This is a list of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos, and its prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
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Main article: Tony Soprano |
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Main article: Jennifer Melfi |
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Main article: Carmela Soprano |
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Main article: Christopher Moltisanti |
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Main article: Junior Soprano |
Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero is portrayed by Vincent Pastore. Big Pussy was a longtime close friend and mob enforcer for Tony Soprano, and was also shown to be close friends with fellow DiMeo crime family mobsters Paulie "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri, Silvio Dante, and was once a close friend to Tony's uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano. In the tie-in video game it is revealed he has an illegitimate son named Joey LaRocca. Samson Moeakiola portrays a young Bonpensiero in the 2021 prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark.
The son of Lino Bonpensiero,[1] Salvatore Bonpensiero started out as a cat burglar, and was affectionately known as Pussy, in reference to those talents. He was called "Big Pussy" to distinguish him from Gennaro "Little Pussy" Malenga.[2] Sal had a wife Angie and three children. He operated an auto body shop with his brother Edward "Duke" Bonpensiero. Sal was a soldier in the Soprano crew, and he backed "Johnny Boy" Soprano's wishes to have Tony Soprano become capo following Johnny's death in 1986.
In order to put his children through college, he dealt heroin on the side. Sometime between 1995 and 1998, Sal was caught by the FBI and decided to inform against the Soprano crew in order to avoid the possibility of life in prison. He was assigned Agent Skip Lipari as his handler. He was revealed as an informant in the episode "Do Not Resuscitate". In flashbacks to 1995, it is shown that Sal was instrumental in organizing a sit-down between high-ranking capo Junior Soprano and acting boss Jackie Aprile Sr. He traveled to Boca Raton to persuade Junior to return to New Jersey and settle a trucking dispute with Aprile. However, Sal was suspiciously late for the sit-down and blamed the health problems of his comare's mother.
In 1998, he was arrested at a card game run by Soprano family capo Jimmy Altieri. He tried to escape but threw his back out and was caught. He was quickly bailed out, but was confined to his home due to injury. Dirty cop Vin Makazian told Tony he had a rat in his organization and pointed the finger at Sal. Tony assigned Paulie Gualtieri to investigate, and to kill Sal, but only if he saw explicit proof. At a bathhouse with Paulie, Sal refused to undress, blaming high blood pressure and alleging it would be bad for his back, but implying it could be because he was wearing a wire.
The bathhouse incident further raised the crew's suspicions, especially when Sal disappeared soon afterwards. Paulie took over his collections, and the crew killed Altieri, whom the crew decided had been the rat. Sal resurfaced at Tony's home in 2000, claiming to have been in Puerto Rico receiving treatment from an acupuncturist for his bad back. He started lying to Agent Lipari, showing reluctance to divulge details. Acquaintance Jimmy Bones spots Sal with Agent Lipari, so Sal kills him to prevent him from telling what he knows. After Sal's return, his wife Angie and he experience relationship issues. Angie discusses leaving him with Carmela, who dissuades her, so she settles for sleeping in separate bedrooms.
When Tony became acting boss, he made Silvio his consigliere, and Paulie a capo, with new addition Furio Giunta on equal footing with Sal despite Sal's years of service. Sal wore a wire to A.J.'s confirmation, but he spent most of the time privately counseling A.J., instead of talking business with the crew. Following Christopher Moltisanti's shooting by associates Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte, Sal resumed his loyal soldier role despite his double life as an informant; he tracked down the escaped Bevilaqua, and shot him to death with Tony. Sal eventually gave Agent Lipari information on Soprano's stolen airline tickets scam, leading to Tony's brief arrest.
Tony accepted his suspicions about Sal after a portentous dream in which Sal appeared to him as a talking fish, a clear reference to the Mafia-related saying "sleep with the fishes". To be certain, he searched for evidence in Sal's home and found a wire in a cigar box. He then organized a hit on Sal, with Silvio and Paulie, on a boat. After a last toast, Tony, Paulie, and Silvio shot Sal to death, wrapped his body in plastic bags, chains, and weights, and dumped it into the ocean. Sal made several appearances after his death, usually in dreams or flashbacks. Tony and other members of his crew told Sal's friends and family that he disappeared after entering the witness protection program.
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Main article: Silvio Dante |
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Main article: Anthony Soprano Jr. |
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Main article: Meadow Soprano |
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Main article: Paulie Gualtieri |
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Main article: Livia Soprano |
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Main article: Adriana La Cerva |
Richard "Richie" Aprile is played by David Proval. Richie is the older brother of acting DiMeo crime family boss Jackie Aprile Sr., and was a capo in the DiMeo crime family before being sent to prison for ten years. Richie was previously married and fathered a son, Richie Aprile Jr. Richie returned from prison to a very different family, with Tony Soprano as the boss, whom Richie had known since before Tony had become a made man. Richie feels he is entitled to more control and a higher ranking position in the family for having paid his dues in prison.
Tony promises to give Richie his due, an offer which Richie immediately rebuffs, saying Tony does not have the authority to do it. Richie's tensions with Tony escalate throughout season 2. One of Richie's first actions as a free man is to confront his old partner Peter "Beansie" Gaeta and try to extort money from Beansie's legitimate business investments. Later, Richie waits for Beansie to approach his car in the parking lot, then rams Beansie with his car, crushing Beansie between the two vehicles. Richie then drives over Beansie's legs as he leaves.
Richie dislikes Tony's protégé Christopher Moltisanti because of his violent relationship with Richie's niece, Adriana La Cerva, and warns Christopher of the consequences should he ever hit her again while they are still unmarried. Christopher's two young associates, Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte, learn of Richie's dislike for their boss, and shoot Christopher, hoping to impress Richie. The shooting goes wrong, however, and Christopher survives while Sean is killed. Richie had nothing to do with planning the hit, and when he learns of it, he refuses to help Bevilaqua and chases him off his premises.
Richie and Janice Soprano, Tony's sister, used to date in high school. When Richie gets out of prison, he and Janice resume their old relationship and eventually get engaged. Janice frequently encourages Richie to defy Tony, because she wants to be married to the boss. In the end, Richie prepares, with the approval of Tony's Uncle Junior, to take over the family as boss. Richie approaches acting capo Albert "Ally Boy" Barese to ask for his support in his takeover bid, but he declines.
After weighing his options, Junior realizes he is better off with Tony in charge and tips him off about Richie's plans. Silvio Dante advises Tony that there is nothing to gain from leaving Richie alive, so Tony instructs Silvio to have Richie killed. However, after returning home one night, Richie gets into an argument with Janice over Richie's son's possible homosexuality, during which he punches her in the mouth before settling down for dinner.
Janice leaves the room and returns with a gun, shooting Richie twice and killing him. Distraught, she calls Tony, who has Christopher and Furio Giunta meet him to remove Richie's body. They bring his corpse to Satriale's to dismember it while Tony sends Janice off to Olympia, Washington to lie low.
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Main article: Janice Soprano |
Arthur "Artie" Bucco Jr. is played by John Ventimiglia. Artie is a restaurateur and chef, and childhood friend of Tony Soprano, attending elementary school together. Artie appears throughout the series, from the first episode to the penultimate episode.[3] He and his wife, Charmaine Bucco, have three children Chiara Bucco, Melissa Bucco, and Arthur "Art" Bucco III. Charmaine is frequently concerned about his attraction to Tony's criminal life and often warns Artie about his occasional attempts at involvement.
Despite Artie and Tony's close friendship, their relationship sees several low points. At the end of season 1, Artie learns from Tony's mother, Livia, that Tony was responsible for the arson at his original restaurant co-owned with his wife, Vesuvio, in Essex County, New Jersey. Tony's Uncle Junior had planned to stage a hit at Vesuvio on “Little Pussy" Malanga, despite Tony's repeated requests to move the location of the hit. Tony, knowing that the restaurant's patrons would be permanently chased away if a hit occurred there, set the restaurant ablaze so that the hit would be avoided and Artie could rebuild the restaurant with the payout from his insurance policy.
Artie rebuilds the restaurant renaming it, Nuovo Vesuvio. However, Artie had a strong emotional attachment to the old restaurant, which he inherited from his father, and confronts Tony with a hunting rifle in the parking lot of Satriale's when he finds out that Tony was responsible. Eventually, Artie believes Tony's repeated denials of having been the arsonist. There is a brief tension between the two, but by the end of the season 1 finale, they have made up.
In season 3, Artie becomes infatuated with Adriana. When she quits working as a hostess at his restaurant, he unsuccessfully tries to court her. This causes a rift in his marriage to Charmaine and the two separate. In season 4, Artie is approached by Frenchman Jean-Philippe, the brother of the new hostess at Vesuvio, for a $50,000 short-term loan to distribute Armagnac in the US. Artie agrees to lend him the money at high interest. He tries to borrow the money from Ralph, who declines but mentions it to Tony, who reminds Artie of their friendship and insists that he accept the loan from him.
Ten days pass and Jean-Philippe is not answering the phone. Artie goes to his home; Jean-Philippe says plainly that the deal has failed and there is no money. Artie attacks him. Jean-Philippe gets the better of him, rips out his earring, and throws him out. At home, Artie overdoses on alcohol and pills and calls Tony to apologize. Tony deduces that his friend is trying to kill himself and calls 911.
At the hospital, Tony says that Artie can clear his $6,000 tab at Nuovo Vesuvio in lieu of payment. Artie expresses admiration that Tony could intuitively foresee that the deal would go bad and so he would be able to profit from it; this makes Tony furious. Someone rings the bell at Jean-Philippe's apartment. He opens the door: it is Furio.
In the third episode of season 5, Tony learns that Artie has been living in a Motel 6 since the separation from his wife. Tony offers to let Artie stay in his mother's old house, where Tony has been living since his separation from Carmela. Artie accepts, and the old friends reconcile. In season 6, Artie and Charmaine reconcile. There is a growing sense of dissatisfaction amongst Nuovo Vesuvio's diners, culminating in the episode "Luxury Lounge".
Artie has hired another young hostess that he lusts after—Martina, an undocumented Albanian immigrant he has been helping through the U.S. government's immigration process. Soprano crew associate Benny Fazio is a regular fixture at the restaurant's bar, flirting with Martina. The restaurant is losing many customers to the new rival restaurant, Da Giovanni's. Nuovo Vesuvio's finances worsen when American Express will not let its customers use its cards there, because several account numbers had been stolen and used to run up charges elsewhere. Artie confronts Martina, who instantly breaks, tearfully admitting to stealing, then passing, the charge card numbers to Benny.
Artie is enraged and storms to Benny's house in the middle of the night. Benny tries to deny his involvement, and Artie starts a brawl, knocking Benny unconscious on his front porch. A furious Benny tells Tony he wants Artie dead, but Tony is able to keep him from doing so. Later, Artie appears to restore his business. Artie had also catered Christopher Moltisanti's belated bachelor party at Nuovo Vesuvio without coming into confrontation with Benny.
Charmaine Bucco is played by Kathrine Narducci. Charmaine is the wife of Artie Bucco[4] and a childhood friend of Carmela and Tony Soprano. She co-owns the restaurant Nuovo Vesuvio with her husband. Charmaine runs the front of the house, and Artie is the head chef. Charmaine's education is referenced periodically in the series: in The Test Dream it is revealed that she is a licensed notary public and in Everybody Hurts it is revealed that she went to the Wharton School of Business. She and her husband have three children Chiara Bucco, Melissa Bucco, and Arthur "Art" Bucco III.
In season one, Charmaine and Carmela drift apart. Charmaine resents that Carmela enjoys an affluent lifestyle that is only made possible by her husband's criminal activities. She discourages Artie from associating with Tony because of his criminal lifestyle. When Carmela hires the Buccos to cater a silent auction fundraiser at the Soprano home, Carmela treats Charmaine like a servant. This prompts Charmaine to reveal that she dated and had sex with Tony in high school at the same time he was beginning to date Carmela when she was spending the summer with her parents on Long Beach Island.
