Characters / The Sopranos: DiMeo Crime Family Capos

The Sopranos Main Character Index
The Soprano Family (Tony Soprano, Christopher Moltisanti) | DiMeo Crime Family (Capos | Soldiers | Associates) | The Lupertazzis and Other Criminals | Mob Wives, Sweethearts and Goomahs | Law Enforcement and Civilians

Michele "Feech" LaManna

Michele "Feech" LaManna

"It's all about setting a precedent."

Played by: Robert Loggia

"You hit the ground running, and you don't look back, huh?"

An old Mustache Pete released from prison in Season 5.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: His final scene is a bus ride back to prison, and it's fairly somber in spite of Feech's actions.
• Ax-Crazy: When he's in a bad mood, his Hair-Trigger Temper and violent nature are genuinely terrifying.
• Big Bad Wannabe: In Season 5; Tony sees him from a mile away before he can do anything seriously damaging.
• Cool Old Guy: Initially he seems like this, but eventually subverted as his old school ways and anecdotes begin to grate on the guys and he's sent off back to prison for his trouble.
• Disc-One Final Boss: At first glance, it looks like Feech is being set up to be the next volatile, veteran mobster who butts heads with Tony, similar to Mikey Palmice, Richie Aprile, and Ralph Cifaretto. However, Tony has learned his lesson from dealing with those other guys and decides to "nip it in the bud" before Feech can become a real problem.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Feech feels that Tony is not respectful enough of his own seniority, either in his treatment of Feech or in decisions that affect Feech.
• Entitled Bastard: Like many others, he feels that he's owed whatever he wants as a reward for doing his time in prison without ratting on the others. Paulie takes issue with this and points out he's just demanding things from the guys who didn't screw up and get themselves locked up.
  Paulie: Oh, what do you know about who belongs to what? You been away twenty fuckin' years!
  Feech: Which entitles me to earn!
  Paulie: Which entitles you to shit! In my book, you get points for staying out of the can.
• Fatal Flaw: Oh God where to start. His Hair-Trigger Temper, his lack of respect towards Tony and the other guys, his stubbornness, and so on. Ultimately what does him in is, like Richie, his inability to adapt to the changing times with the Mafia and coming off as an out of touch geezer.
• Faux Affably Evil: While he initially comes across as charismatic and grandfatherly, it soon becomes apparent he's a violent psychopath who resents Tony's rapid ascent, much like Richie Aprile before him.
• Grumpy Old Man: He's an old-school mobster who certainly seems to live in the past.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: And how. He beats up a gardener for daring to mow lawns in Feech's old neighborhood.
• In-Series Nickname: "Feech".
• Jerkass: He's a truly vicious, callous bastard. Even his fellow mobsters think he's a bit much.
• Lack of Empathy: Yes, as usual in ruthless mobsters. He shows zero remorse for his brutal attack on Sal Vitro.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He gets tricked into incriminating himself after pissing one too many people off. To say he didn't deserve it was an understatement.
• Living Legend: A famed mobster.
• The Münchausen: Is full of tall tales and anecdotes from the time before he was arrested.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His vicious assault on Sal Vitro, which consists of him kicking him in the balls, punching his face in, dragging him by the crotch, and breaking Sal's arm by stomping on it.
• Old Soldier: He's one of the oldest, longest-serving members of the Sopranos crew, having worked for years under Tony's dad. Despite his old age and goofy demeanor, he's a lot more dangerous and combat-ready than appearances would suggest even if he's not as spry as he used to be. After all, he's an old man in a field where men die young.
• Put on a Prison Bus: His last scene is him on a bus to prison, never to be seen again.
• Remember the New Guy?: One of the several convicts released from the can during the show, but he is one of the few aversions because he's mentioned a few times before his return: Tony and Richie talk about how Tony and his pals robbed Feech's poker game, and he again comes up in season 3 when Ralph tells the same story to Jackie Jr. with horrific results.
• The Resenter: It's apparent that Feech is still bitter about Tony robbing his card game when it comes up in conversation at one point.
• The Rival: He quickly antagonizes Paulie, another geezer still doing extortion and street-work personally.
• Running Gag: Telling a story to others and then being interrupted by Tony entering the room. Becomes a source of resentment for Feech, however.
• Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Part of his backstory is that he was an original gangster who was made in Italy, before immigrating to New Jersey in the 1950s.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite only appearing for a grand total of four episodes, he is a genuine thorn in Tony's side and the problems that he causes are a real test of Tony's leadership abilities.
• The Sociopath: Feels no remorse for his actions and is perfectly comfortable with crippling innocent bystanders, as well as murder.
• The Starscream: Tony perceives some hints about his disloyalty and gets rid of him before he can do any harm.
• Suddenly Shouting!: To the shock of absolutely no one, a character portrayed by Robert Loggia is sometimes prone to this.
• Traitor Shot: Gets several from Tony's point of view, in slow motion. He's the only minion who doesn't suck up to Tony's jokes.
• Uncertain Doom: Tony spares his life and simply sends him back to prison. However, given his age and the severity of his crime (hoarding unlicensed firearms while on parole), it's effectively a death sentence for him.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Tony schemes his return to prison after four episodes.
• When I Was Your Age...: Loves to go down memory lane time and again and struggles to acknowledge that Tony is not a kid anymore.

Giovanni Francis "Johnny Boy" Soprano

See his character page here.

Richard "Richie" Aprile, Sr.

Richard "Richie" Aprile, Sr.

"What's mine is not yours to give me."

Played by: David Proval

"Threatenin'? I got a hard-on for you already. C'mon, gimme a reason...."

A DiMeo crime family member released from prison at the start of Season 2.

