Tony Soprano to be Whacked in Final Season?

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

IF any television character has a bullet, or meat cleaver, with his name on it, it's Tony Soprano.

As HBO's "The Sopranos" counts down its final nine episodes beginning next Sunday, the existential question hanging over the series is: Should Tony live or die? Given the show's bleak themes, anything less than killing him off could be construed as a miscarriage of justice — and a dramatic sellout.

After six seasons, even Tony doesn't seem to like his chances. In therapy, the married father of two admitted to his psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, that there are two outcomes for "guys like me" — prison or death.

The New Jersey don has meted out death to family (cousin Tony Blundetto), friend (Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero), and foe (witness protection turncoat Fred Peters) alike. He has sanctioned many more cold-blooded hits, of course, as on his daughter's boyfriend Jackie Jr. or on his nephew's fiancée, Adriana. He once even tried to snuff out his smothering mother, Livia, with, appropriately enough, a hospital pillow.

The crime boss' intuition is dead-on, argues Al Gini, who contributed an essay for the 2004 book "The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am." By summer, says Gini, whose essay was called "Bada-Being and Nothingness: Murderous Melodrama or Morality Play?," Tony will be sleeping with the fishes.

"Tony has got to be killed. It's the only satisfying ending," said Gini, a philosophy professor at Loyola University in Chicago who has incorporated Soprano's leadership traits into a business ethics course. "We're not talking about Robin Hood here, someone that takes from the rich and gives to the poor. We're talking about a hood. If Tony doesn't lose everything, what's the message? The bad guy gets away with it all?"

Gini isn't suggesting a Sgt. Joe Friday "crime doesn't pay" lecture as much as a dramatization of the biblical injunction that those who live by the sword, die by the sword. God's judgment may be evident, but a sudden, violent death for Tony would also have to do with probability. In other words, those who live with mobsters, drug dealers, loan sharks and waste management consultants are probably going to die like them.

But popular L.A. mystery writer Robert Crais still would find such a finale overly simplistic, out of sync with the complexity and sophistication that have been earmarks of the show's storytelling. There are things worse than death, after all. Tony should survive some type of mob conflagration, said the former writer for "Hill Street Blues," "Miami Vice" and "Cagney & Lacey," but not without dire consequences.

"I don't think the audience would be happy if Tony gets a bullet to the head," said Crais, who wrote the bestselling fictional thriller "The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel." "In the end, he should be promoted, but where the cost far exceeds the triumph."

When it comes to story lines, "The Sopranos" breaks all the rules, but that hasn't stopped oddsmakers from weighing in on how the show will end. The line seems to recommend not betting against the man with a back office at the Bada Bing! At an online gambling site based in Costa Rica called Bodog.com, the odds are running 1 to 2 against Tony's demise, according to Bodog.com founder Calvin Ayre. However, Tony's nephew Christopher Moltisanti is a 2-to-1 favorite to be a stiff before the final curtain falls. (Tony's son, A.J., is a 15-to-1 family long shot to die.)

Certainly, there are no shortage of "Sopranos" characters with the opportunity and motive to knock off Tony. Perpetually disgruntled Paulie Walnuts, rival mob boss and recently imprisoned Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, even nephew Christopher all would be credible assailants to perform the foul deed. But perhaps there is someone closer still to Tony who would do him in.

"You see echoes of great Greek tragedy in all this," said Glen O. Gabbard, a psychiatrist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who has written extensively about the show. "I could see Carmela getting so furious that she killed Tony."

Long torn, as she once said, between doing what is right and doing what is easy, Carmela could become the fury behind Tony's death. All the goodwill built between the reunited couple could vanish in a flash if Carmela were to learn the truth behind Adriana's disappearance.

An equally powerful dramatic finish would be if the prone-to-depression mobster took his own life, contends Peter H. Hare, an emeritus philosophy professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo who also wrote an essay for "The Sopranos and Philosophy."

Tony's suicide should not be a personal moral reaction to his many evil acts but rather stem from a deepening melancholy that overtakes him as he realizes his life is without true meaning or purpose. The suicide can't be the result of a pill popping or a gun to the temple. Instead, in what Hare terms an "ambiguous suicide," Tony could deliberately maneuver himself into a heroic battle ostensibly for his Mafia family but actually meant as a way to kill himself.

"I don't want to imply Tony deserves to die," said Hare, whose essay is titled "What Kind of God Does This …?" "But the whole 'Sopranos' narrative has a great deal more meaning if it ends with his death."