Following a series of escalating arguments, Artie and Charmaine separate. Artie moves out of the family home, but the two still reluctantly run the business together. Charmaine ultimately reconciles with Artie in season six.
Ralph "Ralphie" Cifaretto is portrayed by Joe Pantoliano. Ralph is not present in season 1 or 2, as he spends a prolonged period of time in Miami, Florida and lived in Delray Beach, Florida. Ralph first appears as a soldier in the Aprile Crew in the second episode of season 3, "Proshai, Livushka". He is characterized as an excellent earner but also unstable and prone to violence. He returned to New Jersey in 2000, following the disappearance of Richie Aprile. As a high-ranking soldier, he tried to take over the crew despite Tony's reluctance to make him captain, and often referred to it as "my crew". Tony viewed Ralph as obnoxious and insubordinate, so he passed Ralph over for promotion, and made Gigi Cestone captain of the Aprile crew. After Cestone dies of a heart attack, Tony reluctantly installs Ralph as capo.
In the episode "University", Ralph is involved with a 20-year-old stripper named Tracee, who becomes pregnant with his child. At the Bing, Tracee insults Ralph in front of his friends and makes fun of his perceived lack of masculinity. He follows her outside, where they argue. Ralph sweet-talks Tracee by telling her of a romantic future with their child which makes her happy, only for Ralph to insult her by telling her if their child is a girl, she should name her "Tracee" because she "is going to become a cock-sucking slob, just like her mother." Tracee spits at him and slaps him in retaliation, and he brutally beats her to death. Tony finds out and strikes him repeatedly. Ralph defends himself by shouting, "I'm a made guy!" Tony justifies his actions by saying that Ralph "disrespected the Bing".
Johnny Sack, a high-ranking member in the Lupertazzi family, once ordered a hit on Cifaretto for making an off-color joke about his wife's obesity, although he later cooled down and called it off. Although unknown to Johnny Sack, his own hit was approved by Tony and Carmine in order to protect the highly valuable Esplanade project to which Ralph's involvement was key. Ralph purchases a prize racehorse from Hesh Rabkin named Pie-O-My.
While Ralph only cares about the horse as a means to make money, Tony becomes emotionally attached to the horse. When Ralph's son Justin is accidentally impaled in the chest with an arrow as part of a game, Ralph is devastated and turns to Father Intintola for guidance. After Pie-O-My dies in a stable fire under questionable circumstances, Tony confronts Ralph over the suspicious timing of the fire with the $200,000 insurance payout, which was used for his son's medical expenses. Ralph denies the accusation, and rebukes and mocks Tony for being emotionally attached to the horse.
A fight ensues in Ralph's kitchen during which Tony beats and strangles Ralph to death. Tony calls Christopher to dispose of the body. Chris dismembers Ralph's body in his bathtub with a meat cleaver, after which he and Tony bury Ralph's severed head, toupee, and hands on a farm inside a bowling bag, and sink the rest of Ralph's remains in a flooded quarry after throwing his body off a cliff into the water below.
Eugene Pontecorvo is portrayed by Robert Funaro.[5] Eugene was a made man in the Aprile Crew. Hesh Rabkin mentions to Soprano family members that Eugene's father committed suicide by inert gas asphyxiation in his vehicle at the age of 52. It is implied he is from North Bergen, New Jersey. Eugene was introduced on the show as an associate in the Soprano crime family in the episode "Proshai, Livushka". Eugene subsequently becomes a made man in the following episode "Fortunate Son" along with Christopher Moltisanti.
In season six's premiere episode "Members Only", Eugene inherited $2 million from his deceased aunt. He begins developing serious stress with his home life due to his wife pushing him to talk Tony into their retiring to Fort Myers, Florida. When Eugene discusses this with Tony, he says he would think about it, but he states Eugene took an oath indicating that it is unlikely he would approve. He attempts to bribe Tony with David Yurman watches for Tony, Carmela, Meadow and A.J. He again tries to coax Tony by handing him over a share of the inheritance.
Christopher Moltisanti assigns Eugene the task of killing Teddy Spirodakis in Boston who owed Christopher money and failed to pay him. Eugene is reluctant but must follow Christopher's order due to his rank of capo. Chris assures Eugene that he will put in a good word for him to Tony as a favor for doing the hit. Eugene drives to Boston and finds Teddy eating dinner at a fast-food restaurant and shoots him repeatedly in the head. Eugene then walks out calmly.
It is revealed Eugene has been an informant and cooperating witness for the FBI, though it is unclear for how long. After Ray Curto dies of a massive stroke while giving potentially damaging information to Agent Robyn Sanseverino about Tony discussing a murder, the FBI informs Eugene they also refuse his notion to move to Florida, as they need him as a material witness in New Jersey to help build a case against Tony in the wake of Curto's death. Silvio informs Eugene that Tony denied his request to move to Florida. With Tony and the FBI both hindering his family's chance to escape the mafia life, coupled with his stress at home and seeing it as the only way to allow his family gain his inheritance and to move to Florida, Eugene hangs himself in his basement. Various characters give their opinion on his suicide but the nature of his death is never brought to Tony.
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Main article: Bobby Baccalieri |
Furio Giunta is played by Federico Castelluccio. Furio is an Italian gangster, referred to as a zip, working for Tony Soprano. Furio first appears in season 2 in "Commendatori" as Tony's contact when visiting Italy who speaks both Italian and English. In Italy, Tony negotiates with the Neapolitan Camorra crime boss Annalisa Zucca for Furio to be transferred to New Jersey to work for him as part of an international car theft operation deal.
In order to get Furio a visa, Tony initially gets him a job as a mozzarella maker in the Nuovo Vesuvio Restaurant, enticing Artie Bucco with the idea that Tony will pay Furio's salary and he does not have to be on the restaurant's payroll. Furio becomes one of Tony's most feared enforcers, intimidating and beating up multiple people who owe Tony money, as well as acting as Tony's driver and bodyguard. Furio's first assignment is to extract payment from a tanning salon owner whose wife has convinced him to withhold payment. He breaks the owner's arm with a baseball bat and shoots him in the kneecap—all of which make a positive impression on Tony. In season 3 in "Amour Fou", Furio is shot in the leg by Jackie Aprile Jr. while Jackie and his friends Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi rob Ralph Cifaretto's card game in an attempt to gain recognition amongst the crime family.
In season 4 in "Everybody Hurts", a sly Frenchman named Jean-Philippe talks Artie Bucco into temporarily lending him $50,000 for a business venture to distribute Armagnac in the US. Artie borrows the money from Tony Soprano, but when Artie goes to Jean-Philippe's apartment to collect the money, he claims he does not have it and does not know when or if he is going to get it. Artie and Jean-Philippe scuffle briefly, but Artie leaves bruised and bloodied. Furio is later tasked with reclaiming Tony's assumed debt from Jean-Philippe.
Furio eventually becomes infatuated with Tony's wife, Carmela, who shares the same feelings. The two never truly become romantically entwined, which creates significant sexual tension between them. Carmela repeatedly finds excuses to visit Furio including assisting him in buying and decorating a house and planning a house-warming party. At the house-warming they share a sexually charged dance. Furio later claims he forgot his sunglasses at the Soprano house, just as a ploy to talk with Carmela.
When Furio's father dies, he returns to Italy for the funeral. He seeks the advice of his uncle, another Mafia member, telling him that Italy no longer feels like home and that he is in love with his boss's wife, feeling that they could truly communicate. His uncle makes it clear he has to move on or kill his boss. In the season 4 penultimate episode "Eloise", Furio witnesses Tony's infidelity firsthand on a night out at a casino. A helicopter has been arranged to take them home and while Tony is urinating on the tarmac, Furio suddenly grabs him by his jacket and contemplates pushing Tony into the rear rotor blades of the helicopter. "What the fuck you doin'?!" exclaims Tony in a very inebriated voice. Furio then pulls him away and plays it off by telling Tony "You were standing too close...".
Furio, no longer able to bear the burden that the internal conflict is causing him (that of his feelings conflicting with his honor, as well as his respect for the "family" hierarchy), sells his house and moves back to Italy. Carmela is devastated, and eventually reveals her feelings for him in an argument with Tony, to which Tony replies "If certain people see him, he's a dead man". In season 5, it is said that Tony has men looking for him in Italy. However, it is never stated whether Furio has been found.
John Sacrimoni, better known as Johnny Sack, is played by Vincent Curatola. He was the longtime underboss of Carmine Lupertazzi, the boss of the Brooklyn-based Lupertazzi crime family. Until he received a severance package, he operated largely out of Essany Scaffolding. Until incarcerated, Sacrimoni resided on a comfortable estate in North Caldwell, New Jersey. As underboss, he handled political payoffs and bid-rigging for the Lupertazzi organization.
Sacrimoni became boss after Carmine's death, and was also a friend of Tony Soprano. His wife Ginny was obese, and he reacted violently to remarks about her weight. He once ordered a hit on Ralph Cifaretto for making one such off-color joke, although he later called it off. Although unknown to Johnny, Tony and Carmine approved a hit on him (later called off) in order to protect the highly valuable Esplanade project to which Ralphie's involvement was key.
Johnny cultivated a friendship with Paulie Gualtieri, making use of him as a source of information about the Soprano family business. The relationship began when Paulie felt sidelined by Tony over the Esplanade construction project and proved most fruitful when Paulie was imprisoned in 2002 — a time when he felt particularly neglected by his friends. Johnny lied to Paulie — telling him that Carmine held him in high regard and often asked about him. This encouraged Paulie to place more faith in his friendship with Johnny than in the loyalty of his friends in the Soprano crime family. Through Paulie, Johnny learned about Tony's Frelinghuysen Avenue property windfall and HUD scam — allowing the Lupertazzi crime family to demand a piece of the action because their mutual interests made both projects possible. It was also Paulie who told John about Ralphie's insult about Ginny's weight. After a chance meeting with Carmine, Paulie discovered that Carmine did not even know who he was. Angered by John's deceit, Paulie became one of his biggest detractors.
Following Carmine's 2004 death, Johnny's crew engaged in a bitter war with Carmine's son, Little Carmine. Johnny also threatened Tony Soprano's family after Soprano's cousin Tony Blundetto committed the unauthorized murder of Joseph "Joey Peeps" Peparelli, Johnny's protégé, on behalf of Little Carmine. After both New York factions suffered heavy casualties, the conflict was brought to an end when Little Carmine surrendered control of the family. This was followed by Johnny's tentative reconciliation with Tony Soprano, who had personally taken Tony Blundetto's life to bury the hatchet.
Johnny's time as boss was cut short when he was arrested by the FBI after the family's consigliere, Jimmy Petrille, turned state's evidence. While in jail awaiting trial, Johnny remained in control of the Lupertazzi family. In the sixth season, Johnny entrusted Phil Leotardo with the role of acting boss, while Johnny's brother-in-law Anthony Infante acted as a back channel for communications. Ginny remained supportive, often visiting him in prison. Johnny became more selfish while imprisoned, disregarding the problems of subordinates while saying that his "situation" should take precedence.
He ordered Phil to maintain a good relationship with Tony and avoid starting a war over any business disputes, particularly the new office park construction project – another shared venture like the Esplanade project. Johnny was granted a six hour release from prison to attend his daughter Allegra's wedding, and agreed to cover the cost of U.S. Marshals and metal detectors. When the time came for Johnny to leave, he was reluctant to go, desiring to wait until his daughter and her new husband departed. However, the marshals blocked her limousine and dragged Johnny away in handcuffs, causing him to break down in tears. When Lupertazzi capo Rusty Millio continued to make trouble for Johnny, Johnny reached out to Tony for help, and Tony arranged a hit.
