The Power of the 'Soprano' Women

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

If you are going to have coffee at an Italian restaurant, who better to have it with than the women of "The Sopranos"?

At Fiamma, a chic Italian eatery in downtown New York City, I sat down with Carmela, Meadow and Dr. Melfi — or more specifically, Edie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Lorraine Bracco.

I had coffee.

As for them? Well they had to listen to my questions. As the show wraps up its sixth and final epic season, I didn't just want to talk about whackings, I wanted to talk about the women of the show.

From the first seconds of the opening credits of every episode of "The Sopranos," we are told that this is a show about Tony. He's the mob boss. He is the one driving the car literally and figuratively. But scratch the surface of this epic drama, and you realize it's not just about Tony.

"Tony happens to be in the Mafia, but I think it's not really just about that," Sigler said. "It's about him balancing all these relationships in his life."

It's about Tony and his wife, Tony and his daughter, Tony and his psychiatrist.

It is the women in "The Sopranos" that give the show its texture and its depth.

"It has to be, you know, three or four or five of the, the better women characters written for television or movies today," Bracco said.

"We're not just the 'goomars' or whatever," Sigler said. "Did I say that correctly?"

"That was perfect," Falco said.

It is safe to say that Falco's Carmela is not just the stereotypical mob moll. There is a certain depth and complexity to her character. "Carmela went through 10 years of a woman's life," Falco said, "as the kids are getting older, as you re-evaluate your marriage, and um, the way any woman would change and grow if they stay alive for a 10-year period, you know?"

Well, not quite any woman, as Bracco — ever the analyst — noted: "[Carmela] is married to someone who is doing despicable things. She's living a good life. She's trying to bring up children in a good way, give them an education, instills things that are important. She has her own family, and she deals with it in an unbelievably dysfunctional family that she's going to feed every Sunday, whether she likes it or not. Am I right?"

Oh, she is right, Carmela has dealt with dysfunction at a level most of us can't imagine — from infidelity to whackings. But she's made it so relatable. She added a touch of ordinary to the extraordinary.

"If you think about it, you find ways to get through every day, even though there are little pieces that just don't match up," Falco said. "And you have no choice but to put them in that little place in your brain where you say, 'I'll deal with that another time.'"

And the women of "The Sopranos" are far from powerless victims. They might not be mob bosses, but they pull the strings in their own ways.

"My power with Tony Soprano is very simple," Bracco said. "I was smarter than him."

Bracco's Dr. Melfi is one of the off-kilter defining roles in this drama. The shrink who tells the mob boss what to do.

Bracco said, "I was a woman that he never met, really, before, or had anything to do with. And I think it was an intelligence game between Melfi and Tony."

But it wasn't just about brains, there is also the matter of the legs. I tried to ask without blushing, "How about the legs? Are the legs empowering?"

Bracco had something of an instant education for me: "I think legs on a girl are always empowering. Come on!"

At 25, Sigler is the youngest of the actresses, and her character, Meadow, is the young ingenue of the show. But even her character knows how to vie for power and work Tony.

"We all knew how to manipulate him," Sigler said. "He was a very simple character to us in that sense, that he was very easy to manipulate."

Even Dead, the Mother Reigns

The most powerful woman in "The Sopranos" was not with us at Fiamma: Livia, Tony's mother.

That character died along with actress Nancy Marchand after Season 2, but Tony's relationship with his mother is, in a way, the basis for the whole show.

"It's all about the mother," Bracco said.

"Oh yes. It is," Falco agreed.

She tried to control him. He tried to put her in a home. She tried to kill him. Ultimately, it drove him to therapy.

The women of "The Sopranos" have not been spared the one aspect that has made the show so controversial: violence, graphic violence. Still, these women defend its use.

"We're not kidding around," Falco said. "It's this really, genuinely bad stuff that they do to other people — illegal, bad, violent death things that in seeing them in your face, you have no choice but to experience the true badness of it."

In Season 3, Melfi is the victim of a rape.

"The whole Dr. Melfi rape episode … was absolutely horrifying," Bracco said.