SHOULD Tony die is one question. Will he die is quite another. Wrapping up any beloved and long-running television series is extraordinarily difficult, much less one that has drawn comparisons in breadth and depth to the works of Shakespeare and has so clearly stamped its brooding, darkly humorous soul onto the pop culture canopy.

Not surprisingly, series creator David Chase and his staff are in lockdown mode in their New York studios zealously guarding any hint over Tony's ultimate fate. Though the show's writers are renowned for their ingenuity and unpredictability, storytelling convention can still offer clues to the final days of Tony Soprano.

Endings typically hew closely to the logic established within a show's fictional universe while also resolving outstanding dramatic questions. This basic storytelling rule would, it is hoped, eliminate Tony's possible escape into the federal witness protection program, or worse, a "St. Elsewhere"-like scenario where the whole "Sopranos" pageant had been all in the mind of an autistic child. But memorable endings — Bob Newhart ending up back in bed with Suzanne Pleshette! — usually pack a surprise, and that as much as anything else could spare Tony.

"I watch shows like 'The Sopranos' for the unknown — the twists and turns and for the nice ride," said Saul Friedman, a writer for the website http://www.TVgasm.com. "We've all seen the mafia movies, and we know how they end. I want to see something different here."

It's worth noting the conclusions of "The Godfather" movies, which are frequently alluded to and even quoted outright in "The Sopranos." Mafia head Vito Corleone, after being nearly assassinated, turns over his empire to son Michael. Vito's brush with death seems enough punishment and he dies relatively peacefully in the family garden before his bewildered grandson.

Meanwhile, "The Godfather, Part II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)" would seem to offer an ending more in keeping with "The Sopranos" overall tone. There, Michael consolidates his rule, but it comes at the price of murdering his older brother and forever alienating his family. The final shot of a soulless Michael staring off at a frozen Lake Tahoe is more chilling than any murder could ever be. (Sorry, "The Godfather, Part III (Widescreen Edition)" doesn't count.)

From a strictly storytelling point of view too, killing off Tony now would seem repetitive and anticlimactic. It was only a handful of episodes ago that Tony escaped death after being shot in the belly by a senile Uncle Junior.

Another problem with killing Tony is how likable he is despite his pathologically long list of misdeeds and murder. We like him, that's why we watch the show, and doing him in may be more than the writers and the audience can bear. Indeed, they want to believe he can change.

"Arthur Miller used to say, 'You don't go to the theater unless you see yourself onstage,' " said Gabbard, who wrote "The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire and Betrayal in America's Favorite Gangster Family." "The audience thinks that maybe, just maybe, this bad man can be transformed into a good man. That's what Melfi thinks, that's what the audience thinks."

And yet, something more powerful than the demands of storytelling may dictate Tony's final fate — Hollywood. Although Chase is ending the series because he's mined the show for all he can on television, rumors persist about a possible "Sopranos" feature film. A "Sopranos" movie without Tony? As the Bada Bing! boys might say, not going to happen.

Thanks to Martin Miller

A Tale of Two Mobsters

Friends of ours: Harry Aleman, Victor "Popeye" Arrigo
Friends of mine: Robert Cruz

Two men with connections to Chicago organized crime, both of them believed to be outfit enforcers, one is dead the other is in court. In this Intelligence Report: the tale of two mobsters.

There are really only two ways out of the mob life and one is more permanent than the other. You are either murdered...or put in prison. This is...a tale of two mobsters-enforcers-with deep connections to the Chicago outfit. One was found buried in a suburban construction site. The other was found in court...extending his long criminal record.

We begin with Robert Charles " Bobby" Cruz...who spent 14 years on death row for a contract hit on an Arizona businessman and his mother-in-law, a conviction eventually thrown out. Cruz came to Chicago for the 1997 trial of his hitman-cousin, Harry Aleman. A few days after Aleman was convicted, Cruz vanished. Last week--ten years later -- Cruz' corpse was found by a sewer crew in DuPage County...minus his trigger finger and a few other digits...a subtle message that the assassin would never work again.

As authorities were identifying the remains of one mob enforcer...the i-team found another one walking to court.

This is long-time Chicago outfit enforcer Victor "Popeye" Arrigo, arriving with his daughter for a hearing in Maywood. Arrigo's rap sheet reaches back to 1956 and reads like a crime encyclopedia, but at age 70 he admits to be going soft.

On this day, he stood before criminal court judge William Wise on theft charges--but not the big jewel capers or cartage heists he and the outfit are known for. "They accuse me of taking salami, cheese...stuff like that," said Victor "Popeye" Arrigo.

One of the mob's toughest enforcers, Arrigo was hauled away by west suburban Berkeley police on charges that he stole $40-dollars worth of Italian and Hungarian salami from a grocery store.

Arrigo chalks-up the larceny up to old age. "When you hit 69, 70, you do goofy things...just to see if you can get away with it...i got caught. That's about it," Arrigo said.

Arrigo contends the grocery store plunder was not an outfit job--and authorities believe him.

Like many of the old time wise guys he grew up with, Arrigo's public demeanor could win him citizen of the year. "Nice talkin' to you. Anything else you want to say? Say hello to Chuck for me."

I met the mobster more than ten years ago--during his last run in with the law on gun charges...and at that time, learned the heritage of his mob nickname: "Popeye". It's for the detachable glass eyeball he wears as the result of barroom shootout.

When Arrigo is bellying up to the bar he says he enjoys popping out his eyeball and placing it on top of his beer money...then telling the bartender he is merely keeping an eye on his cash.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

Mob Bones Belong to Cousin of Hit Man Harry Aleman

Friends of ours: Harry Aleman
Friends of mine: Robert Charles Cruz

Just days after his cousin, reputed mob hit man Harry Aleman, was sentenced for a murder, Robert Charles Cruz disappeared from his Kildeer home.

For nearly 10 years, authorities suspected Cruz had purposely vanished, but his credit cards and bank accounts never were touched. Last week, construction crews digging new sewers for a townhouse development in unincorporated DuPage County came across the body of a man wrapped in tarpaulin and carpet, buried 8 1/2 feet down. On Wednesday, the DuPage County coroner's office publicly identified that the man as Robert Charles Cruz, 50. He had been reported missing on Dec. 4, 1997.

Cruz's body was found just 50 yards from where two other organized crime-connected bodies were found in 1988. An informant had told the FBI there was a mob burial ground in DuPage County near the home of former mob syndicate member Joseph Jerome Scalise.

At the time, an FBI task force descended on the area near Bluff Road and Illinois Highway 83 for five months and found the remains of Robert Anthony Hatridge, a minor associate of Gerald Scarpelli, a crime syndicate killer-turned-informant; and Mark Oliver, another minor organized crime figure.

Now, the FBI and DuPage County authorities are investigating Cruz's murder. Law enforcement sources said it appeared Cruz had been shot.

Cruz's body was identified through fingerprints and through tattoos on his arm, said Tom Simon, special agent and spokesman for the FBI. Family members have been notified, he said.

In addition to his familial relationship to Aleman, who remains in prison, Cruz had his own brushes with trouble. He spent 14 years on Death Row in Arizona before his conviction for hiring three men to kill a Phoenix businessman and his mother-in-law on New Year's Eve in 1980 was overturned and a new trial ordered. .

Prosecutors at the time said Cruz hired the men, including two from Chicago, to murder Patrick Redmond because the man refused to sell an interest in his Phoenix printing shop to Cruz, who wanted to use it to launder money from Las Vegas connections. Redmond's 70-year-old mother-in-law was visiting and died after her throat was cut.

Cruz was tried four more times. He was acquitted in 1995 after the jury decided the state's primary witness, a participant in the killings, was unreliable.

Cruz later moved to Kildeer and was a fixture at Harry Aleman's 1997 trial for the murder of a Teamsters' union official. Cruz sat every day in the courtroom where the attorney in his Arizona appeal, Kevin McNally, defended Aleman.

Cruz had been instrumental in Aleman's decision to change attorneys and hire McNally just before the trial. Days after Aleman was sentenced to 100 to 300 years in prison, Cruz disappeared. He had last been seen hanging Christmas lights from the gutters of his home.

Thanks to Angela Rozas and Maurice Possley

Mob Hit Man Harry Aleman's Cousin Found in Mafia Graveyard

Friends of ours: Harry Aleman
Friends of mine: Robert Cruz, Robert Hatridge, Mark Oliver

Construction workers laying sewer pipe found the skeletal remains of a former death row inmate with mob ties at a suburban Chicago site about 50 yards from where the bodies of two other men connected to organized crime were found in 1988.

The DuPage County coroner's office identified the latest body, found wrapped in a blue tarp, as Robert Charles Cruz. FBI spokesman Tom Simon said the body was identified through fingerprints and tattoos.

Cruz was 50 when he disappeared from his Kildeer home on Dec. 4, 1997. His cousin, reputed mob hit man Harry Aleman, had just been sentence to 100 to 300 years in prison for the 1972 murder of a Teamsters official. Cruz had been in the courtroom each day of Aleman's 1997 trial.

Cruz had also spent 14 years on death row in Arizona for allegedly hiring three men to kill a Phoenix businessman and his mother-in-law. That conviction was overturned in 1980 and a new trial was ordered. Cruz was tried four more times and acquitted in 1995.

The construction workers found Cruz's remains more than eight feet underground while laying sewer pipes for a new townhouse development.

Federal and county authorities are investigating Cruz's death as a homicide.

The other two bodies found in the area were located after an informant told the FBI there was a mob burial ground in DuPage County near the home of a former mob syndicate member. FBI agents found the remains of Robert Anthony Hatridge and Mark Oliver, both described as associates of organized crime figures.

Sopranos Looking to do a Job

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

The cast of "The Sopranos" is less worried about getting whacked than getting new jobs once the series is over in June.

At last night's humungous premiere at Radio City Music Hall, followed by a party that swamped Rockefeller Center, that seemed to be the uppermost thought in the minds of everyone from actors to crew.

Nevertheless, James Gandolfini, whose work has been so stellar as Tony Soprano, told me he's taking a year off after the show wraps. The final episode is still being worked on. "At least a year," he joked with me.

Gandolfini's running joke is that while he has been on the show, every movie he made has been so bad that it has wrecked the career of the star he "supported" in each film — think Ben Affleck.

In the next couple of weeks, he opens with John Travolta in a film that's being dumped, essentially. It's called "Lonely Hearts" and, well, fugeddaboutit. "That's right," Gandolfini laughed when we recalled the old joke. But it's also possible that he was so successful with the TV series, he may have to wait for success in films, I offered. "I hope you're right," he said. "But I'm still taking the time off."

Lorraine Bracco laughed heartily about the future. "They love you when you're on top. But wait 'til you're on the bottom," she cried.

Bracco's had a long enough career to know this isn't the end, but it may take a while to get over "The Sopranos." Most of her family, except her ailing mom, came to the premiere: her dad, two daughters, sister and brother-in-law, actor Aidan Quinn.

There were plenty of other Sopranos, dead and alive, all at Rockefeller Center, including Edie Falco, who left the party early to make a morning shoot for the show; Vince Curatola, who does such a magnificent job as Johnny Sack, head of the New York mob; Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher; Drea de Matteo, whose Adrianna is still being discussed; Jamie-Lynn Sigler; Robert Iler; Dominic Chianese; Steve Schirippa; Aida Turturro; Steve Buscemi; and "Little" Steven Van Zandt, aka Silvio.

Curatola, by the way, doesn't have to worry about future work. He's just made an independent movie called "Frame of Mind" with "Law & Order" star Chris Noth. And he still sings occasionally with the rock group Chicago.

Buscemi, of course, is always busy. And Van Zandt is putting together a TV pilot for his "Underground Garage" station that he does on Sirius Satellite Radio — that is, when he's not playing in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Imperioli told me he's making movies in Portugal and Iceland.

Thanks to Roger Friedman

Chevy Chase and Mobsters Involved in Funny Money

It's Henry Perkins' birthday--just another ordinary day for an ordinary wax fruit factory foreman. That is, until he mistakenly ends up holding a briefcase containing five million dollars on his subway ride home.

Mayhem and hilarity ensue as Henry tries to convince his wife Carol to keep the loot and flee with him to paradise while Romanian mobsters, the cops, a dead body and dozens of nude statues join the medley.

Sopranos Comes to an End

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

“You don’t listen to the president? We’re gonna mop the floor with the whole f***in’ world. The whole world’s gonna be under our control. So what are you worked up about?” —Christopher Moltisanti of “The Sopranos”

Everything comes to an end.”

These words, delivered by an irate Edie Falco, are used in the promo death knell for one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved television series of all time, HBO’s “The Sopranos.” The fictional story of a likeable, northern New Jersey crime family ends this spring with the final nine episodes of season six beginning April 8.

What will happen to mob boss Tony Soprano and his family? How about his colorful henchmen, despicable for their brutal violence and racism one moment, and lovable for their humor, resourcefulness and camaraderie the next? Surely, bets are already being placed on who will end up in prison and who will have to go (in the Mafia sense). One thing is almost certain: More than a few HBO subscribers will be going. The program has been a major draw since it first aired in 1999. How do you top one of the greatest pop-culture success stories of the last 25 years?

Show creator David Chase (born David DeCesare) is no stranger to thought-provoking, classic television, having produced episodes for “The Rockford Files” and “Northern Exposure.” But as ruthless and violent as it has been, “The Sopranos” is his masterpiece. People may argue over the best of the six seasons, but the fact remains that this hard-hitting show has always been better written, better acted and better conceived than anything else on television. There is simply nothing like it.

What began as a tongue-in-cheek glimpse into our long-running fascination with Italian-American Mafia culture — from Coppola’s “Godfather” series through Scorsese’s real best picture winner, “Good Fellas” — has continued to evolve by delving deeper into the psychological lives of its characters, usually by way of Freudian themes, Byzantine political plots and philosophical nuggets from the Far East. It’s a postmodern soap opera, colored by Italian-American cultural traditions and populated with anti-heroes, intelligent professionals and plenty of existential despair. As an organized crime reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer once wrote, “If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be writing for ‘The Sopranos’”

Sometimes, though, I still wonder why I love Mafia tales. These characters are serial murderers for the most part, scary people most of us wouldn’t want to meet in daylight, much less a darkened strip club. Normally I’m not a huge fan of television either, especially the stuff with commercials (which HBO programs thankfully do not have).

I was about to write my fascination off to morbid curiosity, or the Wild West appeal of modern-day lawless cowboys, when I ran across a recent interview with activist/intellectual Noam Chomsky that made me wonder again why so many of us accept mobsters as sympathetic characters.

As Chomsky points out, the U.S. government operates exactly like the mob in its international relations and has for a long time — though with far more money made, and far more lives lost. Specifically, he was discussing our foreign policy strategies concerning Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and Iran (which could be in store for some Gulf of Tonkin incident any day now). Speaking of Cuba, Chomsky notes:

“A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time, with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it too. But the government won’t allow it. It’s attributed to the Florida vote but I don’t think that’s much of an explanation. I

think it has to do with a feature of world affairs that is insufficiently appreciated. International affairs is very much run like the Mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money. You have to have obedience, otherwise the idea can spread that you don’t have to listen to the orders and it can spread to important places.”

I realize “The Sopranos” has poked fun at this analogy between organized crime in high and low places. And the show’s political awareness, like much of the country, has mushroomed since 9/11. Those following this final season are likely expecting some explosive plot thread involving the suspiciously quiet Middle Easterners who’ve been hanging at the Bada Bing and buying up guns. Yet the similarities between La Cosa Nostra and our foreign policy dons are uncanny indeed.

For instance: Back in the ’70s, the United States overthrew the parliamentary government of Iran, installed a brutal dictator (the shah) and proceeded to help him develop the same nuclear energy we now worry about. When the shah was overthrown, we punished Iran for its disobedience by supporting Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran. More recently, we had to punish Saddam because he wasn’t following orders (yes, the strategic control of oil is the chief reason for our current predicament, for those of you still deluded enough to think it was for the Iraqi people’s sake or keeping terrorists out of America’s shopping malls or whatever excuse Bush is peddling this week).

But what’s really scary to ponder is how the U.S. role as world mob boss will play out with China — or the Johnny “Sack” New York mob boss character, if you’re a “Sopranos” fan. More from Chomsky:

“You can imagine a kind of a loose Shi’ite alliance in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, controlling most of the world’s oil and independent of the United States. And much worse, although Europe can be intimidated by the United States, China can’t. It’s one of the main reasons why China is considered a threat. We’re back to the Mafia principle. … If the Middle East oil resources around the Gulf, which are the main ones in the world, if they link up to the Asian grid, the United States is really a second-rate power.”

Ever in denial, Tony Soprano admits that everything he does — all of his horrible crimes — he does to provide for his family. Likewise, it is an operating assumption too seldom challenged in the U.S. media that our leaders act only from noble reasons. “Ugatz!” as Paulie “Walnuts” might say.

I’ve greatly enjoyed watching “The Sopranos” these last eight years. What I probably won’t enjoy is the world stage drama from our bought-and-paid-for Mafia captains in the White House over the next 20 years.

Like Carmela tells Tony: “Everything comes to an end.”

Thanks to Brent Baldwin

New Jersey Landscape Altered by The Sopranos

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

The guy who runs the real-life Bada Bing is going to miss "The Sopranos," even if he thinks the show may have lowered his club's image a naughty notch or two.