Johnny's efforts to maintain control of his family ultimately proved futile. His lawyer, Ron Perse, floated the possibility of cooperating with the FBI, but John was quick to dismiss this. However, as the trial neared, Ron arranged a deal with the government on Johnny's behalf. Facing a massive asset seizure that would have left both him and his beloved wife destitute, Johnny pleaded guilty to 47 RICO predicates in exchange for a reduced sentence of 15 years and a fine of $4.2 million, effectively ending his role as boss but leaving Ginny enough money to live comfortably.
As part of the deal, he was also required to give an allocution admitting his involvement in organized crime (although he did not reveal the names of any associates, just admitting the mere existence of La Cosa Nostra is a breach of omertà). Members of both the Soprano and Lupertazzi families were angered by his admission, believing that John should have stood trial and stayed silent instead of confirming his membership and rank in the Lupertazzi crime family. Once sentenced and incarcerated, Johnny was considered persona non grata among his former associates. Phil Leotardo, the former acting-boss during Johnny's incarceration and now de facto boss of the Lupertazzi family, was particularly disgusted in his predecessor's decision. Phil himself had previously stood trial and been sentenced to 20 years. Other mobsters including Richie Aprile, Tony Blundetto and "Feech" La Manna had all previously stood trial with lengthy sentences over their heads and never faltered.
During his incarceration, Johnny developed lung cancer. He died at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri not long after receiving a grim prognosis from an oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Phil subsequently threw a celebration to acknowledge his new position as boss of the Lupertazzi family.
Vito Spatafore is played by Joseph R. Gannascoli. Vito was a soldier in the DiMeo crime family and a subordinate of Tony Soprano. He was married to Marie Spatafore, who was a second cousin to high-ranking member of the Lupertazzi family, Phil Leotardo, with two children, Vito Jr., and Francesca. In the fifth season, it was revealed that Vito was a closeted homosexual. Gannascoli brought the idea to the writers of making his character gay based on the true story of Gambino crime family member Vito Arena, in the 1993 book Murder Machine. Gannascoli has said he saw the character as "a cross between Mike Tyson and Liberace."[6][7]
Although Vito Spatafore was not introduced on The Sopranos until the season 2 episode "The Happy Wanderer" as a nephew to fellow mobster Richie Aprile and cousin to Adriana La Cerva and Jackie Aprile Jr., Gannascoli appeared in the season 1 episode, "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" as pastry shop patron named "Gino".
Vito is a member of the Aprile crew upon Richie's release from prison and quickly rises through the ranks to capo after the deaths of capos Richie Aprile, Gigi Cestone and Ralph Cifaretto. In the season 3 episode "Another Toothpick", Vito's brother, Bryan Spatafore, is violently beaten with a golf club by Salvatore "Mustang Sally" Intile, and put into a coma. Vito is vindictive and demands someone render Sal's comeuppance. Tony Soprano enlists in the help of Bobby Baccalieri's father, Bobby Baccalieri Sr., to perform the hit on Mustang Sally.
In 2001, in the season 3 finale episode "Army of One", after Jackie Aprile Jr. had gone into hiding because he and his friends robbed Ralph Cifaretto's card game to gain notoriety, Tony and Ralph agree that Aprile Jr. be killed. Vito performs his first on-screen murder by shooting Jackie Jr. in the back of the head. In 2002, in the season 4 episode "Whoever Did This", Tony kills Cifaretto after he figures that Ralph was responsible for the death of their prized racehorse Pie-O-My for insurance money. Vito is subsequently promoted to capo of the Aprile Crew, as he was second-in-command. In 2004, in the season 5 episode "Unidentified Black Males", Vito was caught in the car of a security guard giving him oral sex early one morning at the Esplanade construction site by Meadow's boyfriend, Finn DeTrolio. Vito intimidates Finn into silence.
By the season 6 premiere "Members Only" in 2006, Vito has lost over 160 pounds to appear in a weight-loss commercial. In the episode "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request", during the wedding of Johnny Sack's daughter, Allegra, Vito claimed he was not feeling well, and he and his family left the wedding. Back at home, Vito informed his wife he had to "make some collections." Later, that night, while making a collection at a gay bar, two Lupertazzi family associates saw Vito in leather chaps dancing and kissing a man.
Vito attempted to play it off as a joke, but the two men were not convinced. Petrified of the consequences if his homosexuality were made public, Vito went into hiding. He stayed at a bed-and-breakfast in the fictional town of Dartford, New Hampshire, and tried to pursue a new life away from the Mafia. Under the alias "Vincent," he claimed to be writing a book. He contacted his family only once during a brief phone call. Discussing Vito with Carlo Gervasi, Tony says that Vito is a top earner for the family, and debates letting him come back to the family.
In New Hampshire, Vito develops a relationship with Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski who works as a volunteer fireman and as a short-order cook at a diner. Vito introduces himself initially as a sportswriter named Vincent from Scottsdale, Arizona and that he's been divorced for a few years. He also attempted to live a heterosexual lifestyle and fathered one daughter with his wife. Vito and Jim soon form an attraction, though the two got into a fistfight outside a bar when Jim tried to kiss Vito and, still in denial about his homosexuality, Vito violently rebuffed him, calling him a fag.
The two soon reconcile after Vito decides to "stop living a lie" and became Jim's live-in lover. The pair enjoyed romantic dinners, motorcycle rides, and picnicking lakeside. Jim gets Vito a job as a contractor working for some of his friends, a job which turns out to be very slow-paced. Ultimately, Vito missed his family and fast-paced lifestyle back in New Jersey too much to stay with Jim. Vito left Jim's house early one morning to return to New Jersey while Jim was still asleep.
While driving back to New Jersey, a drunk Vito crashed his car into a parked vehicle. When he failed to convince the owner to keep the accident from the police, Vito shot and killed the man. Vito returned home and remained conflicted about whether or not to re-initiate contact with his old mafia family. Vito also later calls Jim, but Jim was still angry over the way Vito had left and wanted nothing more to do with him. Vito eventually approached Tony at a mall, while Vito's brother, Bryan, kept watch. Vito claimed that his homosexual behavior had been caused by medication.
Wanting to "buy himself back" into the business, he offered Tony $200,000 and said he would run the family's Atlantic City prostitution and drug businesses. Tony was tempted by the offer but realized this would bring him into open war with the Lupertazzis. Lupertazzi crime family boss Phil Leotardo, who disliked homosexuals, and who is a second cousin of Vito's wife Marie, demanded Vito's death, so Tony quietly arranged for Carlo Gervasi to make a hit on Vito. Meanwhile, Vito is reunited with his family, explaining his absence to his children by claiming that he was an undercover CIA agent hiding out in Afghanistan and warning them not to tell anybody.
That night, Vito returned to his motel room and was ambushed by Phil Leotardo and two of his soldiers, Gerry Torciano and "Fat Dom" Gamiello. Torciano and Gamiello duct-taped Vito's mouth shut and beat him to death with pool cues while Phil Leotardo watched. It was later revealed that Vito was found with a pool cue inserted into his anus, a message that he was killed because of his homosexuality. Phil's unsanctioned murder of Vito proved to be a serious point of contention in his working relationship with Tony. The relationship was further strained when Phil correctly suspected the New Jersey mob of the disappearance of Gamiello, who had been killed by Silvio and Carlo Gervasi after making repeated wisecracks, in the wake of Vito's death, about the sexual orientation of New Jersey mobsters and Carlo in particular.
Phil Leotardo later told Vito's wife, Marie, that her husband was probably killed by two homosexual transients Vito had picked up at a bar. He told Marie that he loved Vito "like a brother-in-law," and suggested that Vito's death was probably for the best because a homosexual man would have made a poor role model for the children. However, a newspaper reported Vito was killed by mobsters after requesting to live an openly gay lifestyle. Vito's children read the story, destroying the illusion of their father being a CIA agent.
A year later Vito's son, Vito Jr. began to go through a rebellious phase in reaction to his father's murder and cruelty from his peers in light of his father's sexual orientation, entering the Goth subculture and performing various acts of vandalism. His mother, Marie, asked Tony Soprano for money so she could relocate her family to Maine, where no one would know them or what happened to Vito. Tony asked Phil Leotardo to intervene, because of his involvement in Vito's death.
Both paid separate visits to Vito Jr. and told him to start acting more like an adult. Vito Jr. continued to act out, eventually to the point of getting expelled from school, so Tony decided to pay for the Spatafores to move. However, after gambling away most of the money he planned to give them, Tony instead paid for Vito Jr. to attend a boot camp for delinquents in Boise County, Idaho.
Anthony "Tony B" Blundetto is played by Steve Buscemi. He is Tony Soprano's maternal cousin who is released from prison at the beginning of the show's fifth season. Upon release, Tony Blundetto begins to pursue a straight, non-criminal life. His second wife Gwen works in the field of actuarial science. However, he is eventually overpowered by the challenges of civilian life and turns back to crime, dragging the DiMeo crime family into the Lupertazzi crime family's power struggle.
Blundetto is introduced in the second episode of season 5, "Rat Pack". Born in 1958, he is a cousin of Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti. To distinguish between them, they were called "Tony Uncle Johnny" (Soprano) and "Tony Uncle Al" (Blundetto) when they were kids, after their fathers' first names. Blundetto, Soprano, and Moltisanti all grew up and played on a farm owned by their uncle, Pat Blundetto. Tony Soprano tells Blundetto that it was he who built the Soprano home in North Caldwell, New Jersey.
Growing up, both Tonys were very close and Blundetto told Moltisanti that he loved Soprano like a brother. The two Tonys would often bully Moltisanti. Blundetto is the father of Kelli Blundetto, who is Meadow's contemporary and is said to have run away from home, and identical twin boys Justin and Jason Blundetto, whom he fathered by having Tony Soprano smuggle his semen out of prison nine years before, while still incarcerated. In the episode "Unidentified Black Males", it is also revealed that he has a genius-level I.Q. of 158. He sports a large number of crude prison tattoos, on his forearms, biceps, chest, back, and legs including the name of his daughter Kelli and a tattoo representing the Roman god Mercury. Blundetto had a ruthless reputation in his younger years as an enforcer.
In 1986, at age 28, Blundetto was arrested, tried, and incarcerated for almost 17 years for the armed hijacking of a truck that was attached to a larger RICO racketeering trial. Soprano was supposed to go along with his cousin the night of the hijacking but was not able to make it due to a severe panic attack caused by an argument with his mother, during which he passed out and injured his head. Soprano tells Blundetto he was mugged by a group of black men the night of the hijacking and was knocked unconscious. Soprano strongly believes Blundetto holds some ill-will towards him because Blundetto's life and family fell apart during his incarceration while Soprano grows wealthy and has a family. Blundetto denies this ill will, but Tony (Soprano) still harbors enormous guilt.
In 2004, Blundetto is released from Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood. After Blundetto's parole, he decides not to return to a life of crime and has the incentive to stay straight and clean. Instead, he initially decides to go into massage therapy. Tony S is seemingly disappointed that Blundetto has decided to pursue a legitimate career after he declines Soprano's offer to get started working with the DiMeo crime family in a stolen airbag scheme, but Soprano respects his cousin's decision. Soprano gets his cousin a job working for a laundry company in Rutherford, New Jersey owned by a Korean man named Kim. He later goes into business with him in preparing to open a massage parlor and day spa in West Caldwell, New Jersey specializing in Shiatsu and Effleurage. Two days before they open, in an arbitrary fit of rage, he beats Kim. Blundetto then meets Soprano to restart work for the crime family under Carlo Gervasi's crew.
Little Carmine's crew simultaneously begins courting Blundetto through his old prison buddy, Angelo Garepe. Female loan shark Lorraine Calluzzo and her boyfriend/enforcer are killed by Phil Leotardo, his brother Billy and crew member Joey Peeps for siding with Little Carmine during the Lupertazzi power struggle between Carmine and Johnny Sack. In retaliation, Little Carmine loyalists Rusty Millio and Angelo Garepe offer a contract to Blundetto to murder Joey Peeps ("Marco Polo"). Although he is reluctant at first, he later accepts the contract after he decided that he is not moving up fast enough in the Soprano crime family. Blundetto shoots Joey and a prostitute he was seeing inside his car. Soprano later discovers that Blundetto committed the murder and confronts Blundetto, who claims innocence. Although Soprano knows the truth, he tells Johnny Sack that he does not know who the killer was.