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• Anyone Can Die: Unexpectedly shot to death by his fiancee in a domestic dispute.
• Asshole Victim: One of the most loathsome characters in the show who most definitely got what he deserved.
• Ax-Crazy: He is incredibly volatile, sadistic, and tends to explode in violent outbursts.
• Badass Boast: He brags at Satriale's that Rocco DiMeo used to be the toughest mobster in Essex County, but didn't come back after Richie "was through with him". It might also suggest that Richie's gift of Rocco's leather jacket also doubles as a Creepy Souvenir. Tony's not impressed.
• Bait-and-Switch: It looks like his growing conflict with Tony will come to a head by the end of Season 2. Instead, he is abruptly taken out of the picture when his fiancee, Tony's sister Janice, shoots him dead after a domestic argument.
• Big Bad: In Season 2. Upon being released from prison, Richie actively undermines Tony's authority as boss of the DiMeo crime family and ultimately moves to have him killed towards the end of the story arc. However, he is killed by Janice Soprano in the season's penultimate episode before his plans come to fruition.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Downplayed in Season 2. As a caporegime gone rogue, he does in fact possess the resources to threaten Tony's leadership and plunge the DiMeo crime family in turmoil. At the same time, however, his wanton brutality and bloated sense of entitlement make him deeply unpopular within the family's ranks thereby fatally undermining his ambitions of becoming the new Don. Likewise, it is his own pointless cruelty that drives Janice to shoot him dead before he can put his coup in motion.
• Bondage Is Bad: A sexual sadist who holds a gun to Janice's head during sex, and he's clearly one of the most villainous gangsters.
• Contempt Crossfire: The other mobsters hate being around him due to his nasty personality, Tony eventually sanctions a hit against him after Junior tells him that Richie is planning a coup against him, but he's killed by Janice after he punches her in the face, just for saying she'd be okay with Richie's son being gay.
• Creepy Uncle: Tony sees him as one when he has his arm around Meadow's shoulder, triggering Papa Wolf thoughts on Tony's part.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He writhes in agony after the first gunshot from Janice hits him in the chest. She takes her time to finish him off with the headshot. It doesn't help that he'll forever after be remembered as a pathetic pretender by Tony and his crew.
• Deadly Euphemism: Tony jokes that he's in the Bermuda Triangle after he dies.
• Deus ex Machina: He ceases to be an antagonist thanks to an unprecedented discussion turned into a sudden conflict with Janice over a never-mentioned-before-the-episode dancing son.
• The Dreaded: Most other wise guys are clearly uncomfortable whenever he shows up, and for good reason: He paralyzes an old associate by the name of "Beansie" almost immediately after his release from prison.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: After doing his jail time, he's content with Tony's financial treatment, but then Janice meddles in and informs Richie that the amount of money he is given was only fair several decades ago.
• Entitled Bastard: Due to his belligerent narcissism, he automatically felt he was entitled to inherit everything he wanted for paying his dues in prison. Tony recognized that Richie's absence was due to his imprisonment and promised to work to give him his due, to which Richie immediately rebuffed that offer by saying that what is his is not Tony's to give.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced swearing after seeing what happened to the old pizzeria, then berating and beating Beansie after the latter makes the mistake of not taking him seriously.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Subverted. While meeting with Tony after being released from prison, he angrily dresses down Christopher for abusing his niece, Adriana. However, this is largely revealed to be a calculated ploy to reaffirm his credentials as an "old-school" wiseguy in order to curry Tony's favor when he callously admits to having no concern for what Chris does to Adriana "after he puts a ring on her finger". This is further reinforced when he later hits Janice before they have a chance to get married.
  • Despite his low opinion of David, he prevents him from getting buried in debt at his own poker games and cuts him off when the latter is $7,000 down. Once Richie sees David playing in the Executive game, though, he snaps at Tony for allowing his friend to get involved in the first place. Though, in the cutthroat business of the mafia, one could argue that this is just Richie's way of making sure that David can repay him what he owes.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humour: While all of the mobsters are shown having a thing for awful, usually insulting or offensive, jokes, Richie really takes the cake. He runs over Beansie with a big grin on his face, and when Tony angrily reminds Richie that he told him to back off of Beansie, Richie replies he did back off, and then he put it into drive. Tony is not amused, and his incredibly abrasive and annoying personality results in most of the other mobsters hating Richie.
• Evil Mentor: He acted as a mentor to his nephew, Jackie Aprile, Jr. for a short time before his death; he brought him along to meetings to discuss Mafia business.
• Evil Virtues: Loyalty... to a point, at least. For all his dissatisfaction with Tony, it takes being pushed to his absolute limit for him to seriously try to engineer a coup. He seems aware that loyalty is the essential component in the Mafia, puts himself entirely at Junior's service, and resists Janice's attempts to entice him into rebellion prematurely.
  Richie: I've gotta be loyal. Without that we crumble.
• False Friend: He shows up at Tony's, combining a willingness to build the ramp for Beansie with a gift of DiMeo's leather jacket for Tony. He wears a Stepford Smile the whole way through, and at the subsequent family dinner. Anybody who's watched the previous episodes, including Tony's and Richie's prior interactions, will have little trouble figuring out that Richie is starting a long game against Tony.
• Fatal Flaw: Wrath. He's one of the most violent mobsters on the show and usually responds with brutal examples of violence against anyone who even slightly pisses him off. When he hits Janice after she triggers his temper, she ends up retaliating by shooting him dead.
  • His stubbornness and inability to adapt with the changing landscape of the Mafia also contributes to his fate. None of the guys respect him and he's viewed as an out of touch loose cannon who just brings headaches to the whole crew.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's an evil and psychopathic antagonist, yet he switches to a thin, deferential friendly demeanor with Junior and Albert Barese, and also behaves civilly at dinner at Tony's house, especially in front of Carmela's parents.
• Foreshadowing: After his release from prison, one of the first things Richie does is threaten Chris Moltisanti for hitting his girlfriend Adriana, who is Richie's niece. Richie specifically tells him to wait until they're married to put his hands on her. Richie eventually punches his fiancé Janice in the mouth, which causes her to lose her temper and shoot him; he probably should have listened to his own advice.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: For a given value of "friend", probably best exemplified by their disgust towards him after he crippled Beansie Gaeta and forced him out of the game. It only escalates when previous interactions with Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte makes him Convicted by Public Opinion as the others suspect him of having something to do with Chris' shooting. His social standing becomes important, as the other mobsters' dislike of him is what influences Junior to side with Tony over Richie.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Will go psychotic at the drop of a hat, though he was apparently worse before his stint in prison (by his own admission). Because his temper is bad for business, Tony forces into a perpetual state of Tranquil Fury throughout Season 2.
• Hate Sink: He is one of the most detestable characters in a series full of ruthless mobsters, being disproportionately brutal to anyone that even sets him off and having no respect for anyone but himself. He even beats his fiancée for nothing more than saying she'd accept his son for being gay. His presence is rarely welcome among his fellow mobsters.
  Big Pussy: He's full of negative energies.
• Hypocrite: He tells Christopher that the only acceptable context in which a man may hit a woman is if she's his wife. He doesn't practice what he preaches, and dies for it.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: While he doesn't practice what he preaches, as demonstrated by his own treatment of Janice, he has a point that it's wrong of Christopher to abuse Adriana the way he does and Christopher should be more respectful of her.
• Insistent Terminology / Unusual Euphemism: Richie for some reason uses the term Nigerians to refer to African-Americans.
• Irrational Hatred: Downplayed, as he has some legitimate gripes against Christopher, particularly with him hitting his niece Adriana. But the dude hates Christopher, constantly mocking him and threatening him at one point, stating he had been itching to do so for some time.
• Jerkass: Possibly the biggest example in the series, edging out Ralphie and Phil in some viewers' eyes. He is extremely rude and unpleasant to anyone who interacts with him, lacking Ralphie's superficial charm or Phil's warped dedication to his family and La Cosa Nostra, and there's almost nothing sympathetic or likeable about him.
• Knight of Cerebus: Has a tendency to drastically darken a scene's tone at the drop of a hat.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Submits to Tony's authority after a brief conflict. At first.
• Kubrick Stare: He is notorious for subjecting others to these, to the point that Tony dubs his eyes "Manson Lamps".
• Lack of Empathy: One of his defining characteristics. He renders a person paraplegic and feels insulted after he's told to make reparations.
• Laser-Guided Karma: While it takes Tony the better part of a season to finally decide to put a stop to his insubordination, Janice reacts to his first moment of physical abuse more or less instantaneously and kills him.
• Literalist Snarking: After Richie cripples Beansie with his car, Tony confronts Richie because he ordered Richie to back off; Richie nonchalantly retorts that "I did, and then put it in drive".
• Loan Shark: Makes up part of his income.
• My New Gift Is Lame: In a genuine sign of respect, Richie gives Tony a jacket highly prized by him, forcefully obtained years ago from the feared mobster Rocco DiMeo. Tony eventually gives it away to the husband of his maid, which naturally offends Richie deeply.
• The Napoleon: Despite being more or less average in height, he is nevertheless one of the shorter members of the Soprano Crime Family (particularly when compared to the hulking Tony Soprano). However, what he lacks in size, he makes up for in sheer aggressiveness and brutality.
  Junior: He's got tremendous moxie for a guy his size.
• Old Flame: Resumes an old relationship with Janice.
• Papa Wolf: Shows some genuine affection for Adriana and anger at Christopher for abusing her. This only goes so far, though; he believes anything that might happen between them after they're married is nobody's business.
• Pet the Dog: He's kind to a young, clearly unnerved employee at the pizzeria that Beansie drags over the coals. He later helps Uncle Junior pull his hand out of the sink after he had gotten it stuck.
• Phrase Catcher: "Now get the fuck outta here", from Tony, at the end of every conversation between the two.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Mostly downplayed. He's a little smaller in size than the other DiMeo family members, but he's quite capable of delivering a nasty beating if he wants to. And he has more will and tenacity than most men twice his size.
  Junior: He's got tremendous moxie for a guy his size.
  Bacala: Tell me about it. He's a fighter.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He tends to be a highly homophobic, racist, and sexist man. When he learns that Christopher has been abusive towards Adriana he gets angry because they are not married yet and, as his single niece, Adriana is under his protection. Sil later approvingly mentions that Richie disowned his son for being gay.
• Posthumous Character: One of the many characters to appear in Season 5's "The Test Dream". He's also discussed and referenced occasionally, directly and indirectly.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He refuses to let David keep on gambling in their illegal card games after David falls into debt with him. Given his otherwise utterly psychotic nature, it seems much more likely Richie just wanted to be sure that David could actually pay him back rather than out of any genuine concern for the man, because, sure enough, Tony lets David sit in on another card game, which costs David everything but the clothes off his back by the end.
• Real Men Cook: Showing a tender side of his character, he cooks a dish of tripe Italian-style, and takes it to Carmela as a thank-you gift.
• Remember the New Guy?: One of the several convicts released from the can during the show.
• The Resenter: Richie can't stand the fact that Tony, his younger brother's friend who used to work for him as a soldier, became the acting boss in the years he was in prison and continually undermines Tony's authority because he still sees him as a subordinate.
• Sadist: Even leaving aside the fact that he enjoys the violence he inflicts on others, there is a brief moment of intimacy that he has with Janice, where we are shown that he is also a sexual sadist who likes to pretend that he was raping her like a sexual game.
• Stupid Evil: If he wasn't so blatantly pissing everyone off all the time he would have lived longer.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Richie is covetous and bloodthirsty, while Jackie is benevolent and easygoing.
• The Sociopath: One of the best examples that gave us the series. He is petty, cruel, sadistic, cunning, and ruthless. Out of all the psychopaths on the show, he may be one of the few who actually qualifies as a sociopath, for he almost never demonstrates attachment, empathy, or real moral standards. The only possible exceptions could be his two Pet the Dog moments mentioned before, but this was likely him trying to keep a civilian out of his business in the first case and to ingratiate himself with Junior in the second. Even highly psychopathic characters like Phil Leotardo and Ralph Cifaretto have demonstrated genuine grief or remorse over others (Phil to his brother, Johnny Sack, and Gerry Torciano; Ralphie to his son and, given time, Jackie Jr). Furthermore, he has no apparent Freudian Excuse for his behavior, unlike others on the show. He is also lacking (relative to other prominent psychopaths such as Ralph, Paulie, and Phil) in personal charisma, thus perhaps making him the most unlikeable to the audience of any major character.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: That he was going to die somehow probably wasn't too surprising, as much of Season 2 had been steadily building up to an eventual violent confrontation between him and Tony. But what will likely catch the first-time viewer completely off-guard, however, is probably that he doesn't go down in some sort of epic showdown between him and Tony and his lieutenants, but rather is killed out of the blue in a domestic setting as he is eating dinner because he both pushed Janice too far and completely underestimated her capacity for violence at the same time.
• The Starscream: He plots to overthrow Tony, restoring Junior as the real head of the family.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: He's of pretty short stature, and his fiancee is decidedly larger than him.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Was only on the show for one season, and didn't even make it to the finale of that season.
• Would Hit a Girl: Only objects to beating a woman outside of marriage. Ends up getting killed for failing to follow his own rule.
• Values Dissonance: As an old-school Italian, he believes domestic abuse is a private matter between man and wife.
• Vicariously Ambitious: While villainous, he's not as power-hungry as one would expect, as his conspiracy doesn't seek to break the chain of command, just replacing Tony for Junior.
• Villainous Valor: Unlike Phil Leotardo, he's willing to defy Tony to his face without an audience of men backing him up.

