to one-dimensional roles--like a Mafia thug in "The Godfather, Part II" (1974), a sadistic policeman in "Fort Apache, the Bronx" (1981), a brutish husband in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1984)--before he moved on to richer parts. His most acclaimed 80s supporting roles were the lovelorn jilted mama's boy Johnny Cammareri in "Moonstruck" (1988) and the sympathetic but insensitive pizzeria owner Sal in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" (1989). The latter garnered him critical acclaim, a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and a higher profile career. "Once Around" (1991) boasted an impressive ensemble, including Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Griffin Dunne, but Aiello, the untrained actor in their midst, walked off with the best notices. That same busy year, he also played the loyal sidekick to Bruce Willis in the ill-fated "Hudson Hawk" and the unlucky father of the lottery-winning Anthony LaPaglia in "29th Street". Aiello had the title role of "Ruby" (1992) in a failed speculative biopic of the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald. Both Kevin Dowling's "Mojave Moon" (1996) and John Herzfeld's "2 Days in the Valley" offered him top billing in romantic roles where he gets the girls, Anne Archer and Angelina Jolie in the former, Glenne Headly in the latter.
Among Aiello's many television appearances are his Emmy Award-winning (Outstanding Performer in a Children's Program) portrayal in "Family of Strangers" (1980), an "ABC Afterschool Special", and a sublime but unsung turn as a Runyonesque bookie in "The Odds", a 1984 episode of the syndicated "Tales of the Darkside". He played Lieutenant Terry McNichols in ABC's short-lived crime drama "Lady Blue" (1985-86) and the similar part of Detective Mike Sheehan in Herzfeld's "The Preppie Murder" (ABC, 1989). Aiello had been shying from TV work when CBS made him an offer he couldn't refuse, to play Mafia patriarch Don Clericuzio in the miniseries "Mario Puzo's 'The Last Don'" (1997). The network also managed to lure him back to series work as the star and executive producer of "Dellaventura" (1997-98), about a former NYC cop turned private investigator. Knowing Aiello's reticence to work in L.A., CBS entertainment president Leslie Moonves brought the mountain to Mohammed, so to speak, in agreeing to shoot the series entirely in New York City.
Two of Aiello's four children, Ricky and Danny III, followed him into the business and have worked with him in numerous vehicles. "Dellaventura" included both on the team with Ricky acting the part of Teddy Naples and Danny III producing alongside his father, making the series a real family affair. Aiello also starred in Christine Lahti's Academy Award-winning (Best Live Action Short Film) "Lieberman in Love" (1995), which aired on Showtime.