In "The Test Dream", Phil and Billy Leotardo kill Angelo in retribution for Peeps' death. This drives Blundetto into a rage, and he tracks down the Leotardo brothers, wounding Phil and killing Billy. By the end of season 5, Tony Soprano is under heavy pressure to deliver his cousin to Johnny Sack (who has taken over his crime family after Little Carmine's abdication), explicitly so he can be tortured and killed by Phil Leotardo. After one of Soprano's associates Benny Fazio is badly beaten by Phil, Tony Soprano realizes that he is putting everyone in his crime family in jeopardy by protecting his cousin.
Tony Soprano is able to track down Blundetto at their uncle Pat Blundetto's farm and kills him with a shotgun in order to prevent his torture at the hands of Phil. He then gives Blundetto's location to Johnny Sack. Later, Phil arrives to find Blundetto already dead and is furious to be deprived of his vengeance. Tony Soprano then tells Christopher to bury Blundetto secretly, and in one piece, off the premises. Tony and Johnny reach an accord over Blundetto's demise, although Phil remains unsatisfied.
Rosalie "Ro" Aprile is played by Sharon Angela.[8] Rosalie is the widow of Jackie Aprile Sr., who died of cancer, and the mother of Jackie Aprile Jr. and Kelli Aprile. She is good friends with mob wives Carmela Soprano and Gabriella Dante, to whom she offers characteristically frank advice. One year after Jackie Sr.'s death, she started a relationship with mobster Ralph Cifaretto. Ralph encouraged Jackie Jr. as he became more and more involved in the family business, providing him with a gun, accepting payments from him, involving him in making collections, and offering advice. Jackie Jr. tried to make a name for himself by robbing a card game, but the heist went awry.
Tony and Ralph decided that Jackie Jr. had to be killed, unbeknownst to Rosalie. The hit was carried out by Vito Spatafore, but Rosalie and the rest of the family were told that Jackie was killed by black drug dealers. Following her son's death, Rosalie sank into a prolonged period of mourning. Ralph began an affair with Janice Soprano, and Ralph soon broke up with Rosalie, claiming he was tired of her constant grief. Rosalie, angered by his selfishness, ordered him out of her home. Rosalie accompanied Carmela on a trip to Paris in the season 6 episode "Cold Stones". While there, she pursued a brief relationship with a much younger Frenchman named Michel.
Pasquale "Patsy" Parisi is played by Dan Grimaldi.[9] Patsy is a soldier in Tony Soprano's crew, and is often seen calculating the group's finances in the Bada Bing or Satriale's offices. He and Burt Gervasi run the North Ward Emergency Merchants Protective Cooperative: an extortion racket hitting storeowners in parts of Newark.
Patsy had an identical twin brother, Phillip "Philly Spoons" Parisi (also played by Dan Grimaldi), who had a hit taken out on him by Tony, and was killed by Soprano soldier Gigi Cestone. Patsy was born March 4, 1950, 11 minutes before his brother Phillip in Bloomfield, New Jersey. At the time, Philly was acting capo of Junior Soprano's crew and Patsy was a member. Patsy never had concrete evidence about his brother's murder, but it occurred soon after a brief and bloody war between Junior and Tony, and Philly was known to be talking about Tony's actions.
It was this killing that prompted Tony to move Patsy to keep an eye on him. Patsy took the killing very hard, which brought on a problem with alcoholism. In 2000, a drunken Patsy was observed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents outside the Soprano family home leveling a gun at Tony through his window. He reconsidered though, and only urinated in the Sopranos' pool. Patsy also openly vented his feelings of loss to the Soprano crew in front of the men responsible for his brother's death, Gigi and Tony, at a dinner in the back of Satriale's. He eventually put his grief behind him. Patsy still has questionable loyalties.
When Patsy's then capo Paulie Gualtieri was imprisoned in 2002, Tony promoted Christopher Moltisanti to acting captain over Patsy. Patsy did not take this well, eventually getting into a fight with Christopher. When Paulie was released and promoted to underboss, Christopher was made capo permanently. In the penultimate episode "The Blue Comet", Patsy is nearly killed by two men sent to murder Silvio Dante. Patsy manages to hold them off, but Silvio is badly wounded and put into a coma, while Patsy runs into the woods fleeing for his life. Patsy later celebrates his son's engagement to Meadow Soprano with Tony and his family.
Gabriella Dante is played by Maureen Van Zandt.[10] Gabriella is married to longtime DiMeo crime family soldier and consigliere Silvio Dante (portrayed by real-life husband Steven Van Zandt). They have a daughter, Heather Dante, who played volleyball and soccer with Meadow Soprano. She is close friends with Rosalie Aprile and Carmela Soprano and can often be seen dining out with them, typically at "Nuovo Vesuvio". In 2006, when Tony was shot, Silvio became acting boss of the family. Gabriella was supportive of her husband in this role and ambitious enough to encourage him to consider the possibility of it long-term.
Angie Bonpensiero (née Belfiore) is played by Toni Kalem. Angie is married to Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero whom she married in 1976. They have three children, Kevin, Matt, and Terri. Angie was unaware of her husband's status as an FBI informant. His disappearance when he was afraid Tony Soprano became suspicious, and subsequent erratic behavior, created problems for their relationship. When she and her husband were having marital problems, Angie considered both suicide and divorce.
When her husband returned, she was being tested for breast cancer. At Carmela's urging to stay true to her Catholic faith, Angie decided to move into a separate bedroom rather than end their marriage. In 2000, after Tony Soprano confirmed his suspicions by finding tapes in Big Pussy's cigar box, he is killed. Tony continued to compensate Angie in her husband's absence–but she used the money to buy a new car, but still complained to Carmela about her strained finances, prompting Tony to cease her allowance.
Later, Carmela runs into Angie working at a grocery store after having lost contact. Tony later made Angie the manager of Big Pussy's body shop. After a long period of time without talking, she and Carmela decide to end their quarrel and go out to dinner. Shortly after the reconciliation Carmela learns that Angie is putting money out on the street via Patsy Parisi and Benny Fazio for shylocking and they are using their connections to help her with the body shop.
Butch DeConcini is played by Gregory Antonacci. He is from Flatbush, Brooklyn. Butch is a high-ranking member of the Lupertazzi crime family, first appearing in the show as a capo and later being promoted to underboss under Phil Leotardo. He attended Little Carmine Lupertazzi's "meeting of minds" to try to resolve a dispute with the Soprano crime family in 2006 after Tony responded to the murder of Vito Spatafore by blowing up a wire room in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn that was owned by Phil.
After the effort failed, DeConcini was vocal in his desire to move against Tony. When Phil refused to consider killing a boss, it was Butch who suggested they move on someone else in Tony's family. When Phil ordered a hit on Faustino "Doc" Santoro to take over the Lupertazzi family, it was Butch who oversaw the assassination behind the wheel of one of the getaway cars. Upon Phil's permanent elevation to boss, Butch was made underboss of the family.
Alongside Albie Cianflone, Butch is one of Phil's primary confidants and advisors. Butch fails to eliminate the Soprano family leadership, and he notices Phil's threatening tone regarding his future due to the failure to find and murder Tony. During a sit-down with Tony and Paulie Gualtieri, he, along with Albie Cianflone and Little Carmine, agree to end the war against the Soprano family. While Butch will not reveal where Phil is hiding, he gives consent on behalf of the Lupertazzi family for Tony to hunt down and murder Phil, which he does.
Benito "Benny" Fazio Jr. is played by Max Casella.[11] Benny is a soldier who began working for the DiMeo crime family with Christopher Moltisanti under capo Paulie Gualtieri, and continued to work for Chris after Chris's elevation to caporegime. Benny debuted in the third episode of season 3, with his release from jail and renewed association with Christopher. He has a no-show job as a United Association plumber. He began working for Christopher just after Christopher became a made man in 2001.
Later, Jackie Aprile Jr. informed Fazio and Moltisanti of an opportunity to rob a Jewel concert at Rutgers University. Benny and Chris committed the robbery and made a clean escape with Jackie driving. In 2002, Benny was awarded one of the "no-work" United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America jobs at the Esplanade construction site. He was assigned the task of killing two would-be assassins contracted by Tony to whack New York City boss Carmine Lupertazzi after the hit was called off. Benny and Petey LaRosa ambushed and killed the hitmen—two black heroin dealers, Credenzo Curtis and Stanley Johnson—who were set up by Christopher Moltisanti.
In late 2004, Benny was seriously beaten by Lupertazzi capo Phil Leotardo. The crisis brought on by Tony Blundetto was reaching a breaking point and Phil severely beat Benny to send a message to Tony. Tony, feeling guilty about Benny's fractured skull, offered to give Benny his button when he recovered, meaning he would become a made man.
Benny is married to Jen Fazio, who is pregnant. However, Benny began an affair with Martina, a new hostess at Nuovo Vesuvio, much to the irritation of the owner and head chef Artie Bucco who had his eye on her. Benny was involved in Chris's credit card fraud scheme with Ahmed and Muhammad, using his relationship with Martina to get account numbers from Nuovo Vesuvio customers and sell them on through Soprano crew associate James "Murmur" Zancone. Benny gives Tony a tribute payment.
American Express investigated Nuovo Vesuvio restaurant's role in the credit card fraud and pulled the restaurant's authority to accept American Express cards. Artie is able to figure out that Martina is the criminal in his staff through her relationship with Benny. Artie then angrily drives to Benny's home to confront him; the ensuing fight sent Benny to the hospital. Benny is set on killing Artie, but Tony intervenes, insisting Benny's parents have their anniversary dinner at Nuovo Vesuvio, and that the two make amends. Artie makes a table-side visit during their meal.
In front of Benny's pregnant wife, Artie makes an innuendo to Benny's extramarital affair with Martina by asking Benny if he wants a "Martina," explaining that it is an Albanian martini (Martina is Albanian) and adding "Well, apparently they go down real easy. Right, Ben?" Enraged, Benny follows Artie to the kitchen and holds his arm in a pot of boiling tomato sauce, burning him badly, and also rams his head into the counter. Benny later attended Chris's belated bachelor party, also at Nuovo Vesuvio and hosted by Artie, but the two refrained from initiating further violence.
Benny helped guard Tony while he was in hiding from Phil Leotardo. Benny and several of Tony's other crew members were checking gas stations to find Phil Leotardo after being tipped off by Agent Harris that Phil was using a payphone at a gas station in the area. In the series finale, Benny is last seen acting as the getaway driver when Walden Belfiore shot Phil Leotardo to death at a gas station in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
Paul "Little Paulie" Germani is played by Carl Capotorto. Germani is thought to be the nephew (later revealed to actually be a first cousin once removed) and right-hand of Soprano family captain Paulie Gualtieri.[12] Germani is an associate and later soldier in the Moltisanti crew. Germani regularly hangs out with Christopher and accompanies him on debt collections visits. In season 4, Germani was tasked with vandalizing Carmine Lupertazzi's restaurant when Tony and Carmine got into a dispute over the HUD scam.
He was responsible for intimidating Alan Sapinsly after Tony's separation caused him to withdraw from a contract to buy property from Sapinsly. Paulie and Benny used Tony's home entertainment system speakers on his boat to blast Dean Martin recordings at the Sapinsly home at all hours. In season 5, Little Paulie holds a "no work" job at the Esplanade construction site and accompanied Chris when collecting a loan from writer J.T. Dolan.
Early in Season 4, Germani precipitates the crisis between Tony and Johnny Sack, when he hears Ralph Cifaretto make a joke about the obesity of Johnny Sack's wife, and repeats this joke to Paulie Gualtieri, who relays the news of this to Johnny. In the season 6 episode "Walk like a Man", Little Paulie is badly hurt after being pushed out of a second-story window by Christopher during a feud with Paulie. He suffers six broken vertebrae. He helps in the war with the Lupertazzi crime family, disguising himself as a police officer while searching for Phil Leotardo.