Ralph "Ralphie" Cifaretto

Ralph "Ralphie" Cifaretto

"Why was I born handsome instead of rich?"

Played by: Joe Pantoliano

"Tomorrow I can be on time, but you'll be stupid forever."

The Soprano crew's loose cannon, who returns from an extended stay in Florida in Season 3.

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• Affably Evil: He has a relatively lighthearted demeanor and is always cracking jokes, but he's frequently tone-deaf and can't read the room, so most people find him obnoxious.
• Alas, Poor Villain: A peculiar example of the grayness of the show. Despite being a despicable excuse for a human being most of the time, the tragic circumstances that surround his demise are meant to evoke some sympathy, what with his son being in a coma and his Heel–Face Door-Slam (see below).
• Ambiguous Situation: It's never explicitly confirmed that he set the fire which killed Pie-Oh-My. David Chase has given conflicting answers, including a blunt "yes", while Joe Pantoliano has said he played the scene as if Ralph was innocent.
• Anyone Can Die: His status as a big earner makes him less expendable than most in-story. When his demise comes, the when and the why are completely out of the blue.
  Patsy Parisi: If it can happen to him, it can happen to any of us.
• Asshole Victim: Downplayed. While none of Ralphie's associates are sad to see him go, many of them are disgusted by Tony having murdered him over what they view as a trivial business decision, and fear he'll do the same to them should they upset him.
  Albert Barese: This is bad, my friend. I mean, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't piss on Ralph if he was on fire. But to whack the guy over a horse? How fucked up is that?
• At Least I Admit It: Obnoxious prick Ralph might be, but he never pretends to be anything rather than a vicious gangster, often chafing at his fellow gangsters for acting like they're any better than him, and he's often baffled when people chafe at his violent nature.
• Ax-Crazy: He's very unstable, and tends to commit violent acts spontaneously.
• Bad Liar: By the time Tony confronts him a final time, his lies have been so blatant, transparent, and have shown the thought and effort he puts into covering his bullshit that it's ambiguous if him denying any involvement in the death of Pie-Oh-My is Ralphie Crying Wolf.
  • He claims that the stripper he beat to death with his bare hands "slipped" or "fell".
  • He declares that he was simply not thirsty when he looked Tony dead in the eye and spurned a reconciliatory drink.
  • Johnny Sack calls him "more creative than Spielberg" because his numbers are way off and Ralph is looting a construction project without any remorse.
• Bald of Evil: Hence the toupee.
• Big Bad: Subverted. After the departure of Richie Aprile, a scheming, psychotic mobster played by a well-known character actor is introduced at the beginning of Season 3 and starts to butt heads with Tony. Ralph and Tony bury the hatchet before the season finale, at which point it appears Ralph will be kicking around for a while. He continues acting as a series regular until about 2/3 of the way through Season 4, at which point all the resentment between the men comes bubbling up in an argument over a horse, and Tony beats him to death.
• Bondage Is Bad: His kinks include roleplaying as a whore being pimped out by his "mommy" while she holds a vibrator in his ass, having his penis and testicles abused, and something involving a leather mask.
• Broken Ace: The man is beyond fucked up mentally, but while he was around, he was by far Tony's best earner and a business genius in general.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his obnoxiousness, he's the biggest earner in the Soprano family.
• Brutal Honesty: Punctual. Tony gives him some credit for not being a Yes-Man.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: For all his flaws, he's a fantastic earner and his efficacy shields him from the potentially lethal repercussions of his shitty behavior. His number comes up when it becomes personal between him and Tony.
• Characterization Marches On: In his first scene, Ralph consoles Tony recalling "we lost Mom a year ago", but later, he tells Jackie Jr. that his mom died when Ralph was in 11th grade.
• Combat Pragmatist: Uses a frying skillet, a kitchen knife, a can of Raid and a knee to the groin in his fight to the death with Tony.
• Comforting the Widow: Rosalie Aprile. He cheats on her with Janice before long.
• Commonality Connection:
  • In Ralph's first scene, he expresses condolences to Tony for Tony's mother's passing and recalls with genuine grief that he lost his own mother too last year. Nevertheless, it comes off as a narcissistic attempt to be endearing.
  • Another scene that shows how similar Ralphie and Tony are with them both having abusive mothers. Tony almost tries to relate and connect with Ralphie about it, but Ralphie just gets up and leaves.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Whereas Junior and Richie represented the old guard of the mafia with their strict adherence to the rules and more blue-collar crime, Ralphie represented the younger, less disciplined gangsters of Tony's generation and their preference for white-collar crime. And unlike Junior or Richie, Ralphie never had any issue with Tony as the boss and never sought to supplant him.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: Although Tony ends up killing Ralph, he manages to get a number of good hits in on Tony that have him reeling and in great pain after.
• The Dandy: Ralph's suits aren't as loud or bright as Silvio's but he still dresses with a preppy, sartorial charm, favoring ascots in the image of Michael Corleone.
  Joe Pantoliano: I said to David that I didn’t want to look like those other guys. I wanted to look like a politician. Ralph was gonna be in business with politicians so I wanted to be able to fit in.
• Deadpan Snarker: His big mouth often gets him in trouble, so much so that Johnny Sack tries to have him killed for insulting his wife.
  Paulie: “I can’t believe this!”
  Ralphie: “Why not? Last year you believed there was a flying saucer over East Rutherford!”
• Death by Irony:
  • Ralph, a big fan of the movie Gladiator, has a fight to the death when his kitchen essentially turns into a small gladiatorial arena, complete with Ralph grabbing a bunch of nearby improvised weapons around him to strike Tony with.
  • If Tony did kill him over the dead horse and Ralph was innocent of that, then despite all the crimes Ralph committed and got away with that he deserved to be whacked for, he was murdered for something he didn't do.
• A Death in the Limelight: Despite many episodes focusing on Ralph, his death episode focuses on new sides of Ralph before he departs permanently.
• Disc-One Final Boss: In Season 3. From the moment he first appears, he creates turmoil among the Soprano Crime Family's ranks by encroaching on other gangsters' territory, engaging in random bursts of violence, and spurring Jackie Aprile Jr. to further acts of delinquency. However, after making him a capo in "He Is Risen", Tony brings his recalcitrant behavior to heel and he is largely neutralized as a direct threat to Tony's business and family.
• Disposing of a Body: His body gets the Cement Shoes while his hands and bald head are placed inside a bowling bag and buried in Mickey Palmice's father farm. Pantoliano took offense that shots of this prop head was used in promotional material, as it was scary to his kids.
• Dodgy Toupee: Tony is unsurprised when Christopher rips off the toupee by accident (he was attempting to grab Ralph's cadaver by the hair). The wig was ordered and designed by Pantoliano himself, who based it on Christopher Nolan (with whom Pantoliano worked on Memento). "I always loved Chris Nolan's hair".
• Drugs Are Bad: He blames his coke addiction for his bad behavior.
• Establishing Character Moment: The episode with Tracee becomes his entire defining element, both for the cast and the audience.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's often baffled why people chafe at some of his more disturbing and despicable acts.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He loves his son and is devastated when he's injured in an accident, becoming remorseful about his many sins.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a volatile and violent person himself, even he thought that Mustang Sally was too crazy.
• Fatal Flaw: Jerkass behavior and his Lack of Empathy: If the guy wasn't such a dick and rubbing everyone the wrong way, he would have lived longer.
• Fanboy: Of Gladiator. Eye Scream ensues for Georgie.
  • According to Pantoliano, Ralph grew addicted to The Godfather and really wanted to be Michael Corleone.
• Faux Affably Evil: He zig-zags between this and Affably Evil. He seems like a nice, friendly gentlemen. But it doesn't take much to showcase the vicious beast that he is, as Tracee found out.
• Foreshadowing: He is introduced in a scene in which Tony yells at him for unnecessarily setting trucks on fire. A later fire contributes to his death.
  • During an argument with him on the phone, Johnny Sack says "I should have let Tony cut your head off a year ago"; guess what eventually happens.
  • Ralph is almost killed on Johnny Sack's orders after making a fat joke about Johnny's wife, eventually, Johnny calms down and tells Tony "No more weight remarks...they're hurtful and they're destructive". Ralph doesn't learn this lesson and the last things he says to an angry Tony Soprano before he is murdered is "What are you a vegetarian? You eat beef and sausage by the fucking car load!" And "You fat fuck!"
• Freudian Excuse: Hinted at, crying in his very first scene about his mother passing away the previous year. It's hard to imagine a character like Ralph not having mommy issues.
  Joe Pantoliano: In my design of putting Ralph together, I always decided that he was sexually abused by his alcoholic mother’s boyfriends.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He is clearly despised by Tony and Paulie. None of the other mobsters even care when he goes missing and are more concerned with the possibility of Tony whacking a captain over such a trivial issue.
• The Gadfly: Loves provoking and harassing people, with (ultimately) fatal consequences for him.
• Gold Digger: He openly admits to Vito that he sees his relationship with Janice as a way to enhance his own career, In turn Janice, a gold digger herself, is quick to dump Ralphie when she identifies that the widower Bobby would be a much richer vein.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Begins to show genuine remorse and something resembling human compassion... and then he is written out of the show 20 minutes later thanks to a never-extinguished feud.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Intellectually, Ralph dwarfs most of his criminal associates. However, his obnoxious and unstable personality consistently works to frustrate his ascent within the underworld, despite his wide range of talents.
  • It's a relatively downplayed example but he seems to have a genuine enthusiasm for cooking, as evidenced by him showing Jackie Jr. how to properly prepare pasta, and by his disclosing to Tony the secret to making good scrambled eggs.
• Hypocrite: Ralphie, along with Jackie Jr., goes to collect money from a client of Middle Eastern descent, goading the man into a fight by making lewd comments about the man's wife. The client responds by calling Ralph a "wop" and swings a bat, and the two beat the man down and take his money. Ralphie of all people scolds the man for making racial slurs and suggests he take an anger management course. To top it off, when reporting the incident to Tony, he calls the man a "sand monkey".