The North Caldwell woman who cooked meals for the cast and crew while her home was used for "Sopranos" location shots is going to miss making baked ziti and chicken soup for her favorite performers.

Meanwhile, one of the mob show's most vocal critics is happy "The Sopranos," which filmed its last episode this week, will soon be history. "Am I glad they're gone? Yes," said Manny Alfano, director of the Italian-American One Voice Coalition. But, Alfano is resigned to the show's A&E re-runs -- and more TV shows and movies that he says unfairly portray Italian-Americans. "There will always be something to take its place."

"The Sopranos" may die off in several months, as may some of its main characters, but whether there will ever be another phenomenon to take its place is debatable.

"I don't know if we'll ever see something like this again," said David W. Schoner Jr., production coordinator for the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission.

New Jersey, the nation's most mocked, maligned and misunderstood state, received an image boost from "The Sopranos," said Schoner, even if the show did center around a Jersey mob family who often did business with brute force. "The great thing about the show was that it was New Jersey," Schoner added. "There was this unabashed shouting from the mountain: 'This is New Jersey!'"

The other great thing about the show is the $60 million-plus it pumped into the state's economy for things like filming fees, meals, food, lumber and local hiring, according to Schoner. "'The Sopranos' increased the film industry's awareness of the state," Schoner said. "We have been considered for and have gotten projects because of 'The Sopranos.' They've raised our profile as a location for filming."

Those whose have lent their businesses and homes for location filming are sorry to see "The Sopranos" wrap up.

Satin Dolls in Lodi, the stand-in for the Bada Bing strip club, became "the most popular club in the country" due to the HBO series, according to general manager Nick D'Urso. "It certainly made us a lot more popular," D'Urso said. "It really gave us an image. We were a high-line club. Now we were the Bada Bing."

Hanging out at the "Bing" was not always a wise career move on "The Sopranos." One dancer in the show, Tracee, was killed outside the club and various "beatin's" were administered inside. The real-life Satin Dolls is a much serene, says D'Urso, who noted that the Bada Bing will continue to be in the spotlight during the final season. "They filmed more in the club this season than any other," he said.

One business that may continue to profit, even after "The Sopranos" is gone, is On Location Tours, which has conducted tours of "Soprano" locations sites since 2001.

"When 'Sex and the City' ended, the numbers for our 'Sex and the City' tours tripled," said Cathy Wilke, director of marketing for On Location Tours. "People go into withdrawal when a show ends. (With) 'The Sopranos'... on A&E, we'll get a whole new audience." (Reruns of the series, with the language and other content toned down, started airing on the basic cable channel in January.)

More than 15,000 people from 40 countries have taken the bus tours, described as a "four-hour tour through Sopranoland."

Towns across New Jersey have reaped the benefits of "Sopranos" location filming. Scenes have been shot in 40-plus communities, "from Ramsey to Asbury Park," according to Regina Heyman, the show's location manager.

Add Atlantic City to the list; the Borgata will appear in an episode this season.

Filming fees can add up. Kearny has been a popular "Sopranos" backdrop. Scenes have been shot inside and outside the Irish-American Association, which takes down its Irish flag and puts up an Italian flag during filming. The association is next door to the building standing in for the fictional Satriale's Pork Store, a hangout for Tony and his crew.

The association has earned $20,000 in rental fees over the years, according to past vice president Richard Dunleavy. The town itself has collected permit fees of $76,650.

Businesses have been paid for shutting down to accommodate a "Sopranos" shoot. Clear Eyes RX in Wayne, for example, was compensated $6,000 for filming. And then there are those who have invited the show into their homes.

Deborah Del Vecchio, for one, is going to miss cooking for everyone's favorite Jersey mob family. Over the years, her three-level North Caldwell home has served as the "home" of several "Sopranos" characters -- Janice Soprano, Johnny Sack, Silvio Dante and Patsy Parisi. "I always cook for the cast and crew," Del Vecchio said. "Antipasto, baked ziti -- they all love my homemade chicken soup," especially Aida Turturro, who plays Janice.

Filming was last done in her home a week ago, and Del Vecchio reported no gunshots were fired.

Initially, her home was in the running to be Tony Soprano's house, but the ducks ruined it -- or the lack of ducks. Tony liked the ducks in his swimming pool, and though there were ducks in the Del Vecchios' pool, construction on the house next door drove them away. So another house was chosen for the mob don's dwelling.

Del Vecchio's husband, Richard, has his own fond memories of "The Sopranos." He appeared in one episode as a Bada Bing patron. "All I know is that he was smiling for three days," Del Vecchio said, laughing."

Thanks to Peter Genovese

Hugh Hefner Politely Declines Chicago Mob Overtures

Friends of ours: Marshall Caifano

The powerful Chicago mob twice made overtures to partner with Hugh Hefner and his Playboy clubs, including one in Las Vegas, Hefner revealed Saturday. Both times, Hefner said, he "politely declined."

Hefner, in Las Vegas for his 81st birthday weekend celebration at the Palms, told me the Chicago mob "very much wanted to invest in the Playboy Clubs." The first contact came during a Playboy party when Marshall Caifano, "a heavy hitter in the Chicago mob ... collared me during a party and said he wanted to talk with us." "I kind of backed away and said I didn't want to talk about business in a social setting. So he made a date to come over the next afternoon, and I sat down with my guys and said, 'What do we do with this guy. We can't be doing business with the mob.'" Hefner said he told Caifano, "'I don't know what kind of business you are in,' and he got kind of flustered and embarrassed and said, 'Gambling.' I said, 'Well, you've got your enemies and we've got ours, and I think it would be a big mistake to combine the two.'"

Later, reps from the mobbed-up Chez Paris, "probably the most famous nightclub in Chicago," said Hefner, leaned on him to collaborate on a club in Las Vegas. Again, Hefner held his ground.

Thanks to Norm!

Powerful Mafia Boss Seeking Plea Deal?

Friends of ours: Vito Rizzuto, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino, Salvatore "Good- Looking Sal" Vitale, Gerlando "George From Canada" Sciascia, Patrick "Patty From the Bronx" De Filippo

Vito Rizzuto, named as Canada's most powerful Mafia boss, has asked a New York City judge to delay his trial for three gangland slayings, fueling speculation he is negotiating a plea deal.

David Schoen, defending Mr. Rizzuto against racketeering charges in the United States, declined to discuss any plea negotiations but said one thing is clear: Mr. Rizzuto is not considering co-operating with the authorities, as many of his American co-accused have done. "The answer is absolutely unequivocally 'no,' " he told the National Post.

An earlier document from prosecutors said Mr. Rizzuto, 61, of Montreal, was negotiating a settlement as far back as October, 2006. "If there were plea negotiations going on in any case, notwithstanding what may be a different practice for some other lawyers, I could never conceive of discussing them publicly," Mr. Schoen said. When pressed, he added: "Any speculation about a plea deal, at this point, is misguided."

He and his co-counsel are planning a vigorous defence that is well funded and well planned, he said. "Mr. Rizzuto is very strong and holding up well under these conditions - although I must say he misses Canada and his family very much," Mr. Schoen said. "In my view, there is no need or valid reason whatsoever for Mr. Rizzuto to be incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, or anywhere. He is no risk of flight whatsoever and certainly no danger to anyone in any community."

Mr. Rizzuto was arrested in January, 2004, inside his Montreal mansion at the request of the U.S. government. He is accused of being a shooter in an ambush of three rival mobsters in Brooklyn in 1981 as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. He has been imprisoned since. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a 20 years.

Mr. Rizzuto's desire to return to Canada could factor into any deal; he would likely ask to serve his sentence in Canada. If that were agreed to, it would see him released far sooner than if he served his prison term in America. Under international agreements on the transfer of prisoners, once back in Canada, inmates benefit from our more lenient release rules, including release after serving just two thirds of a sentence.

Mr. Rizzuto was the only Canadian among dozens of men ensnared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its assault on the Bonanno Mafia organization, one of the notorious and influential Five Families of New York.

Those indicted alongside him have not fared well. Almost all have pleaded guilty, been found guilty at trial or become government informants.

A cavalcade of Mafia turncoats are pointing fingers at former colleagues. The so-called "rats" include the former Bonanno Family boss, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino, and underboss, Salvatore "Good- Looking Sal" Vitale. Both are expected to be star witnesses against Mr. Rizzuto, should his case go to trial.

Vitale has already testified in other prosecutions, twice telling juries about Mr. Rizzuto's alleged crimes, but Massino has not yet been called to the stand. "I am not in the speculation business and I will leave such decisions to the government," Mr. Schoen said of whether he expects to see Massino testify against his client. "I certainly should hope we will be well prepared to deal with any witness."

Massino has been telling his secrets to the FBI for a year. Although the high-security debriefings are held in utmost secrecy, some of the information he provided was recently summarized in a note from prosecutors to a judge in another case. Some of it involves his contact with Canadian mob figures.

Massino said he ordered the murder of Gerlando "George From Canada" Sciascia, who was the Montreal Mafia's representative in New York and a close friend of Mr. Rizzuto's. He assigned the job to Patrick "Patty From the Bronx" De Filippo at Danny's Chinese Restaurant.

After the murder, Vitale, contacted Massino and spoke a prearranged code to signal the job was done: "I picked up the dolls for the babies."

Mr. Rizzuto continues to be a presence - through his name and photograph - in New York mob cases.

At the trial of De Filippo, which ended this month, the jury heard Vitale claim that Mr. Rizzuto started the shooting that killed the three mobsters.

"What was your role in that murder?" Vitale was asked by Greg Andres, the prosecutor. "Shooter," he answered.

"Were there other people assigned as shooters?" Mr. Andres asked.

"Vito Rizzuto; an old-timer from Canada, I never got his name; another individual from Canada named Emmanuel."

Vitale was shown a photograph and asked to identify it.

"That's Vito Rizzuto from Canada," he answered.

"Do you know where Vito lives?" Mr. Andres asked. "Montreal, Canada."

Later, Vitale again brought Mr. Rizzuto up.

"At the time of your arrest, was there a particular person who you considered the most powerful person in Canada, the person who you would deal with in Canada?" Vitale was asked.

"Vito Rizzuto," came the answer.

Pretrial motions in the case are expected to be ruled on in June.

Mr. Schoen estimates a trial would last nine weeks.

Thanks to Adrian Humphreys

Hoboken Genovese Gang Not Seen Much Any More

Friends of ours: Genovese Crime Family, Michael Coppola, Michael "Tona" Borelli, Peter Grecco, Peter Caporino, Tino R. Fiumara, Lawrence A. Ricci

The old gang isn't seen much around Hoboken any more, thanks to the recent efforts of the FBI to nab the city's most notorious mobsters.

The latest arrest: Michael Coppola, 60, a reputed captain in the Genovese crime family, who was arrested Friday in New York City and charged in the 1977 killing of a mobster in Bridgewater .

Coppola was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, and he'd been featured on " America 's Most Wanted" several times. Investigators had searched for him in Nevada , Pennsylvania , Florida , Canada , Italy and Costa Rica .

In the 1970s and 1980s, Coppola could be seen in Hoboken social clubs meeting with the likes of Michael "Tona" Borelli, 69, of Fort Lee, a reputed made member of the Genovese crime family, Peter Grecco, 70, of Woodcliff Lake , and infamous mob rat Peter Caporino, 69, of Hasbrouck Heights , Hoboken police sources said yesterday.

Borelli and Grecco are facing prison time after a federal probe into gambling and other rackets in Hoboken and Jersey City . Caporino, who cooperated with the feds in that case to avoid jail time on a gambling charge in Hudson County , faces jail time himself, as authorities said he continued his criminal activities even after the feds told him to stop.

Caporino wore a wire for the FBI for years and made one recording of Borelli in the "Company K" social club on Jefferson Street , where Coppola used to hold court. When Genovese boss Tino R. Fiumara was in prison and Coppola was on the run, Borelli and Lawrence A. Ricci ran the Coppola/Fiumara crew, says a report 2004 by the New Jersey Investigation Commission. Ricci was found dead in a car trunk behind a Union County diner in December 2005.

With the help of Caporino, Borelli and Grecco pleaded guilty in April 2006 to operating an illegal gambling business. "The Fiumara/Coppola crew is one of the largest and most resourceful Genovese crews operating in New Jersey ," the state report says.

Coppola is accused of gunning down Johnny "Coca Cola" Lardiere outside the Red Bull Inn on Route 22 in Bridgewater in 1977.

Investigators believe Coppola drew a silenced .22-caliber pistol and pointed it at Lardiere - but the gun jammed. Lardiere then sneered at the hitman, "What're you gonna do now, tough guy?" Coppola then drew a second gun from an ankle holster and shot Lardiere five times, authorities said.

Nine years later, DNA evidence and an informant led the FBI to Coppola, but he disappeared.

Coppola has been listed at or near the top of the state Division of Criminal Justice's 13 most wanted fugitives since the list was drawn up five years ago.

Newhouse News Service contributed to this report.

Thanks to Michaelangelo Conte