Carmine "Little Carmine" Lupertazzi Jr. is played by Ray Abruzzo. Little Carmine is a capo and the son of Carmine Lupertazzi, the leader of one of New York's Five Families. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a member of the Lupertazzi family at an early age. Little Carmine also has interests in several legitimate businesses including nightclubs in South Beach, Miami and a scaffolding contractor company in New York and New Jersey with control of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in addition to receiving proceeds from illicit activities.
He moved with his wife and daughter to Florida in 2000, along with his criminal operations, and splits time between Miami Beach, Florida and New York. While Little Carmine is initially portrayed as a pretentious, spoiled mobster whose constant malapropisms convey poor intellect, he later assumes an elder-statesmen role, frequently mediating disputes that arise in the Lupertazzi crime family. Little Carmine is introduced in season four when Tony Soprano visits him in Miami to seek his counsel in settling a dispute between Carmine Sr. and Johnny Sack.
In the beginning of season five, Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. has a massive stroke and dies a few days later. Little Carmine immediately comes up to New York from Florida to see his father before he passes, and quickly becomes embroiled in a power struggle with Johnny Sack. Since Little Carmine is the son of the former boss, he has de facto claim to the throne, much to Johnny's anger as he has been Carmine Sr.'s long-time second in command. Even Tony has no faith in Little Carmine's capacity to run New York, jokingly referring to him as "Brainless the Second".[13] Despite his shortcomings, Little Carmine finds backers in Carmine Sr.'s recently paroled former consigliere, Angelo Garepe, and long-time Lupertazzi Capo Rusty Millio. Angelo and Rusty, along with Rusty's right-hand man Eddie Pietro, pull most of the strings during the war between Johnny Sack and Little Carmine.
However, after a cycle of bloodshed that escalates into war, Little Carmine ultimately finds it difficult to stomach the continuing violence and abdicates. His decision is heavily influenced when the Leotardo brothers assassinate Angelo as retaliation for the death of Joey Peeps. With Little Carmine's capitulation, Johnny Sack becomes the boss of the Lupertazzi crime family. After this, Little Carmine keeps a low profile and is no longer seen as a threat. Johnny is arrested soon after by the FBI, who are acting on information given to them by Johnny's trusted ally and long-time Lupertazzi Captain Jimmy Petrille.
With Johnny in federal custody during his federal racketeering trial, Phil Leotardo becomes the acting boss in New York. By season six, Little Carmine is brought in as an investor on Christopher Moltisanti's movie project, Cleaver. Little Carmine is instrumental in organizing a meeting with Sir Ben Kingsley in Los Angeles to court his interest in the project, but Kingsley eventually passes on the lead role. Little Carmine had helped Kingsley's booking agent out of some trouble he had down in the Florida Keys.
Little Carmine continues to get involved in crime family affairs. He tries to help resolve a longstanding feud between the Lupertazzi crime family and the Soprano crime family. After Phil becomes boss, tensions escalate between the two crime families and Little Carmine makes a last effort to resolve it. Phil is less generous in business dealings with the New Jersey family and still harbors anger over Tony's cousin killing Phil's brother Billy.
When the conflict eventually escalates into a war between the two families, Little Carmine and Tony both turn to a neutral party, George Paglieri, to broker a negotiation between Tony and Butch DeConcini, the street boss for Leotardo while he is in hiding. At a sitdown with Little Carmine, Butch, Albie Cianflone, Tony, and Paulie Gualtieri, everyone agrees that the war has gone too far and that Phil's decisions have led to negative consequences on both sides. Butch agrees to back off while the Soprano family hunts down Phil.
Carlo Gervasi is played by Arthur J. Nascarella. Carlo was a capo in the DiMeo crime family. He was promoted to caporegime of James "Little Jimmy" Altieri's crew after Jimmy was murdered on suspicion of being an FBI informant, and was put in charge of obtaining grey-market goods from container ships docking at the Newark ports. He is introduced in season 4. In season 6, Carlo begins to emerge from the background and become a more prominent character. Carlo took over Vito Spatafore's construction business in addition to the ports, after the revelation of Vito's homosexuality and his subsequent downfall.
When Tony decided that Spatafore had to be killed to appease acting New York City boss Phil Leotardo, and Silvio Dante asked if the hit should be assigned to anyone in particular, Soprano suggested Carlo for the job. However, Spatafore was beaten to death by Phil Leotardo's men Gerry Torciano and Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamiello before Carlo could act. Carlo later avenged his family's honor by stabbing Fat Dom four times with a large chef's knife for making jokes about Spatafore's murder and implying that Carlo was also homosexual. The killing occurred in the back room of Satriale's pork store, with Silvio taking part. Tony Soprano later discovered them waiting to dispose of the body and was angry because of the murder's possible repercussions.
Carlo took charge of disposing of Gamiello's body and drove to Connecticut to deposit his head in a storm drain, phoning Silvio to confirm that the last part was safely away and to ask about Tony's plans to blow up Phil's wire room. Carlo's son Jason attends Rutgers University, where he is involved in gambling and loansharking. Carlo's cousin, Burt, switched sides during the Lupertazzi/Soprano war and was killed for his disloyalty by Silvio Dante.
In the series finale, Carlo's son was said to be arrested by the FBI for drug dealing. Gervasi failed to show up for a meeting with Paulie Gualtieri, which worried Tony that he may have been cutting a deal with the police. Tony's attorney confirmed that someone was in fact going to testify before a grand jury and that indictments were forthcoming. In the final scene, Tony told Carmela that Carlo was testifying, confirming that he had turned informant, likely in a deal to keep his son out of jail.
Phil Leotardo is played by actor Frank Vincent. Phil is a high-ranking member of the Lupertazzi crime family and the primary antagonist of the final two seasons of the show. Originally a captain, following the death of the original boss, Carmine Lupertazzi, the imprisonment and death of his successor Johnny Sacrimoni, and a brief power struggle with would-be boss Faustino "Doc" Santoro, Phil becomes the boss of the family. His inability to forgive the death of his brother at the hands of Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto—even after Blundetto's own murder—forms one of the central conflicts of the series, with Leotardo aiming to kill Tony and cripple his entire organization in revenge. Leotardo had an alleged 27 hits to his credit.[14]
He quickly rejoined the Lupertazzi crime family, of Brooklyn, New York, once he was released from prison. Phil was married to Patty Leotardo and was a second cousin of Marie Spatafore. Phil bears a resemblance to the last Shah of Iran, leading to Tony Soprano and the DiMeo crime family often referring to him as "The Shah". Leotardo claims that when his grandfather immigrated from Sicily, officials changed their last name at Ellis Island from Leonardo to Leotardo.
Following Carmine Sr.'s death, a power struggle between two factions ensued. One side was led by Carmine's underboss, Johnny Sack, while the other was ostensibly led by Carmine's only son and Miami capo Little Carmine Lupertazzi. Phil became Johnny's right-hand man during the war and carried out murders in order to weaken Little Carmine's resolve. Phil performed a mock execution of Lorraine Calluzzo, while she was tightly taped and gagged, shooting at her while holding a phone book in the path of the bullet, to persuade her to redirect her payments from Little Carmine to Johnny Sack.
When she failed to comply Phil returned with his younger brother, Billy Leotardo, and Joey Peeps, who killed Lorraine. When Peeps was later killed by Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto, Phil and Billy murdered Angelo Garepe in response. Phil became personally involved in the war when his brother Billy was murdered by Blundetto as revenge for the hit the Leotardo brothers carried out on Angelo, who was Blundetto's close friend. Little Carmine ultimately found it difficult to stomach the continuing violence and abdicates.
After Little Carmine's capitulation, Johnny Sack becomes the boss of the Lupertazzi crime family and Phil becomes his underboss. After this, Little Carmine keeps a low profile and is no longer seen as a threat. Johnny Sack was arrested soon after by the FBI who were acting on information given to them by Johnny's trusted ally and consigliere Jimmy Petrille. With Johnny in federal custody during his federal racketeering trial, Phil Leotardo became the acting boss in New York.
Soprano initially protected Blundetto against Phil. Phil stalked New Jersey looking for Blundetto, hounding Christopher Moltisanti's mother Joanne and badly beating Soprano associate Benny Fazio. When it became clear that Tony's men would not allow themselves to be imperiled for no good reason, Tony was forced to act. Tony ultimately murdered his own cousin to save his family and give Blundetto a quick and painless death after Johnny Sack had made it clear that Phil would torture Blundetto if he found him. Phil was angered that his opportunity for vengeance was stolen. At a meeting between the two bosses, Johnny and Tony made peace, but the moment was interrupted by Johnny's arrest by the FBI, while Tony escaped. With Johnny in federal custody, Phil became acting boss of the Lupertazzi family.
Phil worked closely with Tony and Vito Spatafore, the husband of his cousin, on the two families’ joint construction efforts. When Vito's homosexuality was publicly revealed in season six, Phil visited Marie to try to find out if she knew where Vito was (he had gone into hiding in New Hampshire). When she pleaded for mercy for her husband, he told her they just wanted to get Vito help. Phil also harassed Tony about his efforts to find Vito.
Vito later returned to New Jersey after he could not adjust to life outside of the mob, and met Tony to offer to buy his way back into the family. Tony refused but did not attempt to harm Vito. Tony had arranged for Carlo Gervasi to execute Vito at the mall early in the morning on the pretense that Vito was supposedly meeting up with Tony, to straighten out the situation, however when Vito returned to his motel, Phil's soldiers Gerry Torciano and Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamielleo ambushed him as he walked through the door.
Phil emerged from the closet, slowly walked up to Vito who was being held by Gerry and Fat Dom, and sits down on the bed. He looks Vito in the eye and says, "You're a fucking disgrace." And with that, Fat Dom and Gerry Torciano proceed to beat Vito to death. Subsequently, with having made his cousin Marie a widow, Phil balks when Tony tries to reach out to him for restitution for Marie and refuses. Phil tells Marie that her husband was probably killed by two homosexual transients Vito had picked up at a bar.
Fat Dom was murdered by an enraged Carlo Gervasi during a visit to Satriale's after making repeated wisecracks, in the wake of Vito's death, about the sexual orientation of New Jersey mobsters. Leotardo, while on a date with his Ukrainian housemaid (Yaryna Kastropovich), approached one of his Brooklyn businesses, only to be blown off of his feet by a bomb planted in the building. After an unsuccessful attempt by Little Carmine Lupertazzi to broker peace between the families, Leotardo and his crew plotted revenge.
Although Phil balked at the idea of killing Tony himself, captain Butch DeConcini seemingly persuaded him to target someone important to the DiMeo family. However, their planning was cut short when Phil suffered a late-night heart attack and was hospitalized during Christmas 2006. Once he recovered, Phil decided to step down as boss to make way for his protégé Gerry Torciano in charge. Yet Phil did not strongly back Torciano as successor, and Lupertazzi underboss Doc Santoro soon made his own bid for power by having Torciano murdered.
After deciding to get back in the game, Phil waited, working under Doc Santoro until the old man's arrogance got too much to handle. As Phil sat down to dinner with Doc to acknowledge him as boss, Doc humiliated Phil by literally taking food from his plate. Knowing that he had broad support, including Tony's, Phil ordered a hit on Santoro. Driven by Butch DeConcini, Phil's crew murdered Santoro and an associate outside a massage parlor, leaving him dead on the sidewalk. After the assassination, Phil was permanently elevated to boss of the Lupertazzi family, with Cianflone cemented as consigliere and DeConcini as underboss.