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Wanted to be an architect, but the death of his mother truncated his dream, as he had to raise his large family. Additionally, he regrets not being part of the big hit against Feech LaManna, the breakthrough for Tony and his pals.
• Informed Ability: He's repeatedly praised as an amazing earner but we never see any outstanding example of great managerial skills or competence.
• In-Series Nickname: "Ralphie".
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: The Pie-Oh-My/Tracee situation is a literal instance of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking, with the "jaywalking" being calling Tony a carnivorous big eater (but without insulting him directly). That is precisely the straw that breaks the camel's back.
• Jerkass: BIG TIME! In a show full of people with anti-social behavior, he's one of the most triumphant examples, which is saying something. He hits Georgie on the head unprovoked, beats a pregnant stripper to death, makes fat jokes about Johnny Sacramoni's wife, and is insensitive about the death of an animal that Tony cared about.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • He conveys it in the cruelest and most unconscionable way, but he's not exactly wrong in telling Tracee that she's insane to want to have his child. Even putting aside how grim the kid's future might be with a sociopathic mobster and his 20-year-old stripper mistress for parents, Tracee herself is already an unfit mother to her son and is in no position, professionally or emotionally, to have another child.
  • He points out the hypocrisy of the crew's grandstanding about Ginny when they were all guilty of mocking her weight as well. He also rails against Johnny for raising such an issue on the topic when it's Ralph, personally, whose blood money is paying for Ginny's lifestyle anyway.
  • Ralph is unapologetically rude to Tony about Pie-Oh-My's death. However, Ralph correctly points out that Tony doesn't care about people suffering if he gets money out of it and the horse's death benefits the both of them financially. Arguably Tony's decision to kill Ralph had more to do with Ralph throwing his hypocrisy in his face than many of the other factors that seemed to have caused it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He's an obnoxious prick even on his best days, but he sometimes reveals a more tender and human side to himself. Just when you think that he might not be that bad, he reveals that nope he's a monster who doesn't give a damn who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants. It ultimately gets him killed.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: He gets away with brutally killing Tracee in cold-blood because he's a made man, but his luck eventually runs out once Tony accuses him of killing Pie-O-My, and strangles Ralphie to death for it. Ironically, whether Ralph actually killed Pie-O-My is left ambiguous, unlike his clearcut murder of Tracee.
• Karmic Death:
  • Ralph dies the same way he killed Tracee, being bludgeoned to death in a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown after pissing off the wrong person.
  • His death is also initiated by making another mean weight remark, like the one that almost got him whacked by Johnny Sack.
• Lack of Empathy: Is incapable of empathizing with anybody or seeing why his actions have upset people. This winds up getting him killed after Tony accuses him of killing Pie-O-My. Instead of simply denying it, Ralphie downplays the tragedy of the horse's death and callously disregards Tony's genuine grief.
  • Subverted somewhat, to everyone's surprise, after his son Justin is nearly killed. He even apologizes to Rosalie for the callous way he treated her after Jackie Jr.'s death, having now gone through a similar situation himself.
• Large Ham: Joe Pantoliano is clearly having a ball in the exuberant mischievous role of Ralph.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: It's well known that Joe Pantoliano is bald, so the revelation that Ralph wears a toupee and that Tony "knew all along" seems to be sideways addressing the audience's perceptions.
• Literalist Snarking: When Tony orders him to put an end to his arson, he makes a call back to the line "no more fires" while his crew is beating the crap out of some guys, but in a less flashy way.
• Manipulative Bastard: As evidenced in his interactions with Jackie Aprile Jr. in Season 3. While Jackie has hardly any respect for him, Ralph nonetheless turns him into an unwitting pawn for his own agenda by insidiously playing on the young man's oversized ego and ambitions.
• Mentor: For Jackie Jr.
• Mid-Season Twist: One of the few central antagonistic characters on the show who dies in the middle of a season. Other prominent characters are killed off in either a season's penultimate episode or in its finale.
• Never My Fault: Refuses to accept any responsibility for Tracee's brutal and undeserved death, protesting to Johnny Sack that she had it coming because she hit him.
• Nerves of Steel: For all of his faults, Ralph doesn't scare easy. Even when Tony gets in his face, he doesn't waver or shrink away like others might.
• Nice to the Waiter: Ralphie may be a vile murderer and woman beater, but at least he tips waiters.
• Not Me This Time: Possibly. It is never made clear whether he was truly behind the horse arson or not.
• Parents as People: His son, Justin, was inadvertently shot in the chest by an arrow while playing an unsupervised game of mock The Lord of the Rings with a bow and arrows, leaving Ralph guilt and grief-stricken.
• Passed-Over Promotion: By Gigi, as Tony deems Ralph is too volatile to be a captain. However, after realizing the rest of the crew respects Ralph more and Gigi dies from a heart attack, Tony relents and gives Ralph the job.
• Pet the Dog:
  • His treatment of Justin, his son.
  • He also seems to genuinely like Rosalie Aprile and tries to be a good father figure to Jackie. His encouragement of Jackie Jr.’s criminal activities is more from trying to impress Jackie and come off as a good “step-dad” type than any real desire to see Jackie hurt others or use him as a pawn.
  • Rosalie mentions that Ralph dropped out of the 11th grade to help raise his younger brothers and sisters.
• Posthumous Character: Appears in several dreams after his demise, including "The Strong, Silent Type" and "The Test Dream". Melfi interprets a Kafkaesque one as a confirmation of Redemption Equals Death.
• Pyromaniac: Arsonist, which falls in line with his Freudian sexual oddities.
  Remember guys-'no fires'!
• Remember the New Guy?: He is based in Miami during the first two seasons. Come season 3, he's treated as if he's been around forever. The trope is perhaps even more noticeable in Ralph's case than with most other characters since it's later established in episodes like "Amour Fou" that Ralph and Tony had known each other since they were young and formed an early crew with Jackie Aprile Sr. and Silvio. Ralph claims that he apparently just narrowly missed out on the card game heist that Tony and Jackie pulled on Feech, kicking off their ascensions. Additionally, in "Remember When", Paulie mentions that he, Ralph, and Big Pussy took Tony out to dinner shortly after the latter committed his first murder on Willie Overall, an event that Tony and Pussy briefly allude to in "From Where to Eternity" (which aired before Ralph was introduced) without mentioning Paulie or Ralph.
• Reverse Psychology: When they meet to discuss Jackie Junior's fate, Tony suggests Ralphie show leniency to him. He also makes it crystal clear that it's entirely Ralphie's problem, and he expects as a captain for him to show leadership on the issue. Ralphie immediately has Jackie executed.
• Sacrificial Lion: For all of his obnoxiousness and tension with Tony, Ralph's status as a captain as well as being one of the DiMeo family's top earners seemed to give him Plot Armor. His death at Tony's hands, which occurs in the middle of Season 4 rather than the finale at that, shows the audience that now Anyone Can Die at any point of the season and Tony is now willing to kill anybody for any reason rather than either adhering to the mafioso code or making a pragmatic business decision.
• Sadist: Is seen cackling behind the window after Silvio punches Tracee.
• Satanic Archetype: The show draws some subtle comparisons between the corrupting and mischievous Ralph and the Prince of Darkness.
• Smug Snake/Smug Smiler: Ralphie is usually too pleased with himself and smirking◊ for some reason or another.
• The Sociopath: Many characters are this to some degree, but Ralph is one of the more disturbing examples in the series.
• The Smart Guy: Intellectually, Ralph outclasses almost everyone else in the family. He's able to bring in the most money with his white-collar crime schemes, while also making quips and references that the others can't keep up with.
• The Starscream: Never actively works to remove Gigi from his position, but takes every opportunity to undermine his authority by making often snarky remarks about Cestone's decisions and overall competence.
• Stealing from the Till: Raises suspicions about funneling money from the esplanade project through his "Fernández Paving" company, as he seems to be living beyond his supposed means.
  Johnny Sack: This fucking Ralph is more creative than Spielberg. He's off almost four grand, third time in a row now. We agreed no looting the job site.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Richie, who is absent from the third season for obvious reasons. Both are unpleasant, sadistic jerks with a Lack of Empathy. Similarly, both are Tony Soprano's major headache and become involved in sadomasochistic relationships with Janice. However, unlike Richie, Ralph had more Character Development.
• Stupid Evil: His obnoxiousness and casually evil behaviour gets him wacked by Tony after being confrontative with the boss one last time. No one misses him.
• The Troublemaker: The guy is a walking fracas. Tony can't even get a blowjob in peace because Ralph decides to recreate a gladiatorial fight in the Bing with Georgie's head.
• Too Clever by Half: He spends a lot of his time Surrounded by Idiots and is quite aware of it. Insufferably so. Ralph's conceited nature and clever mouth conspire against him time and again.
• Too Much Alike: Part of the reason Ralph gets on Tony's nerves so much is that the two of them have very similar qualities, including their intelligence, temperamental personalities, love of films, etc., with the difference being that Ralph accepts who he is and never pretends otherwise.
• Tragic Villain: Was (possibly) sexually abused as a child, which may be what lead him to become the scumbag that shows up in the third season.
• Uncertain Doom: In-universe, Tony first tells Chris during the clean-up that he found him half-dead already, and then tries to pass his disappearance as retribution from New York. It doesn't fully fly, as his underlings know better, but they never confront Tony about it.
• Villainous Valor: Either this or Bullying a Dragon, but he's willing to take on a big guy like Tony if he has to...
• Villain Protagonist: A great deal of Seasons 3 and 4 revolve around Ralphie being a royal pain for Tony, creating problems and becoming a Deuteragonist at times thanks to getting some narrative spotlight.
• Wicked Cultured: Ralph is clearly the smartest out of all the guys rivaling Tony himself and Tony B, and he showcases a knowledge of business, history, and cooking among other subjects. If he wasn't such a prick, and a psychotic maniac, he might have lasted longer.
• Word of Saint Paul: Joe Pantoliano says that Ralph was sexually abused as a child. Some manner of childhood abuse is implied in "Mergers and Acquisitions", but never made explicit within the show.
• Would Hit a Girl: He would beat her to death, in fact.
• You Are Fat: Fat jokes and remarks get Ralph in very hot waters. First with Ginny and Johnny Sack, then finally with a furious Tony.