"Despicable violence against another person, but meanwhile when you look at the statistics of women being raped in this, just to, this, it's hundreds and hundreds of thousands of women and young girls and women being raped every year. It's unbelievable, the violence against another human being. And it's, we, we just, God forbid we should really look at it for what it is," she said.

It is just one of the aspects of the show some people will miss as it wraps up its last season.

In the hour or so at the restaurant, try as I might, I could not get the three women to tell me how the show would end.

But I did get one tidbit from Sigler. Could her goody-two-shoes character go the way of another famed goody-two-shoes-gone godfather Michael Corleone?

"I think so," she said. "I think so because her family does come first. She's capable of it. She's strong, but if she's anything like you know, her family and like Livia. … You know, she could definitely manipulate and handle these guys."

So is there a chance for a spinoff: "Meadow Soprano!!! Boss!!!"

"I love it. I love it!" Sigler said.

Thanks to John Berman

Will Book Shed New Light on Old Gangland Tales?

For a guy considered a pariah by his old friends, mob hit-man-turned-government informant Frank Cullotta suddenly finds himself, or at least his bloodstained memories, quite popular these days.

After spending the past two decades in the shadows as a protected witness after his cooperation with the FBI and U.S. attorney against mobster Anthony Spilotro and members of his Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, Cullotta is close to bringing out his memoirs of time in and out of the Chicago Outfit. Published by Huntington Press, "Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness" is scheduled to officially hit bookstores July 1. The book is co-authored by the 68-year-old Cullotta and Dennis N. Griffin with credited contributions from former FBI agent Dennis Arnoldy. Arnoldy was Cullotta's handler after his defection from the heart of Spilotro's criminal crew.

The timing of Cullotta's project couldn't be more intriguing for those who have followed the rise and fall of traditional organized crime groups, especially the infamous Chicago Outfit. Cullotta is telling his story at the same time attorneys for reputed Chicago mob boss Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo and a gaggle of co-defendants will be searching for outs and alibis in a sweeping criminal case in federal court in Chicago.

Reporters there are openly speculating that Cullotta, a former Lombardo associate, will be called as a witness. The trial is expected to start in May.

Word of the Cullotta manuscript's existence recently had both sides of the Lombardo case contacting Huntington Press publisher Anthony Curtis to request a copy. First, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars called. Then, FBI agent Michael Maseth contacted Curtis. Not long after, Lombardo defense attorney Rick Halprin called.

When Curtis declined to provide the manuscript on the advice of lawyer Andrew Norwood, on April 2 the feds came through with a promised subpoena. On Monday, Curtis said he would comply with the subpoena.

Although Halprin expressed doubt the manuscript would produce new information, the defense attorney admitted to Curtis, "There are things only Frankie knows." (That sentiment is a far cry from Halprin's wisecrack about Cullotta during a pre-trial hearing in a Chicago courtroom last week: "For all I know, he's Ann Coulter.")

Are the things that only Frankie knows in the book?

What can Cullotta say that he hasn't previously testified to under oath?

At 78, Lombardo has been around the track too many times to get nervous about the memories of an admitted killer and thief. But Cullotta's story already has a proven appeal with readers. His perspective was sprinkled throughout Nicholas Pileggi's best-seller "Casino," and Pileggi has provided the foreword for Cullotta's memoir. In fact, Cullotta is said to have received a handsome fee as a consultant on the Martin Scorsese movie that followed Pileggi's book.

What will Cullotta's own book reveal?

Hopefully, he'll give readers his authentic and disturbing eyewitness accounts of his own criminal activity and the countless felonies that swirled around his life in Chicago and Las Vegas. The fact he's detailed a lot of that bloody stuff as a government witness shouldn't diminish its impact on the public more than two decades after Spilotro's murder, as long as he's candid.

Considering he's admitted killing in cold blood, it's the least he can do.

When the FBI and Las Vegas police finally caught up with Cullotta after the botched Bertha's store heist in 1981, his lifelong friend Spilotro was under enormous pressure from law enforcement. Even Spilotro's former defense attorney, Mayor Oscar Goodman, admitted his client's failure to provide legal assistance to Cullotta helped lead to his defection.