After Tony viciously beats one of Phil's men, Coco, for making lewd comments to his daughter Meadow, Phil refuses to meet with Tony and then launches a war against the DiMeo family. In the episode "The Blue Comet," the Soprano Family used Corky Caporale again through Patsy Parisi to target Phil Leotardo. Fluent in Italian, Corky assigned Neapolitan hitmen, Italo and Salvatore, but the hit was botched when they mistake Alec Kastropovich, the father of Leotardo's Ukrainian mistress for Leotardo. Leotardo's order is that New York is to "decapitate" New Jersey and do business with what's left. He instructs that hits be made on Tony, Bobby Baccalieri, and Silvio Dante. Bobby is killed and Silvio is wounded badly and left in a coma. Tony goes into hiding with the remainder of the family.
In the Sopranos series finale, "Made in America", Butch DeConcini and Albie Cianflone arrange a sit down with Tony and Paulie, where they express their dissatisfaction with Phil's leadership and agree to a ceasefire of the war. Butchie says he will not reveal the location of Phil but then says, "You do what you got to do"—this following a recent phone conversation with Butchie and Phil, where Phil implies a threat to Butchie over his inability to find Tony Soprano. Shortly thereafter, the location of Leotardo is made known to Tony by information from Agent Harris in exchange for terrorism information on Ahmed and Muhammad.
Hiding in Oyster Bay, Long Island, Leotardo is shown talking to his wife through a car window at a gas station when he is suddenly shot in the head by Walden Belfiore, a soldier in the Gervasi crew of the DiMeo family. Leaving their grandchildren in her Ford Explorer, Leotardo's wife rushes to Phil's side in a panic. Unattended and still in drive with the engine running, the car idles forward, and a tire rolls over and crushes Phil's head. Leotardo's murder was the 92nd and final death in the series.
The following is a list of characters that are, or at one time were, recurring guests on the series; they are listed in the order that they first appeared on the show. Many characters have had storylines that have spanned multiple seasons, while the others are restricted to arcs that occurred during a single season of the show.
Herman "Hesh" Rabkin is played by Jerry Adler. In June 2020, casting directors Georgianne Walken and Sheila Jaffe said that Jerry Stiller had been originally set to play Hesh, but due to scheduling issues, Adler was cast quickly.[15] Hesh is a loan shark and advisor to Tony Soprano; the same role he performed for Tony's father, mob captain Johnny Soprano.[16] Hesh is a Jewish businessman who made his initial fortune in the recording industry, founding "F-Note Records" during the 1950s and 1960s, bringing many young black musicians to prominence, and receiving royalties by being fraudulently credited as a co-writer on many songs. He first appeared in "The Sopranos" ("Pilot"). Hesh is thought to be a composite character, inspired by real life music mogul Morris "Mo" Levy,[17][18] the founder of Roulette Records with connections to the Mafia, who owned a string of racehorses.[19]
Hesh first appeared while working with Tony on setting up a scam to defraud HMO medical insurance companies through their debtor, Alex Mahaffey. Hesh accompanied Big Pussy to a waterfall to intimidate Mahaffey into participating. Later, Hesh advised Tony against getting involved with the Teitlemanns, a family of Hasidic Jews, in a dispute over ownership of their hotel. Hesh's predictions of their obstinacy proved correct. Hesh was able to help Tony end a particularly arduous "negotiation" with a threat of castration.
In "A Hit Is a Hit," Hesh helped Tony's nephew Christopher Moltisanti to realize his girlfriend, Adriana La Cerva, had little aptitude for work in the music business. Chris made contact with Hesh on behalf of Massive Genius, a rapper who claimed Hesh owed compensation to the widow of a black musician he allegedly defrauded. Hesh also sold Ralph Cifaretto the ill-fated racehorse, Pie-O-My. In the final season premiere, "Members Only," Hesh and his son-in-law, Eli, were attacked by members of Phil Leotardo's crew. They targeted Eli because they thought he was making collections on their turf without permission, so they set fire to Eli's gas tank to get him and Hesh out of the car, and then set about beating Eli. Eli was then seriously hurt in a hit-and-run accident, while trying to escape the mobsters, and Hesh was punched in the face.
In the episode "Chasing It," Hesh gives Tony a $200,000 bridge loan to help Tony cover a string of gambling losses. Tony fails to repay the loan on time and starts berating Hesh about the vig on the loan, which was $3,000 per week. When Hesh's girlfriend, Renata, dies of a stroke, Tony offers brief, impersonal words of sympathy, repays Hesh's $200k loan, and immediately leaves, seemingly signaling the end of their friendship. This is Hesh's last appearance on the show.
Alex Mahaffey is played by Michael Gaston. He is a "degenerate gambler" in debt to Tony and Hesh Rabkin, an old Jewish friend of Tony's father, Johnny. Tony concocts a scheme for Mahaffey's company to make insurance claims payable to non-existent clinics in order to pay off his debts. Realizing that he would die if he refused, Mahaffey complies with the fraud.
Giacomo Michael "Jackie" Aprile is played by Michael Rispoli. He was born in 1955, and rose through the ranks of the DiMeo Crime Family with his older brother Richie and close friend Tony Soprano. Jackie was the brother of Liz La Cerva, and the uncle of Adriana La Cerva. Jackie and Tony, along with Silvio Dante and Ralph Cifaretto, belonged to a small crew moving weed and stolen goods. Around this time, Jackie had the idea to rob a card game held by capo Michele "Feech" La Manna in order to make a name for themselves.
Jackie's star rose considerably in the intervening years, during which he started a family. He married Rosalie Aprile, and they had three children together. Jackie never wanted his son Jackie Aprile Jr. to get involved in the mob despite his success. He and Richie appointed Aprile crew associate Peter "Beansie" Gaeta to peddle heroin for them, taking the largest cut for themselves. Aprile was the acting boss of the family from 1995, when boss Ercole DiMeo went to prison, until 1999 when he dies of stomach cancer in the fourth episode of season one, and is succeeded by Junior.
Michael "Mikey" Palmice is played by Al Sapienza. Mikey starts out as a soldier in Corrado "Junior" Soprano's crew as his driver and bodyguard. After Jackie Aprile Sr. dies, Junior becomes boss.[20] He is a very loyal, obsequious minion to Junior. In Tony's brief and bloody war with Junior's crew, following Junior's attempt on Tony's life, Paulie Gualtieri is assigned the hit on Mikey, along with Christopher Moltisanti. Chris' friend Brendan Filone had previously been killed by Mikey while in his bathtub on orders from Junior in retribution for Brendan stealing his merchandise. Tony decides to confront his uncle and Mikey by beating Mikey to the ground and stapling his jacket to his torso. He then goes to have a sit-down with Junior. Later, in retaliation for the attempted hit on Tony, Mikey is killed in the woods after Chris and Paulie chase him down while he is jogging.
In the episode "From Where to Eternity," when Chris becomes clinically dead for a few minutes after his heart stops while in his comatose state, he has a morphine-induced dream in which he visits Hell and sees his deceased father "Dickie" Moltisanti along with his deceased friend Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice. Chris informs Tony and Paulie that Mikey had a message for them: "Three o'clock".
Paulie subsequently begins to have nightmares of being dragged to Hell and, at the recommendation of his mistress, he goes to see a medium in Nyack, New York. Much to Paulie's chagrin, the authenticity of the medium is confirmed when he apparently begins communicating with people that Paulie has killed, with Mikey apparently giving details of his murder. Paulie remains unsettled and paranoid, as he feels he is being haunted by Palmice and others he had murdered throughout his criminal life.
Agent Dwight Harris is played by Matt Servitto. Harris is an FBI Supervisor Agent-in-Charge specializing in the investigation of the DiMeo crime family with the FBI's Newark Organized Crime Division Task Force. After September 11, Harris is reassigned to counter-terrorism duty with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Pakistan. He approaches Christopher, and eventually Tony, for information on terrorism-related organized crime from his criminal connections at the Port of New York and New Jersey in exchange for banking "goodwill" in possible future RICO trials. In the Season 6 episode "Kaisha", Harris appears at Satriale's Pork Store to inform Tony that someone in his crew could be in danger, although he has no specific details. While investigating the murder of Gilbert Nieves at the Crazy Horse and Matush, with the possible terrorism links, he takes over the investigation from Long Branch, New Jersey police.
Later, Agent Harris and his partner, Agent Goddard, approach Tony at his home, requesting that Tony inform them should he come across any terror-related information in his line of work. Later, he suspects that two Muslim former patrons of the Bada Bing (Ahmed and Muhammad), who had been paying Christopher Moltisanti for stolen credit card numbers, were involved in terrorist activity. Tony provides their names and a cell phone number to Agent Harris, who is appreciative. In return, Agent Harris promises to write a letter detailing Tony's assistance that will be placed in Tony's FBI file for a judge to consider in sentencing should Tony ever be convicted of a crime.
Harris later tells Tony at Satriale's that an informer among Phil Leotardo's crew told them that Tony is being targeted by the Lupertazzi family. Agent Harris meets with Tony, and Tony offers him the name of the Muslim men's bank. In return, Harris tells Tony that while in hiding, Leotardo has been making calls from a pay phone in Oyster Bay, Long Island, information he apparently obtains from an agent in the Brooklyn FBI Organized Crime Division Office. When Agent Goddard later reports Leotardo's murder, Harris exults in the success of his ploy, stating "we're gonna win this thing!"
Father Phil Intintola is played by Paul Schulze and Michael Santoro (pilot episode only). Father Phil is the priest at the Sopranos' local Catholic church. Initially, Father Phil and Carmela Soprano have a robust friendship based on a mutual interest in romance films and Italian culture. Carmela's husband, Tony, finds their friendship—and Father Phil's constant, uninvited visits to their home for Carmela's home-cooked food— irritating. Carmela describes Father Phil as a "spiritual mentor" she utilizes "to become a better Catholic", and the rare male friend who appreciates things that the ultra-masculine Tony finds to be unmanly.
One rainy evening, with Tony and Meadow in Maine and AJ at a friend's house, Father Phil visits a sick Carmela, and the two share ziti and wine together. After much wine and watching a film together, the two come very close to kissing. He sleeps over without having sex with Carmela, resulting in an awkward feeling between the two the morning after. Carmela gets jealous when she makes a surprise visit to the church to bring Father Phil home-cooked food—only to see him already being fed a home-cooked dish by her friend, Rosalie Aprile, and him having the same chemistry with Rosalie that she thought he only had with her. Soon after, Carmela confronts Father Phil and ends her friendship with him, accusing him of developing para-romantic relationships with women parishioners to gain gifts and other favors.
Although Father Phil was mostly seen ministering to female parishioners, he also counseled men. He repeatedly invited Tony to attend church and confession more often in order to reduce his anxiety attacks by improving his relationship with God. He counseled Artie Bucco when he was told about Tony burning down his restaurant by Livia. Father Phil encouraged Artie to go to the police and to tell Charmaine about the arson, which Artie ultimately didn't do. He counseled Ralph Cifaretto when he came to him devastated and perplexed by his teen son's life-threatening injury after an accident whilst playing bow and arrows with a friend. Father Phil encourages Ralph to view the tragedy as an opportunity to change his life's course; he also gently rejects Ralph's assertion that God allowed his son to be injured in order to punish Ralph for his criminal sins.
Later in the series, Carmela and Father Phil seem to be on good terms again until she confesses an act of adultery to him. He turns cold and is clearly disappointed, as he'd always urged Carmela to work on her marriage and had dissuaded her from considering divorce. He orders Carmela to do a penance by way of doing something nice for Tony, which she later does. In season 6, when Tony is comatose after being shot, Carmela was again dependent upon Father Phil, who comforts her and the Soprano children at Tony's hospital bedside.
Vin Makazian is played by John Heard. Vin was a Newark, New Jersey police detective who worked on narcotics and vice squads and fed information to Tony Soprano. He was raised by an abusive alcoholic father who beat him as a child and his mother. His salary was $40,000 per year and he had two failed marriages. Tony also used Vin as a personal private investigator, engaging Vin to find information about his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi when Tony first started therapy in 1999.
One night he tailed her and pulled her car over under the ruse that the vehicle was seen leaving a crime scene earlier in the day. He then questioned Jennifer's date, a lawyer, under the suspicion that he was driving drunk, and beats him unprovoked. Vin was responsible for informing Tony that Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero was an FBI informant, prompting Tony's suspicions of Pussy. This was later seemingly dismissed when Tony found out Vin owed Big Pussy $30,000 in Super Bowl XXXIII gambling debts with interest payments, and Vin would like to see Big Pussy taken out to absolve him of that debt.
The best man at one of Vin's weddings sits on the New Jersey State Police Organized Crime Task Force and gave Vin the initial hint that Big Pussy was an informant. Vin frequented an illegal brothel and had a relationship with the madam there. He was arrested at the brothel along with Soprano crime family capo Raymond Curto during a police raid.
Vin later committed suicide, by leaping off the Donald and Morris Goodkind Bridges into the Raritan River shortly after he was released from jail and suspended from the police force. Tony later visited the madam Debra with whom Vin had a therapeutic relationship, and she divulges to Tony that Vin viewed him as a friend, and was prone to depression. This leaves Tony with guilt because he had always treated Vin with disdain and never showed him any respect or kindness.
Dick Barone is played by Joe Lisi. Dick owned and operated Barone Sanitation, a container and rubbish removal service, and front business for the Soprano crew. The company handled their legitimate garbage hauling routes across New Jersey, including an illegal medical waste dumping site in Dayton, New Jersey, an asbestos removal project in Corning, New York, a weigh station in Dayton, New Jersey and a landfill in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. Dick is involved in price-fixing and bid rigging of waste hauling contracts in New Jersey and New York.
In a discussion with Richie Aprile and Tony, Tony says that all the garbage collection routes north of Paterson, New Jersey belong to Barone Sanitation while Larry Boy Barese and the D'Allessio brothers divide up the rest. Dick's son Jason works as a ski instructor at Deer Valley in Summit County, Utah and knew little about the waste management business. In 1999, the lucrative new office parkway, the Triborough Towers in Essex County, New Jersey along the Eisenhower Parkway in Roseland, New Jersey and Livingston, New Jersey route was subject to a bidding war between Barone and Czechoslovakian-based waste management company, Kolar Brothers Sanitation. Dick Barone was part of the crews' discussions about the problem and was at Satriale's when Christopher Moltisanti took it upon himself to deal with the issue and murder Emil Kolar. He also gets a route that was previously managed by Richie April in Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey when it comes up for bidding.
Chris' action led to the Kolar Bros. withdrawing their bid which Dick was happy to report to Tony. He worried about Richie Aprile due to Aprile's and Junior Soprano's front business, Zanone Bros, carting cocaine on his garbage association routes because he could lose his "901", saying that he can handle the Department of Sanitation due to having a contact inside the Environmental Protection Agency, but not the Drug Enforcement Administration. Dick died in 2006 from Lou Gehrig's disease. His funeral was attended by many members of the DiMeo crime family. Dick was survived by his wife, Helen Barone, and son, Jason.
Following his death, Barone Sanitation was bought out by Lupertazzi crime family firm, Cinelli Sanitation. Tony asked John Sacramoni for 25% of the sale price and a year's salary until retirement plus a skim from the company which is $2,000 a week when the company went up for sale. He agreed to lower the sale settlement by staying on the payroll and lowering the skim profits.
James "Jimmy" Altieri is played by Joe Badalucco. Jimmy was a capo in the DiMeo/Soprano crime family. In the episode "Nobody Knows Anything", Jimmy was arrested for gun charges while running an illegal card game. The FBI found pool tables full of guns. Big Pussy Bonpensiero was also present and arrested but was already working for the feds at this point. Agent Skip Lipari stated he had been with them since 1998, although Tony thinks Pussy "flipped" in 1995.
Vin Makazian, Tony's inside detective, who works clandestinely for Tony, informs Tony that Big Pussy Bonpensiero is "wired for sound" - that he is an informant. Tony finds this very difficult to believe. Shortly after Jimmy's arrest, he is released. He shows up one night at Tony's home during dinner. He and Tony walk into the basement where Jimmy begins asking Tony a lot of questions, making Tony very suspicious. Tony finds Jimmy's behavior very peculiar and also believes he was released too promptly after his arrest.
Tony then begins to suspect that Makazian mistook Jimmy for Pussy as they are similar in appearance. Pussy abruptly disappears after being confronted by Paulie Gualtieri. Earlier in the episode, Vin Makazian, who had chronic depression, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge, so Tony was not able to confirm whether Vin had confused Jimmy and Pussy. Tony decides to go with his instincts and decides that Jimmy is an informant.
At a meeting with other administrators and capos, it is apparent to everyone else Jimmy is acting somewhat odd. As such, Uncle Junior sanctioned a hit on Jimmy and said he wanted a message to be sent. Christopher lured Jimmy to a hotel room using a stripper as bait. Once Jimmy was seated in the room, Silvio entered and put a gun to the back of his head. Jimmy realized what was about to happen and went for a gun in his ankle holster, at which point Silvio shot him in the back of his head. Jimmy's body was found in an alley with a rat stuffed in his mouth. Carlo Gervasi subsequently takes over Jimmy's abandoned crew after Jimmy's death.
Irina Peltsin is played by Oksana Lada. Irina is Tony's 24-year-old Russian comàre during the first two seasons. Tony broke up with Irina in season 2 because she wanted him to commit to a relationship. Irina then attempted suicide but was found by her cousin, Svetlana. As a sign of friendship, Tony sent Silvio to tell Irina to move on with her life and present her with a one-time payoff of $75,000. In Season 4, Assemblyman Ronald Zellman tells Tony that he has been dating Irina for quite some time, and Tony does not seem to care.
However, Tony later gets jealous and humiliates Zellman in front of Irina by whipping him with a belt. Svetlana later tells Tony the couple had broken up because, after the emasculating attack, Zellman "could not perform." When Uncle Junior's nurse Branca, who works for Svetlana, walks in on Tony and Svetlana just after they had sex, she later tells Irina. Irina calls Tony's house and then tells Carmela that she is Tony's ex-mistress and informs Carmela of Tony's tryst with Svetlana. Carmela warns Irina never to call the house again, but the call prompts Carmela's violent confrontation with Tony and their marital separation.
Frank Cubitoso is played by Frank Pellegrino. He is an FBI chief of Newark FBI Organized Crime Division Task Force with offices in 11 Center Place Newark, New Jersey who is constantly looking for new insight on the ongoing Soprano/DiMeo case. It was his idea to bug Green Grove Retirement Community when Tony Soprano, Jimmy Altieri, and Larry Boy Barese move their mothers in, despite other agents' skepticism. He successfully coordinates a mission to put the Soprano residence under surveillance though the use of an old lamp in their basement. The operation ends when Meadow takes the old lamp to college. He later pressures Adriana La Cerva into wearing a wire, which leads to her confession and eventual death. When Agent Sanseverino worries after Adriana disappears, Cubitoso decides it is time to move on.
Elliot Kupferberg is played by Peter Bogdanovich. Elliot is the therapist of Jennifer Melfi, who is the psychiatrist of Tony Soprano.[21] Elliot tries to convince her numerous times to refer Tony to another colleague. Elliot calls her "Jen" during their sessions. Vin Makazian, Tony's inside cop, reveals to Tony when he is asked to survey Jennifer that she sees her own psychiatrist, Kupferberg, which surprises Tony. Elliot has a daughter, Saskia. Saskia, a butch lesbian, was an upperclassman at Columbia University when Tony's daughter, Meadow Soprano, was a freshman and gave a presentation that led Meadow to join the South Bronx legal clinic that eventually put Meadow on the path to law school.
Elliot once unknowingly encountered Tony in the parking garage at Columbia University, while both were visiting their daughters. He followed Tony in his car in the hopes of taking Tony's parking space when he left but annoyed Tony by driving too closely. In the episode "Employee of the Month", Elliot urges her to cease treating her gangster patient, whose name she inadvertently reveals to Elliot. In 2007, following Tony's shooting by Junior and the rise of his media profile, Melfi accuses Elliot of directing their therapy towards discussing "Patient Soprano" because of his desire for gossip and continuous shows of interest in the Mafia.
In the episode "The Second Coming", he tells Melfi of a study that concludes that talk therapy enables sociopaths. In the episode "The Blue Comet", he further presses Melfi about Soprano at a dinner party, where he reveals to guests that Soprano is Melfi's patient, to her embarrassment, a serious breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, although he dismisses her protests casually, saying everyone at the table is a professional. However, she later reads the study at home and is convinced of its findings. At her next session with Tony, she permanently ends further sessions.
Elliot frequently drinks from a very large reusable water bottle during therapy sessions, which Bogdanovich claims was his own bottle at the time.[22]
Hugo "Hugh" DeAngelis is played by Tom Aldredge. Hugh is Carmela's father who is in his mid-70s. Hugh has been married to Mary for over 40 years and is a resident of West Orange, New Jersey. He is a former sailor of the United States Navy and spent time in Halifax, Nova Scotia at CFB Halifax during the war. Although he is semi-retired, Hugh had worked as a contractor, and he built Tony and Carmela's house. Hugh has a brother named Lester and a sister named Lena, who is the mother of Christopher Moltisanti's father Dickie, thus making Hugh Chris's great uncle.
During Carmela and Tony's separation, Hugh was eager to see Tony whenever possible and often took Tony's side in family discussions. He did not want to be present at a family gathering if "the man of the house" was not there, in the episode "Marco Polo". Hugh became involved in a real estate investment with Carmela involving a spec house. However, construction of the spec house was halted after a building inspector found that low-quality wood had been used. Carmela blamed her father for the setback and Hugh became angry that Carmela was treating him as a subordinate rather than a partner. Carmela and Hugh reconciled enough for him to attend Christmas celebrations at the Soprano home later that year – after Carmela's spec house started to go ahead again.
Mary DeAngelis (née Pellegrino) is played by Suzanne Shepherd. Mary is Carmela's mother who is in her mid-70s. Mary has been married to her husband Hugh DeAngelis for over 40 years. Shortly after Carmela began dating Tony Soprano, she became extremely protective of her daughter and tried to prevent her from marrying him. After Carmela got married, the De Angelises met Tony's mother, Livia Soprano, with whom they became very angry after Livia told Carmela that "Tony would get bored of her." Mary also has psoriasis. Carmela believes Mary is a "self-hating Italian" on account of her distaste for certain Italian-American stereotypes.
Agent Skip Lipari is played by Louis Lombardi. Skip is an FBI agent who handled Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero. When Sal begins to confide more and more to Skip as a friend, Skip tries to tell him that he is not his friend and he is there to help the federal government. Pussy tells Skip that he lost all respect in Tony when Tony sent him out to look for AJ's science teacher Mr. Miller's Saturn that had been stolen. During a meeting at a party store, Sal coincidentally is seen by mob associate Jimmy Bones and introduces Skip as "Joe from Dover, Delaware" without much success in holding up the story.
This later leads to Sal murdering Jimmy to cover up his connection with the FBI. Sal tries to trap Christopher in a RICO predicate with Tony by offering to get his girlfriend a BMW M3 convertible and give the information to the FBI. Sal fails to follow Moltisanti to a hijacking job when he hits a bicyclist. In the season 2 finale, Sal is murdered by Tony, Paulie, and Silvio after they discover he is an informant.
Matthew Bevilaqua is played by Lillo Brancato Jr. Matthew was Sean Gismonte's partner-in-crime from West Orange, New Jersey and an associate working under Christopher Moltisanti in the Gualtieri crew. Born in 1977, he was 23 years old when he was killed, in "From Where to Eternity." In "Mr. Ruggiero's Neighborhood", Bonpensiero is overheard on an FBI wiretap that Bevilaqua's family is involved in the construction business and that the family saw him as a scion. Matthew also mentions that he, Sean and Bear Iyer attended the Lubin School of Business at Pace University and are licensed stock brokers and Webistics jobbers. He bought marijuana from a drug dealer at The Bada Bing.
Matt worked with Christopher in various aspects of organized crime, including the Massarone construction site, a pump and dump stockbroking scheme at an over-the-counter brokerage house in Bayonne, New Jersey involving an internet company called Webistics, assisting with Junior Soprano's executive card game, and some burglary jobs with Chris and Sean. When Chris leaves work early to go to the Jersey Shore with Adrianna, he leaves Matt in charge of the brokerage. They stole a Porsche Carrera from the office building where they were running the pump and dump stock scam and beat up a stockbroker for suggesting a different stock.
Matt threatened to stab the office manager of the brokerage in the throat with a letter opener if he told Chris Moltisanti about their actions. The office manager reported them anyway. Silvio referred to Matt and Sean as, "Chip n' Dale" after the cartoon because of their ineptness. Matt tells Christopher that he sees no point in getting married because he can get all the women he wants and always hire someone to wash his dishes and iron his shirts. He drives a Buick Park Avenue that he abandons after Sean is shot and killed in the passenger seat during the failed mob hit on Christopher Moltisanti.
Despite their general lack of talent, the duo desperately wanted to move up in the ranks of the family. They tried to impress Tony whenever possible but eventually angered him by attempting to directly discuss criminal activity with him at the toilets in a men's room, unaware of the threat of wiretapping. Then, hoping to gain favor with Richie Aprile, Matt and Sean decided to make an assassination attempt on Christopher, who they knew Aprile disliked. Attempting a drive-by ambush in the parking lot outside the Skyway Diner in Kearny, they hit Christopher twice but were unable to kill him. Before collapsing from blood loss, Christopher was able to return fire, killing Sean.
Matthew fled to seek protection from Richie Aprile, who reacted angrily and chased him away by throwing a baseball bat at him. When Tony Soprano and Big Pussy Bonpensiero found him hiding in Hacklebarney State Park, they interrogated him before they emptied their guns into him in one of the park's concession stands. Before he is killed, Bevilaqua pleads to Tony that it was all Sean's idea to shoot Moltisanti. There was a witness in the park who connected the murder to Tony, although the witness retracted his statement upon learning that one of the shooters might have been Tony Soprano. The newspaper identified Matthew as a Soprano crime family "associate."
Giacomo Michael "Jackie" Aprile Jr. is played by Jason Cerbone. Jackie Jr. was born into a North Jersey mafia family in 1978 and raised in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. His father, Jackie Aprile Sr., was once the acting boss of the DiMeo crime family, and his uncle Richie Aprile was a longtime DiMeo capo. Jackie Jr. was a linebacker for his football team at Boonton High School and was selected for All-State.[23][24][25][26] Despite attending Rutgers University, Jackie Jr. drifted towards a life of crime after his father's death, and he began helping his uncle Richie when Richie was released from prison.[27][28]
Jackie's mother Rosalie Aprile began a romantic relationship with Ralph Cifaretto, who became a mentor in Jackie's attempt to follow in his father's footsteps. Tony had been a close friend of Jackie Sr. and had promised to keep Jackie Jr. away from organized crime. Ralph's bad influence, Jackie Jr.'s own faults, and Tony's insistence that Jackie Jr. not become involved propelled Jackie Jr. into a brief, humiliating and fatal criminal career.[29][30][31][32]
Jackie and his Rutgers fraternity brother Dino Zerilli began selling ecstasy to college kids. Jackie later planned the robbery of a Jewel-Amnesty International benefit concert at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and drove the getaway car for Christopher Moltisanti and Benny Fazio. While waiting in the car, Jackie urinated on himself.[33][34]
Jackie dated Tony's daughter, Meadow and tried to maintain the appearance of a respectable college student while drifting further into the Mafia life. Tony began to see through Jackie's facade when he caught him at the casino on Bloomfield Ave in Bloomfield, New Jersey and then later at a strip club. Ralph gave Jackie Jr. a .38 revolver, which infuriated Tony, who beat Jackie up in the bathroom of the club after catching him getting a lap dance.[35][36]
Jackie failed out of Rutgers University after he was caught cheating during an exam. Meadow suggested that he enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology because he said he has a passion for designing men's suits. Meadow later broke up with Jackie after she found him cheating on her. Resentful of Tony's hypocrisy, Jackie began working directly for Ralph, forming his own minor crew in the process.[37][38][39][40]
Upon hearing Ralph tell the story of when Jackie's father and Tony robbed a card game held by Feech La Manna, Jackie was inspired to follow in his father's footsteps. Using his dim-witted crew of Carlo Renzi, Dino Zerilli and Matush, Jackie attempted to hold up a card game run by Soprano soldier Eugene Pontecorvo. In the robbery, Jackie killed "Sunshine" the dealer and made man Furio Giunta was shot in the leg. Christopher killed Carlo and after hearing gunshots, Matush fled in the getaway car. Jackie escaped by jacking a car and sped past Dino, who was killed by Christopher and Albert Barese.[41][42]
In "Army of One," Jackie was hiding in a Boonton housing project when he called Tony to claim he attempted the robbery in imitation of Tony and Jackie Sr. Ralph implies that Jackie should be given a pass for the failed robbery. However, Tony implies that the near-unconditional protection given to "made men" should take priority, which leads Ralph to give the order to have Jackie killed. Jackie Jr. was walking through the Boonton projects when Vito Spatafore shot him in the back of the head.[43][44] Rosalie, Meadow and the rest of the family were told that Jackie was killed by black drug dealers during a botched transaction.
Gloria Trillo is played by Annabella Sciorra. Gloria is a car saleswoman for Globe Motors, a Mercedes-Benz dealership[45] in Fairfield, New Jersey. Like Tony, she is a patient of Jennifer Melfi's. She meets Tony at Melfi's office due to a scheduling mix-up. There is an immediate attraction between the two and within days they are having an affair. She tells Tony that she has "murdered" seven relationships to date. Although she presents the facade of a strong and independent woman, Gloria is mentally unstable and exhibits signs of borderline personality disorder, which leads to occasional violent arguments and physical altercations with Tony, bouts of severe depression, and frequent suicidal thoughts.
She nearly drives Tony to kill her at one point before he stops himself and leaves her house. One such incident occurs after Gloria sees Tony's wife Carmela at her dealership, getting her car serviced, and offers to drive her home. Tony calls it quits and cuts off all contact with her and orders Patsy Parisi to threaten Gloria into staying away from him. Patsy accomplishes this by posing as a customer at the dealership and going on a test drive with Gloria.
When they are out of the city, Patsy pulls out a gun and tells a horrified Gloria to shut up and listen to him: if she ever contacts Tony or his family again, he will murder her, and "it will not be cinematic", destroying her delusion that she will ever die at Tony's hands. This unbalance eventually leads Gloria to suicide, and she hangs herself in her home a year later. Tony later goes back to Globe Motors and inquires after her to another salesman, who confirms her death. Tony later initially blames Melfi for Gloria's death, claiming that she did too little to save Gloria, before blaming himself.
Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. is played by Tony Lip. Carmine was an old-school boss of the Lupertazzi crime family.[46] He kept a low profile for most of his criminal career while operating out of his social clubs and restaurants in New York City. He lives in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. Carmine was arrested and acquitted of labor racketeering charges in the 1980s. It was around this time that Carmine's longtime consigliere, Angelo Garepe and longtime Lupertazzi family captain Phil Leotardo, were convicted of various racketeering charges and sent to prison, Angelo for 18 years and Phil for 20 years. During Carmine's tenure, his family was the largest and wealthiest of the Five Families in New York City. They maintained close ties to New Jersey's DiMeo crime family.
Carmine groomed his son and namesake Little Carmine Lupertazzi, by making him a captain in the crime family that bears his name. He had a sometimes contentious relationship with his underboss Johnny Sack. During various episodes in the fourth season, Johnny and Carmine each authorized Tony Soprano to put a "hit" on the other, although they were both called off at the last minute. In 2004, Carmine's health began to fail and he suffered a massive stroke while having lunch with Tony, Johnny, and Angelo Garepe at a country club, and soon after died in hospital. This left a large power vacuum in the Lupertazzi family.
The heir apparent for his position was his son Little Carmine, a fact that became a point of consternation for Johnny Sack. Johnny did not think much of Little Carmine and felt as Carmine's underboss, he was next in line to be boss. Even Tony has no faith in Little Carmine's capacity to run New York, jokingly referring to him as "Brainless the Second". Despite his shortcomings, Little Carmine finds backers in Carmine Sr.'s recently paroled former consigliere, Angelo Garepe, and long-time Lupertazzi Capo Rusty Millio.
Angelo and Rusty, along with Rusty's right-hand man Eddie Pietro, pull most of the strings during the war between Johnny Sack and Little Carmine. After a cycle of bloodshed that escalates into war, Little Carmine ultimately finds it difficult to stomach the continuing violence and abdicates. His decision was heavily influenced by the murder of Angelo Garepe. After Little Carmine's capitulation, Johnny Sack becomes the boss of the Lupertazzi crime family.
Rusty Millio is played by Frankie Valli. He is a respected and powerful veteran capo in the Lupertazzi Family. Rusty serves as a mentor and advisor to Little Carmine and considered to be one of the instigators in Little Carmine's power struggle with Johnny Sack following the death of his father and boss, Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. Johnny Sack displays contempt for Rusty, whom he calls the "Mayor of Munchkinland" due to his 5 ft 5 in height.
Rusty and Angelo Garape attempt to recruit Tony Blundetto into killing Joseph “Joey Peeps” Peperelli, a loyalist of Johnny Sack. Blundetto is initially hesitant but eventually carries out the hit, resulting in a cycle of revenge-killings that culminates in the murder of Billy Leatardo. While in prison, Johnny Sack orders through Tony Soprano a hit on Rusty because he anticipates Rusty is likely to try to wrest power away from him. In the episode "Luxury Lounge", Rusty and his driver Edward "Eddie" Pietro are killed in Rusty's driveway by the Italian hitmen Tony contracted.
Michele "Feech" La Manna is played by Robert Loggia.[47] Feech is a Mustache Pete who was "made" in Southern Italy. Feech moved to the US in the 1950s and settled in Hamilton Park, Jersey City. He became involved with the DiMeo crime family in bookmaking and loansharking, then under the leadership of boss Ercole "Eckley" DiMeo. He also operates a bakery that makes taralli, a pastry from the region.
A young Jackie Aprile Sr. and Tony Soprano robbed his floating high-stakes card game, thereby solidifying their status as rising mobsters in the organization. Despite Feech's anger at having been robbed, Jackie's older brother, Richie Aprile, then a high-ranking earner and soldier in the family, intervened on Tony and Jackie's behalf and got them both a pass. Silvio Dante reveals they were also helped because both Johnny Soprano and Junior Soprano were powerful capos under DiMeo.
When he was released and introduced in season 5, Feech went to see Tony Soprano, the new boss of North Jersey, where he was given permission to get back in the action. After a power struggle with Paulie Walnuts over landscaping territory, Feech stole cars from the valet at Ira Fried's daughter's wedding in Ringwood, New Jersey, and sold them to a dealer in Newburgh, New York. Tony had previously made it clear that Fried was a friend and was not to be touched, but Feech went ahead with his plan anyway.
Tony realized that Feech still thought of him as a youngster and saw Junior as the boss, paying his respects and going to Junior about complaints instead of Tony. As a result, Tony instructed Christopher Moltisanti and Benny Fazio to convince Feech to keep a truck of stolen plasma screen televisions in his garage. When a parole officer suddenly appears at his home and discovers the televisions, Feech was arrested, and sent back to prison.
"OK, this is what happened. Some Boy Scouts found the Russian, who had the telephone number to his boss, Slava, in his pocket. They called Slava, who took him to the hospital where he had brain surgery. And then Slava sent him back to the Soviet Union."[53]