Christopher Moltisanti

See his character page here.

Carlo Gervasi

Carlo Gervasi

"But some people think it's against our principles Ton. A sin."

Played by: Arthur J. Nascarella

"What'd they find up your mother's cunt?"

Capo in the DiMeo crime family as of Season 4.

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• Ascended Extra: Barely seen in the first few seasons, he becomes very important by Season 6.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Initially a very soft-spoken background character with few lines, he reveals himself in Season 6 to be a very vicious individual with a high capacity for homophobic violence.
• The Butcher: Invoked in the imagery of him killing Fat Dom Gamiello, where Carlo stabs him repeatedly with a butcher knife that leaves his apron stained with blood.
• Disproportionate Retribution: What is Carlo's reaction to Fat Dom making a couple of homophobic jokes about him and Silvio? Using his butcher knife to stab Dom to death of course! Even Silvio, who just wanted to teach Dom a lesson by beating the shit out of him, lets out a "NO!" when he sees Carlo reaching for the butcher knife.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He loves his son, Jason, and rats on Tony to save him from prison.
• Heteronormative Crusader: Easily the most homophobic member of the crew, jumping at the opportunity to take out Vito. He also takes serious offense to Fat Dom calling the Jersey guys gay.
• Informed Flaw: We are not really shown why Carlo is such a poor earner, in contrast to Ralph and Vito who are presented with the opposite trope.
• Irony:
  • He's all for killing Vito, but ends up unknowingly helping to avenge him when he kills Fat Dom when the latter throws some homophobic jokes at Silvio and Carlo.
  • When the news of Vito's homosexuality is revealed to Tony and the capos, Carlo is the one who is most vocal about Vito needing to be rubbed out for his violation of the Mafia code, even praising Phil's unsanctioned hit on him. In the final season, he commits an even greater violation of Mafia code when he decides to break omertà and testify against Tony.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Tony rather severely disrespects him in the months leading up to his betrayal, but it's left ambiguous as to how much this rift plays into his decision to turn state witness.
• The Peter Principle: Presumably a good soldier, he gets to be a captain thanks to seniority, but his managerial skills suck:
  Tony: Maybe you should start sucking cock instead of watching TV Land, 'cause Vito brought in three times what you do on construction! Yeah! And I didn't have this fuckin' problem!
• Pet the Dog: Despite his ruthlessness and homophobia, we get a few moments that show Carlo isn't completely a vicious bastard and cares for other people.
  • He is genuinely concerned for Bobby when he is put in the hospital.
  • His relationship with Tony is mostly negative but he still tries to comfort him after AJ's attempted suicide.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite having relatively few lines in the entire series, it's implied that him turning government witness may be the thing that will eventually bury Tony. If Tony's still alive, of course.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: While all of the mobsters, save Patsy, are homophobic, Carlo stands out. After Phil viciously murders Vito for being gay, Carlo praises him, despite the fact that by doing so, Phil broke a major rule in the Mafia by killing a made man not in his own family without an okay.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Played with in "Chasing It"; he compares Tony's luck with an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). Tony, never a big fan of sci-fi, immediately chides him for it, but when Tony goes to Las Vegas on a weird trip, Carlo's comparison gets vindicated.

Raymond "Ray" Curto

Raymond "Ray" Curto

"No one's going to the mattresses this day and age."

Played by: George Loros

"To sell out your friends and save your own ass? It's despicable! That's one ride I would have loved to have been along on!"

A long-running capo in the family.

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• Beneath Notice: He seems to prefer it this way as it deflects attention from being an FBI informant.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: He barely starts thanking everyone for coming to his birthday dinner before Tony comes in and hogs the attention.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Is one of the better-liked and unassuming gangsters in the show, and is never seen personally whacking anybody like the vast majority of the other Capos. He's also a rat who's been feeding the FBI information for years.
• Cool Old Guy: Very popular with the DiMeo family, everyone mourns his death while no one suspects him of being a rat (except for Eugene).
• A Day in the Limelight: An important scene of the Season 5 finale takes place at his birthday dinner, but Tony quickly arrives and steals the spotlight.
• Deadpan Snarker: Is fond of these.
• His Name Is...: Has a fatal aneurysm right before he can finish imparting some information to the FBI.
• The Mole: The longest-lasting confirmed mole of the series, and he ends up dying without being uncovered as one.
• Non-Action Guy: Isn't shown to partake in any whackings or other dirty work given his age and his son's health issues, which is mainly why he rejected the role of Boss.
• Offered the Crown: During the final days of Jackie Aprile, Tony proposes Ray to step up as boss of the family. Ray declines, mentioning his ill son.
• Sole Survivor: Other than Tony and Junior, he's the only capo left alive or not in jail after Season 1.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Quips that Rusty Irish's death (being thrown off a bridge into a river) was the first time he had ever taken a bath.

Vito Spatafore

Vito Spatafore

"I'm a fucking captain now! You don't talk to me like that."

Played by: Joseph R. Gannascoli

"Sometimes you tell a lie so long... you don't know when to stop. You don't know when it's safe."

A rising member from the Cifaretto crew and a closeted homosexual.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Vito definitely isn't a good person but he dies in such a brutal and undignified manner that it's hard not to feel bad for him. It doesn't help he was killed merely for being gay rather than any of the actual crimes he committed in his career as a mobster.
• Ambiguously Bi: Although he's referred to as homosexual, he has two children, a wife, and more than one goomah. He's also said to have attempted to hook up with Adriana while Chris was hospitalized. The possibility of bisexuality never comes up, probably as it's very unlikely an ultra-macho and homophobic culture (that even going down on a woman is seen as evidence of homosexuality) as the mafia would have nuanced views on queerness.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's not exactly clear whether Vito was planning to murder Finn after taking him to the ball game. The episode strongly implies that Vito wants to ensure his silence in any way possible, but when Vito gets stood up, he still goes in to watch the game, implying that the game wasn't just an excuse to get Finn alone. We don't see Vito make any overt attempts to harm Finn thereafter, so it's possible Vito really was just going to take Finn aside and ask him to remain silent about what he saw.
• Ambition Is Evil: An interesting The Starscream variation; he begins to postulate himself slowly as a big boss candidate, in a particularly greedy way during a delicate moment when Tony is indisposed.
  • Notably, in the earlier seasons, when he was working under Richie, Gigi, and Ralphie, even though Vito was still an unscrupulous mobster, he appeared to get along well with everyone in the DiMeo crew and was very deferential to those above him. In "He is Risen", when Ralph starts complaining openly about Tony to him and Eugene in a diner, Vito becomes uncomfortable (even looking over his shoulder to make sure nobody is listening in on them) and tries to emphasize that Tony's role as boss gives him certain privileges over them. Once he steps into a leadership position after Ralphie's death, this reverence appears to diminish as he starts to feel comfortable with his new power. He's happy to gossip about Tony and Adriana's embarrassing situation in "Irregular Around the Margins" and gets angry when Chris retaliates by insulting him and throwing food at him, as it's something his captaincy should preclude. He also openly complains about the Tony Blundetto situation with the other mobsters at Ray Curto's birthday dinner in "All Due Respect", only shutting up when Tony enters the room.
• Armored Closet Gay: Living your life in the hyper-homophobic mafia has made him this. He's not only married but he also keeps a goomah for appearances' sake. Even after going on the run due to his homosexuality and falling in love with Johnny Cakes, he still punches the guy after their first kiss out of reflexive panic. Johnny Cakes calls him a "Closet Queen" and has obviously dealt with this before.
• Ascended Extra: Gannascoli himself was originally cast in a bit part in season one before being cast as Vito, who began as a very minor soldier, then rose up through the ranks to the point of becoming capo and a member of Tony's inner circle.
• Asshole Victim: Downplayed. While the series makes it clear that he was a mobster who killed innocent civilians in cold blood and briefly wanted to usurp Tony as boss, Vito's murder is portrayed in a rather pitiful light since he was brutally killed on the orders of his very own brother-in-law. His death also didn't come about because of the actual crimes he committed, but because he was gay in the homophobic Mafia.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Initially in Season 6, when he tries to start a coup against Tony in order to become boss of the family, especially when Tony is in his coma and causes Vito to bet on Tony not surviving. Then Vito is outed, and any potential he had in becoming an antagonist is quickly diminished.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: On the surface, Vito comes across as affable and even-tempered (especially when compared to the violent and extremely volatile mobsters in his company). However, upon closer examination beneath his sunny demeanor, he is shown to be duplicitous and ruthlessly opportunistic in pursuit of filling his pockets and amassing clout within the DiMeo crime family. For instance, he makes loaded statements about Tony "not being around forever" to Eugene; covertly suggesting that Eugene murder Tony to receive preferential treatment when Vito takes his place. Likewise, upon being witnessed performing oral sex on a guy by Meadow's boyfriend, he corners the young man and tries to ensure his silence by menacingly "inviting" him to an Yankees game. Furthermore, while Tony is convalescing in the hospital, Vito conspires to swindle him and his family out of a large percentage of his recent earnings.
• Boom, Headshot!: How he kills Jackie Aprile, Jr. and some guy in New Hampshire whose car he hit.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Tony regards him like this. His "quirk" is somehow forgivable because, like Ralph before him, he's a big earner, unlike Gervasi:
  Tony (to Gervasi): Maybe you should start sucking cock instead of watching TV Land 'cause Vito brought in three times what you do on construction! Yeah! And I didn't have this fuckin' problem!
• Bury Your Gays: The only prominent character in the cast to be confirmed as gay. He's also murdered by the Luppertazzi family on Phil Leotardo's orders because of his homosexuality.
• Butt-Monkey: Plenty of jokes are made at his expense, either by other characters or by the show itself (he's so fat he breaks and falls from a chair, has problems to keep up while doing physical, street work, etc...) And it only gets worse after his secret comes out.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • No traces of his homosexuality in the first four seasons, while there are some under the table actions on the opposite direction, like calling Adriana everyday while Christopher is on rehab.
  • A mention to his special relationship with Phil Leotardo would be expected during the Blundetto crisis in Season 5, but none is given. In Season 6 they are revealed to be cousins-in-law and close, which makes things personal.
• The Dragon: To Ralph Cifaretto.
• Dragon Ascendant: After Ralph’s murder Vito is promoted to captain of the crew.
• Driven to Suicide: Subverted; after going on the run once he's discovered to be gay, the camera focuses on him and his gun many times, but he never kills himself.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • He clearly cares about his wife Marie and his children. While in New Hampshire he calls Marie and tells her the location of some hidden money so she can use it to support the family. Upon returning he tells his children he works for the C.I.A in order to spare their feelings.
  • He genuinely loves Johnny Cakes.
  • He is enraged when his brother Bryan is rendered comatose by Mustang Sally.
• Falsely Reformed Villain: Has a shot at civilian life, but decides that it's just too much work.
• Formerly Fat: He's imbued with new ambition and drive after a massive loss of weight. Subverted or downplayed—he's still fat after his weight loss, just not incredibly obese like before which is quite realistic for real obese people.
• Foreshadowing: Vito is present when the guys are sitting around "breaking balls" at a construction site and Eugene says Little Paulie's girlfriend's mustache is so thick "...it must have been like kissing a fireman". When Vito is eventually outed he runs off to New Hampshire and dates a volunteer fireman with one hell of a mustache.
  • After Eugene Pontecorvo's suicide, Vito randomly speculates that it was brought on from him having to stay in the closet. It turns out that Vito was projecting quite a bit when he said that.
  • A subtle one, but in "Mayham", Phil Leotardo and his wife is having dinner with Vito and his. Phil comments that when Vito married his sister, "he looked like John Travolta". John Travolta has been the subject of homosexual rumors for several years.
• Gayngster: Vito is a capo and an "ass muncher". A straight deconstruction of the trope, as this is not a tolerable mix in the underworld, and he learns it the hard way; being gay and a mobster is very incompatible with being alive.
• Good Is Boring: After being outed, he has a shot of starting a new civilian life in New Hampshire with a handsome boyfriend and being appreciated for doing genuinely good deeds, but he decides it's too dull in the end and goes back to New Jersey to beg Tony for a position in the family again. Even Tony wishes Vito had stayed where he was because there's no way he can be accepted back now.
• Jabba Table Manners: When he flees New Jersey after him being gay is found out, he eats spareribs in the car whilst driving and wipes off his hands on his own pants.
• Implausible Deniability: After being caught by multiple people, he refuses to admit being gay even when caught directly in the act having male-to-male relations, such as playing it off as a gag or saying it was a side-effect of his medication. It's a ridiculously unbelievable lie, and nobody buys it. He does have good reason at least, since being openly gay in his line of business is a death sentence.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Finn witnesses his interest in men, and is called to "testify" later by the mobsters.
• Kick the Dog: On his way back to Jersey, Vito crashes into another car and, after failing to reach a friendly settlement, he kills the other driver, as the man was going to report the accident to the police. The event underscores that Vito might garner sympathy as a victim of homophobia, but that doesn't cancel that he's still a murderous mobster.
• Leather Man: When some mobsters discover him at a gay bar, his outfit is the reason he can't claim he was there on business. The witnesses make special mention of his outfit and hat as proof.
• Meet Cute: Finds a handsome short-order cook/fireman boyfriend in New England.
• Mook Promotion: Starts as a regular made man in the Aprile crew and becomes a prominent DiMeo capo in a few years due to the High Turnover Rate of the position.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: His musings about betraying Tony, and his horrific slaying upon being outed as gay, both reference John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato, a former acting boss of the North Jersey Mafia and a family capo hand-picked by no less than John Gotti. After reputedly conspiring with Gotti to kill Corky Vastola, D'Amato was promoted when Corky went to prison instead; outed as bisexual to his closest associates by his spiteful girlfriend, they chose to have John whacked, in direct violation of Cosa Nostra law, rather than suffer the embarrassment of the word getting out.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: His wife is Phil Leotardo's cousin, but their friendly closeness falls appart and Phil considers Vito's mere existence a personal insult when Vito is outed.
  Phil: I loved him like a brother-in-law.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Drops the N-word on one occasion, and is none too accepting of homosexuality, despite being gay himself.
• Red Herring: It looks like he's about to be The Starscream in Season 6. He does become a thorn in Tony's side, but for a completely different reason.
• Secret Identity: Flees from Jersey and starts a new life in New England, at first posing as a writer.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Doesn't have a singular fatal vice, but his sinful living as a whole does him in.
  • Pride: Doesn't want to admit he's gay to his family or other family because he still views it as a flaw and it wounds his ego. The fact that he won't admit it and thus can't begin to work with Tony on a solution makes Tony decide to wack him, though Phil gets to Vito first.
  • Greed: Goes back to Jersey so he can reclaim assets and start earning again, despite the promise of a crime-free life in New Hampshire with Johnny Cakes.
  • Wrath: Extremely prone to violence, even killing some random civilian in New Hampshire because he accidentally hit the dude's car.
  • Envy: Contemplates usurping Tony as mob boss.
  • Lust: Caught in a kinky club trying to have sex with some dude in nipple piercings. His relationship with Johnny Cakes also implies that he never actually had a romantic relationship with a man before, only sexual.
  • Gluttony: Obese and is called a "land whale" in one instance by Christopher, though he does manage to slim down.
  • Sloth: Often seen sitting and relaxing during scenes. Not wanting to do manual labor is the tipping point that sends him back to Jersey, and straight to his death at the hands of the Lupertazzis.
• Shame If Something Happened: Vito uses his weight loss as a pretext to say that, with Tony's unhealthy lifestyle, he might not be around forever, and Vito himself might be next in line.
• The Starscream: When Eugene is distraught over Tony's refusal to allow him to retire, Vito tells him that it would be a shame if Tony died prematurely and that he, Vito, might be next in line for the throne.
• Straight Gay: Even for a mobster. At one point there is a conversation about how Vito would have been the last one suspected of being gay. When the crew first hears about it, most of them immediately dismiss it based on his behavior, up to and including being married with kids and having a female goomah.
• Too Dumb to Live: No one would have learned about his proclivities if he had simply been more discreet. Even worse, he actually thought it would be a good idea to return to Jersey after they found out, thinking they would turn the other cheek. A deleted scene where Tony gives him a False Reassurance and promises that Vito would eventually return to the fold mitigates this, up to a point.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Phil Leotardo, as his cousin-in-law. That all comes crashing down when Vito is outed.
• Work Hard, Play Hard: He gives it a short-lived go during his new life in New Hampshire, it's a disaster. Nobody is interested in spending all night playing darts and poker in a pub, and Vito only last a day doing a 9 to 5 construction work until he decides to move back to his old life in Jersey.

James "Jimmy" Altieri

James "Jimmy" Altieri

"We need a supreme commander at the top, not the fuckin Dave Clark Five!"

Played by: Joe Badalucco

"They were asking me a lot of questions in there, you know? If I knew anything about the dead Colombian, the apartment and all that?"

One of the original five captains and capo of the Altieri crew at the start of the series.

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• Ambiguous Situation: As sketchy as his behavior was, Jimmy, unlike every other notable rat in the series, is never explicitly shown cooperating with the FBI, nor do they discuss him or his fate other than to reassure Big Pussy that Jimmy's death has freed him of suspicion. His reaction to his impending death has also been interpreted a number of ways by fans, some of whom believe his despair after Silvio shows up was brought on more by knowing he was a dead man no matter what than any real admission of guilt.
• Boxed Crook: Implied to have turned state's witness after being arrested during an FBI raid on a pool hall he owns.
• Cigar Chomper: Almost never seen without one.
• Death Trap: Lured to his death by Christopher's promises to get him "acquainted" with a beautiful Russian woman.
• Desecrating the Dead: To drive the point home about snitching, he's also punished post-mortem; a rat is stuffed into his mouth and Christopher calls in a bomb threat to his wake.
• Distracted by the Sexy: He really likes the ladies, something which Chris and Silvio use to their advantage when killing him.
• Fatal Flaw: An odd one, but he has a weakness for the ladies. Chris and Silvio use this to lure him to his death.
• Fat Bastard: His weight is pointed out by several characters and Tony theorizes that it's the reason Makazian mistook him for Pussy. Of course, Makazian was probably right in his initial identification, and Jimmy only turned informant later on.
• The Mole: The first FBI informant discovered. Like all the subsequent moles in a strict sense, he's an inversion, as the villain protagonist's point of view reverses some concepts.
• Oh, Crap!: His reaction once he realizes he's been exposed and Christopher takes away his emergency sidearm.
• Too Dumb to Live: Jimmy is blatantly inquisitive and gives away his nature as an informant through his shifty behavior after he's released, coming to Tony's house to talk insistently and proddingly about some Colombian money of the gang that would be marked by the FBI. He then ignores Tony's hints about how unlikely lucky Jimmy is for being released of a gun charge while already on bail from something else. He finally seals his fate by calling a meeting solely to get the other members of the family to incriminate themselves.
  Tony: All of a sudden he asks for a meeting, to discuss shit we already covered. He's wearing a wire.

Lorenzo "Larry Boy" Barese

Lorenzo "Larry Boy" Barese

"Do you remember me, Larry Boy Barese?"

Played by: Tony Darrow

"Hey fuckstick, they ever show you these in medical school? They're called balls."

One of the original five captains and capo of the Barese crew at the start of the series.

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• Affably Evil: Possibly the nicest and most soft-spoken out of any of the capos. Even his occasional ball-busting comes off as friendly and endearing rather than malicious.
• Bearer of Bad News: Breaks the news to all of the capos during his daughter's wedding in "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" that the FBI is preparing to hand out federal indictments. This ends up ruining the wedding after all of the attending Mafiosi abruptly leave out of paranoia. Ironically, he is only one of three DiMeo Mafiosi to receive an indictment.
• Cigar Chomper: Frequently seen with one.
• Commuting on a Bus/Demoted to Extra: After he is sent to jail in the season 1 finale, he only appears from time to time, but maintains his captaincy throughout the series.
• Oh, Crap!: When an FBI agent catches him red-handed while violating his parole.
• Out of Focus: Despite running the largest crew in New Jersey, he and Ally Boy are the only members to make an appearance. Even when he was out of prison, Larry only made rare appearances.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He's a lot more professional than other characters and avoids unnecessary drama whenever he can. Despite not going his way, he doesn't take Tony's decision on the garbage route dispute personally, unlike Richie. He gets upset at Junior undermining his business in Season 1 and at Tony for putting his life at risk by protecting Tony B in Season 5, which are all reasonable grievances. But even then, he doesn't raise a big fuss beyond a couple of complaints. In any case, starting petty drama is bad for business to him; there's a reason why he and his crew are never involved in any serious conflicts within the show.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of the series, other than Tony and Junior, he's the only Season 1 capo still alive. And given Tony's Uncertain Doom and Junior's Loss of Identity, he's arguably the only one period.
• The Stool Pigeon: Discussed as the source behind the unburial of Tony's first murder, with the suggestion that he gave false information not to incriminate Tony and Paulie. It later turns out he gives them false information, blaming the murder on Jackie Aprile, Sr.
• Tempting Fate: He violates his parole several times by socializing in restaurants and events, despite being under house arrest. He's finally caught in the act during the premiere of Cleaver, getting him sent back to prison.
• Uncertain Doom: Following his second arrest over a parole violation, Larry is reportedly due for a retrial; it's never stated what the outcome is before the series ends.
• Undying Loyalty: Refuses to rat Tony out to the FBI when pressed to reveal information on his first murder, claiming the deceased Jackie Sr. committed the murder instead.

Albert "Ally Boy" Barese

Albert "Ally Boy" Barese

"Make a move against Tony Soprano? No way."

Played by: Richard Maldone

"Can you imagine that? You get a facelift and one week later you're in jail?"

Acting capo of the Barese crew.

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• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his strange habit of repeating what his fellow mobsters are saying, Albert is actually a high earner within the family who successfully holds the Barese crew together while his cousin is away.
• Department of Redundancy Department: His Verbal Tic of repeating other people's words, and this line which he says to Richie Aprile:
  (Referring to Larry): He's in no position to go into the unknown not knowing.
• The Echoer: It isn't for nothing that Paulie once referred to him as a "fucking parakeet". He does this to such a degree that, when Tony uses Albert's very own tic against him, Albert just copies him right back.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Like a lot of capos he sees Tony's murder of Ralphie as out of line and frivolous since it was over a horse and thinks Tony will soon kill people over wearing the wrong shoes. Apparently not understanding the cumulative effect of Ralphie's toxic behavior and gratuitous murder of Tracee would have made this the last straw.
• Hidden Depths: He not only stays under the radar, but he's also a high earner despite his odd quirk of parroting what other people are saying, surpassing Paulie at one point.
• Hufflepuff House: The most inconspicuous captain in Tony's gang.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In spite of his little quirk, Ally Boy is a fairly savvy mobster: not only is he good at handling conflict and avoiding trouble, but he also correctly deduces that Tony killed Ralph over Pie-Oh-My. Whether or not his parroting is genuine or an act to make himself look simple is unknown.
  Junior: He's a slippery fuck.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Despite getting shafted on the garbage trucking issue, he recognizes along with Larry Boy that it was expected and that they're better off sticking with Tony instead of revolting with Richie over the decision. Furthermore, he admits that even though he "wouldn't piss on this guy Ralph if he was on fire," Tony's likely role in his death was unwarranted and set a bad precedent.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Ralph's Red, they show up right around the same time and immediately have a conflict with each other. Albert is told to shut up and solve the conflict and is rarely seen, meanwhile Ralphie becomes one of the biggest troublemakers on the show.
• Stop Copying Me: Tends to get this implicit reaction from others. Another offendant like Paulie (of all people) seems particularly annoyed.
  Paulie: Fuck that fucking parakeet!
  • May or may not be part of his Obfuscating Stupidity, as it allows him to confirm what's being said and show he's listening with a much lower chance of incriminating himself.
• Undying Loyalty: He shows a lot of loyalty to Tony Soprano, siding with Tony against Richie when Richie wanted Tony dead. However, out of personal concern, his loyalty wavers when he suspects that Tony murdered Ralph.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: During Jackie Jr.'s big robbery Albert steps out of the bathroom, which startles Carlo Renzi into firing his shotgun, which scares away Jackie's getaway driver and puts the drug-addled gunmen on edge, which leads to a shootout in which Sunshine, Carlo, and Dino are killed and Furio is shot.
• Verbal Tic: Tends to repeat whatever the person he's talking to just said.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears in Season 5 after Larry Boy returns, and he is never mentioned again.^note Most likely because of Richard Maldone's 2003 imprisonment for drug charges.

Gigi Cestone

Gigi Cestone

"Maybe you shouldn't spread that rumor. That's some ugly shit."

Played by: John Fiore

"With extreme fucking prejudice."

An enforcer introduced in Season 2.

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• Affably Evil: He can be polite and calm, but he has been shown to brutally murder other made men and wanted to (understandably) do so to Ralphie Cifaretto.
• Boring, but Practical: Lacks any of Ralph's flamboyancy, which makes him a more dependable captain and a forgettable character, this becomes gradually subverted as Tony begins to consider stripping Gigi of his captaincy.
• The Chains of Commanding: After he is made captain, the stress of containing Ralphie adds a new toll to his health.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Bites it halfway through Season 3 in a pretty undignified way.
  Tony (in the series finale): Gigi died takin' a shit!
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Ralph constantly and openly breaks his balls, and is not particularly well received by the rest of the crew either.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: He defect's from Junior's crew to Tony's camp.
• Mauve Shirt: Receives little unique characterization but is still important in the storyline involving Ralph in Season 3.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After shooting Philly Parisi, Gigi must regularly interact with Philly's identical twin brother Patsy. This is another contributing factor to his mounting stress.
• Posthumous Character: One of the many characters to appear in Season 5's "The Test Dream".
• Rank Up: Is made captain of the Aprile crew in Season 3.
• The Reliable One: Tony trusts him over Ralph, as Gigi is clearly more stable and manageable, on account of not being a psychopath.
• The Rival: Ralph's, who was gunning for the promotion awarded to Gigi, a decision that makes Ralphie resentful to his new captain.
• The Stoic: He shows very little emotion throughout his time on the show, apart from occasionally complaining to Tony and Ralph about the latter's insubordination.
• Undignified Death: Suffers a heart attack while constipated on the toilet in the middle of a meeting with his crew, and surrounded by porn magazines, though Tony does his best to paint it in a more dignified light by comparing him to Elvis.