More than two decades after the murders of Spilotro and his brother, Michael, their homicides are part of 18 killings, some dating to the 1970s, outlined in the indictment against Lombardo, Frankie "The German" Schweihs, current reputed Outfit leader James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and a dozen others.

Cullotta was a participant and front-row associate during the twilight of the Outfit's dominance in Chicago and influence in Las Vegas. He has a rare perspective on a lifestyle that has killed dozens of his pals as well as a number of government witnesses and innocent bystanders.

The last thing Lombardo and the gang should want is for Frank Cullotta to take a stroll down memory lane.

Thanks to John L. Smith

FBI Looking for Missing Reputed Mobster, "Little Tony"

Friends of ours: Anthony "Little Tony" Zizzo, Al "The Pizza Man" Tornabene, Anthony "Big Tony" Chiaramonti

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today that the FBI was joining local authorities in the search for missing Westmont resident ANTHONY ZIZZO, a reputed top Chicago mobster.

The 71-year old ZIZZO was last seen on August 31, 2006, when he left his residence is his 2005 Jeep Laredo for an appointment with unknown individual(s). ZIZZO has not been seen or heard from since and there has been no reported use of either his credit cards or cellular telephone since that date.

ZIZZO's Jeep Laredo was found abandoned, two days later, in the parking lot of Abruzzo's Restaurant in Melrose Park. The vehicle was undamaged and no signs of foul play were noted. ZIZZO has an extensive criminal history, including a 1993 conviction for Racketeering, for which he was imprisoned for eight years, being released in 2001. ZIZZO is a suspected associate of the Chicago LCN crime family. As such, it is possible that his disappearance might be tied to this association.

ZIZZO is an associate of Al "The Pizza Man" Tornabene, who has been referred to in court documents as the man running the Chicago mob. ZIZZO allegedly became a made member of the mob in 1983. ZIZZO was involved in the lucrative but violent, mob-controlled world of video poker machines. A close associate, Anthony "Big Tony" Chiaramonti, was slain in 2001 in the last known Chicago area mob hit, in a dispute over video poker revenue

ANTHONY ZIZZO is described as a white/male, 71 years of age, 5'3" tall, 200 pounds, heavy build, gray hair and blue eyes with prescription eyeglasses. When last seen, ZIZZO was wearing a gray shirt, black pants and a black jacket.

Anyone having any information regarding ZIZZO's current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.

Rudy Giuliani vs. The Mob

Rudy Giuliani's office prosecuted a number of high-profile cases during his time as U.S. attorney in Manhattan in the 1980s:

THE MOB

Three of five leaders accused of being the "ruling body" of New York's five organized crime families were each sentenced in a single day to 100 years in prison after a prosecution that Giuliani said would help dismantle the mob. A fourth leader was later convicted and imprisoned. The fifth mob boss, was acquitted at three trials in Brooklyn and Manhattan before he was convicted of racketeering in federal court in Manhattan in 1992. He died in prison a decade later.

PIZZA CONNECTION

The "pizza connection" trial resulted in the conviction of 18 defendants for participating in a Mafia-backed drug racket operated through pizza parlors. The ring imported an estimated $1.6 billion worth of heroin into the United States. The case began Sept. 30, 1985, and ended 17 months later with 18 convictions and one acquittal. It was one of the longest criminal cases in federal court history.

Broadway Partners with "The Sopranos"

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

Broadway stars Julianna Margulies, Tim Daly, David Margulies and Ken Leung will be among guest stars to appear in the new season of "The Sopranos."

HBO kicked off its final eight episodes of the mob family drama April 8 (with additional airings playing throughout the week). The David Chase-created New Jersey-set drama returned last March for the first part of its sixth and final season and airs Sunday evenings at 9 PM (ET). Check local listings.

The show features series regulars (and stage veterans) James Gandolfini (A Streetcar Named Desire), Edie Falco ('night, Mother), Lorraine Bracco (The Graduate), Michael Imperioli (Ponies), Dominic Chianese (A Second Hand Memory) and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Beauty and the Beast).

Actors Julianna Margulies (Festen), Tim Daly (The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial), David Margulies (Wonderful Town, The Accomplices) and Ken Leung (Thoroughly Modern Millie) will be featured as guest stars on the series.

Past seasons have included such theatre folk as Tom Aldredge, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Blum, David Strathairn, Robert LuPone, Linda Emond, Annabella Sciorra, Linda Lavin, Steve Buscemi, Mary Louise Wilson, Laila Robins, Ron Leibman, Frank Wood, Rae Allen, Peter Riegert, Ari Graynor, Capathia Jenkins, Yul Vazquez, Will McCormack, Phyllis Somerville, Lewis J. Stadlen, Christine Pedi, Jordan Gelber and Remy Auberjonois.

Thanks to Ernio Hernandez

Former Mob Lawyer to Skip Family Secrets Trial

Friends of ours: James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo
Friends of mine: Robert Cooley

Over the years, the court testimony of former Chicago mob lawyer Robert Cooley has put away mobsters, lawyers and judges. But the prized federal informant won’t be testifying at what could be the biggest mob trial in Chicago history — the Operation Family Secrets trial.

A host of informants, “stool pigeons” and ex-mobsters will be taking the stand starting in mid-May to tell jurors about the Outfit’s structure and deadly doings.

Some of Chicago’s top mobsters are standing trial, including reputed mob leader James “Little Jimmy” Marcello and Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo.

Cooley has testified in several previous mob trials, and his ability on the stand has met with praise. But this time, he won’t be part of the trial.

In an interview late last week, Cooley, who these days lives out of state under a different name, said he clashed with federal prosecutors when he was debriefed more than a year ago.

Cooley said he disagrees with the prosecution’s theory over how the Chicago mob was structured since the 1970s, and he is disappointed that another top mobster wasn’t charged in the case for two murders that Cooley said he has told the feds about.

Cooley calls Marcello — who the feds says is the top mob leader — “a flunky.”

“He was never more of a mob boss than I was,” Cooley scoffs. (MANY Chicago Syndicate readers have emailed me to say the same thing.)

In his years as an informant, Cooley was never known to be reluctant to tell federal agents and prosecutors where he believed they were falling short or screwing up.

While Cooley says he won’t be helping the feds this time around, he won’t be helping the defense team, either. “I would not do anything to hurt the case,” Cooley said. “I would never do anything to help the bad guys.”

Cooley is best known for his seminal work in taking apart the Outfit’s political power structure in the 1st Ward, which he saw as marking the true end of the Chicago mob. “They’re just cleaning up our scraps,” Cooley said of the current case.

Federal prosecutors had no comment on Cooley’s statements.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

"The Sopranos" in 7 Minutes

Like mob bosses of legend, “The Sopranos” is pensive, brooding and austere. Heavy silences, broken by spells of rage, pervade David Chase’s masterpiece, which enters its final season on Sunday. “The Sopranos” is not glib. It does not have truck with glibness. But lately, as viewers wait for the final run of this HBO drama to start, a “Sopranos” with a very different pace has been making the rounds. This “Sopranos” is not by Mr. Chase; it does not appear on HBO and cannot be described as pensive, brooding or austere. Instead it is hyperglib, antic and rendered at an auctioneer’s pace. And where “The Sopranos” has so far taken around 77 hours to deliver the dark saga of family and crime in New Jersey, this other “Sopranos,” which tells the same story, lasts only 7 minutes 36 seconds.

Paul Gulyas and Joe Sabia, recent college graduates living in Los Angeles, first posted their video “Seven Minute Sopranos” to YouTube on March 29. It is an audacious effort by two of Mr. Chase’s fans eager to prove their loyalty to his creation. But, as they know, it is also an act of violence.

“We included what stood out, what flowed better or images that people would like to see,” Mr. Gulyas said. “But we kind of adapted the story to our own taste. It’s so reductionist to what David Chase has done.”

What will Mr. Chase think, then, of the video Cliffs Notes to his Iliad? “The show’s really about Tony’s psyche,” Mr. Gulyas, who is 23, said, naming the show’s central character, the glowering crime boss who is riven by desire, fury and doubt. “But this video boils things down to one premise. I’m not sure Chase would like that.”

According to a publicist for HBO, Mr. Chase does in fact like it. His assistant showed him the video on the set of the series finale, and he laughed all the way through it, said the publicist, Quentin Schaffer. “It reminded him how much has happened during the run of the series,” Mr. Schaffer said.

Having seen each episode of “The Sopranos” from three to seven times, Mr. Gulyas composed the staccato script from memory, hitting every plot point that seemed relevant. He also proposed complementary clips, estimating their places on his DVDs from memory.

Mr. Sabia, a childhood friend of Mr. Gulyas from Connecticut, then edited the video using Final Cut Pro. The process took the friends 100 hours, longer than a marathon of all six seasons of “The Sopranos.”

To date “Seven Minute Sopranos” has attracted around 80,000 views and counting. Ilene S. Landress, an executive producer of “The Sopranos,” loves the video and insists that it stay on YouTube. (Some companies, citing copyright concerns, have pulled material off this video-sharing site.)

Another “Sopranos” executive producer, Matthew Weiner, said, “The guys really understand not only what happened in the show, but they displayed their knowledge with humor and love.”

On Tuesday “Seven Minute Sopranos” was featured on the home page of iFilm, a video-sharing site owned by Viacom. (In a twist that wasn’t lost on HBO this meant that Viacom, which also owns HBO’s cable competitor Showtime, highlighted what amounts to a trailer for an HBO show.) Almost immediately “Seven Minute Sopranos” has gained Mr. Gulyas and Mr. Sabia respect on “Sopranos” fan sites, as well as with YouTube commenters. “That was amazing,” wrote nicoleredbaron218, “you didn’t miss a single Detail.”

“Seven Minute Sopranos” is indeed a sizable feat. Virtually everything from the series seems to have been crammed in, from the giant plot tectonics — the twists that determine who lives and who dies — to the intricate subplots and even the comic relief.

In addition to the most indelible story lines, fans can also fleetingly revisit the attempt to consign Livia to a nursing home, the arson at Artie’s, Meadow’s indiscreet soccer coach, Christopher’s near-damnation, Janice’s theft of the Russian’s prosthesis, Ralph’s son’s deadly arrow game, Junior’s tumble down the courthouse steps, A. J.’s attempt to kill Junior and Paulie’s discovery that his aunt is his mother.

Nor are significant visual moments omitted. Ginny’s secret Twix stash gets a close-up, as do the ducks, the bear, Paulie’s shoe and the pillow Tony tries to use to smother his mother. These indelible images, combined with a multilayered soundtrack — which often plays simultaneously the show’s score, its dialogue, its sound effects and Mr. Sabia’s tongue-twisting voice-over — allow “Seven Minute Sopranos” to convey information with extreme efficiency.

In an inspired flourish the dialogue and the voice-over periodically line up exactly. When Mr. Sabia, who is also 23, summarizing Carmela Soprano’s reaction to the news that her husband is seeing a therapist, says, “She thinks that’s great,” Mr. Sabia, who edited the piece, synched his voice up with that of Edie Falco, as Carmela. He says “thinks that’s great” just as she says “think that’s great.” The brief duet makes the point. And that point — the duet in a major key, followed by a breath — is especially affecting when Carmela reverses her enthusiasm for therapy in the next scene, having learned that Tony’s therapist is a woman. Standing on a balcony she rains a half-dozen black valises down on her husband and curses at him to leave the house. This is the first of several times Mr. Sabia and Mr. Gulyas use this scene. It becomes shorthand for Carmela’s indignation.

The repetition of this stagecraft has become many commenters’ favorite part of “Seven Minute Sopranos.” But it’s also where Mr. Gulyas and Mr. Sabia make clear that they bring a critic’s eye to the action of the show. But what statement are they making with the repetition? Something about the redundancy of Ms. Falco’s performance? Or perhaps the cyclical nature of Tony and Carmela’s marriage?

The more you study “Seven Minute Sopranos,” the more mischievous it seems. It’s an intensive work of the imagination. And it’s far from sycophantic to “The Sopranos.” Some of the video’s greatest fans on YouTube are not fans of the show at all. A user named underb0ss especially appreciated the glibness of the script: “that was amazing! tho it made the sopranos look so stupid ... i love that part in season 6 ‘tonys shot, goes in a coma. Get slapped by monk. Comes out of coma’ lol.”

So far Mr. Chase and “The Sopranos” crew seem not to realize that, for some, the video can be interpreted this way. They spent this week working long days wrapping their series. But what would happen if Mr. Chase were to discover that some people take “Seven Minute Sopranos” as a sendup of his show, and not a homage?

Mr. Sabia and Mr. Gulyas can be forgiven for being on edge about that. They may seem like made men now, but even a little joke at the capo’s expense is never a good thing. And in the “Sopranos” world, you can lose your favored status as quickly as you get it. No one knows that plotline better than they do.

Thanks to Virginia Heffernan

Soprano Whackees

Livia Soprano, played by Nancy Marchand

Tony Soprano's mother Livia, a primary topic in her son's therapy sessions, had a poor upbringing and spent her adult life projecting her unhappiness onto others. Her husband, Johnny Boy, provided for the family but did not live up to her standards. She pressured him to make more money, but when an opportunity to move to Reno to pursue business interests arose, she eschewed the plan. When Tony placed Livia in a nursing home in an attempt to help her, she convinced Uncle Junior to put a hit on him. The hit was unsuccessful and Livia was never implicated in the crime. A year later, she died in her sleep.

Adriana La Cerva, played by Drea de Matteo

Christopher Moltisanti's fiancée Adriana had been enmeshed in the crime family lifestyle until the Feds caught up with her and she became an informant. The FBI pressured Adriana to get Christopher to turn and give up Tony, or she and her future husband would serve a five-year sentence for drug charges. With the pressure mounting, Adriana confessed to Christopher, who nearly choked her to death. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to forgive her, but in the end, he gave her up. The crew tricked Adriana into thinking she was being taken to the hospital to see Christopher after a failed suicide attempt; in fact, Silvio took her to the woods and shot her. Friends and family were led to believe Adriana skipped town, but her mother suspects foul play.

Tony B., played by Steve Buscemi

Tony Blundetto was Tony Soprano's first cousin and close childhood friend. Tony B. had had a thriving career as a mobster until he was 28, when he was locked up for 15 years. Tony S. was supposed to be with Tony B. the night he got arrested, but he was incapacitated by a panic attack.

After his release, the Leotardo family killed his former cell mate, Angela Garepe, and Tony B. retaliated by killing Billy Leotardo while Billy's brother Phil watched. Tony Soprano, knowing Phil Leotardo would savagely kill Tony B. for Billy's murder, took matters into his own hands and killed Tony B.

Ralph Cifaretto, played by Joe Pantoliano

With his inappropriate comments, misogynistic attitude and tactless behavior, Ralph Cifaretto becomes Tony Soprano's least favorite business associate. A low point for Ralph occurred when, high on cocaine, he beat a young Bada Bing dancer -- pregnant with his baby -- to death. Tony and Ralph found common ground when Ralph bought a racehorse Tony named Pie-O-My, that Tony grew to like. But when Ralph needed money and the highly insured horse died in a suspicious stable fire, Tony killed Ralph, recruiting Christopher to help dismember and bury the body.

Big Pussy, played by Vincent Pastore

According to rumor, Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero earned his nickname because he was once a cat-burglar. Big Pussy was a family man and close friend to Tony Soprano.

The Feds caught up with Pussy for smuggling heroin and threatened him with life in state prison unless he became an informant. Fearing for his children's future, Pussy agreed to get wired. When Tony, Silvio and Paulie confronted him during a boat ride, Pussy tried to talk his way out of it, but to no avail; he was shot to death. Silvio wrapped Pussy's body in chains and pushed it overboard.

Gloria Trillo, played by Annabella Sciorra

Tony Soprano and Gloria met in the waiting room of Dr. Melfi's office; the psychiatrist was treating Gloria for severe depression, which was worsened by a series of failed relationships. