Being a show about The Mafia, The Sopranos has no shortage of people who cross the line in order to get what they want. These examples are the most notable.
- Livia putting a hit on Tony, her own son in "Nobody Knows Anything".
- If Uncle Junior didn't cross it when he conspired with Livia to have Tony killed, he did when he ordered Donnie's death in "Isabella".
- Richie crossed it with Beansie's brutal paralyzation for refusing to be shaken down in "Toodle Fucking Oo", and continued to threaten him.
- Janice's behavior is less heinous than other characters—they're all gangsters, after all—but what could be more petty, selfish, and personally evil than stealing a woman's prosthetic leg because she won't give you some vinyl records that were willed to her, not you, and which you planned to sell on eBay?
- Mustang Sally crosses it with Bryan Spatafore's brutal paralyzation in "Another Toothpick", leaving him in a coma. He also mocked this.
- Here's another candidate for him: According to Ralph Cifaretto, he says that this guy threw a hot dog vendor off the second-floor mezzanine at Giants Stadium for serving too many onions on his hot dog.
- Ralph has two candidates:
- In "University", he ruthlessly beats his pregnant girlfriend Tracee to death with his bare hands... just because she pisses him off.
- A very debatable one occurs when Ralph gains some sympathy after his son is injured, but it turns out that he killed Tony's beloved racehorse for the insurance money in "Whoever Did This".
- Debatable because Ralph never actually admits to it and there's no proof that he was responsible. An argument can be made that Tony's love for animals was responsible for how he couldn't see the horse's death as anything but murder, and his dreams in the following episode seem to hint he knew deep down that Ralph may have been innocent in the matter.
- Paulie isn't better. He has two candidates:
- Christopher has three candidates:
- Ratting out Adriana, leading to her murder in "Long Term Parking".
- This incident doubles as one for Silvio.
- Paralyzing a waiter with a rock...just because the guy pisses him off.
- For some fans, Christopher crosses it with JT Dolan's murder, his own friend.
- To Michael Imperioli's amusement, many fans feel he crossed it when he kills Adriana's dog Cosette in "The Strong Silent Type". It was an accident but he refuses to accept any responsibility and shows no signs of remorse over the incident.
- Ratting out Adriana, leading to her murder in "Long Term Parking".
- Johnny Boy Soprano might have crossed it in "Fortunate Son" when he cut off Mr. Satriale's finger with a butcher knife for failing to pay a gambling debt. However, the only reason this is a might is that, as a hardened mobster and criminal, it's quite possible that he was already over the line from the start.
- The events depicted in "In Camelot" amply provide a strong MEH candidate for Johnny Soprano. Not only does he neglect his pregnant wife Livia to fornicate with his mistress, but the day she miscarries, Johnny is too busy messing around with said mistress to be there to comfort and support the mother of his children in the time of her greatest need. And on top of that, he cajoles his son Tony to lie about their whereabouts in Livia's time of crisis, just to cover his own ass. Say what you will about Livia and her narcissistic, manipulative, and outright abusive ways- the callous disregard of her husband (and by extension, her only son), is a betrayal that no person should have to suffer, especially at a time like that.
- The Jasons and A.J. Soprano's actions — They crossed it in "Walk Like a Man", where they used A.J.'s SUV to take a gambler into the woods and torture him by pouring sulfuric acid on his toes.
- Tony Soprano himself has two candidates:
- "Sopranos Home Movies": Forcing Bobby to murder someone over something trivial as he feels Bobby offended his pride by beating him in a fight after Tony was antagonizing Janice and refused to stop when Bobby asked.
- "Kennedy and Heidi": Murdering Christopher, even if Tony has his reasons due to Christopher's drug addiction and unreliability.
- In-Universe, Tony, Paulie, and Silvio seem to consider their murder of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero in "Funhouse" for being a rat to be their own MEH, as they are all haunted by it for the rest of the show to various degrees, not to mention the nervous breakdown suffered by Tony the night before when he realized that Pussy was a rat and that he needed to kill him..
- Arguably, Carmela crossed it when she decided to ignore her therapist's advice in "Second Opinion". The psychiatrist bluntly tells Carmela that she should leave Tony with her children (or what's left of them) and that by living on the wealth coming from her husband's crimes, she is either his accomplice or enabler. This is the first time Carmela has been confronted with her hypocrisy and selfishness, especially since she is entirely concerned about Tony cheating on her instead of his other (far more) heinous actions. With all her other excuses torn to pieces, the only one she has left is that she doesn't want to give up her mob wife lifestyle. So instead of going through with the man's advice, she stays with Tony and further subjects her children to a dangerous situation. Carmela knows that everything the therapist said was true, but chooses to ignore this.
- Vito torpedos any chance he has at redemption when he goes back to Jersey and guns down a civilian to keep him from getting cops involved in a car accident, that Vito caused by driving drunk.
- Phil Leotardo crosses it with his extremely brutal murder of Vito, just for being gay, in "Cold Stones".
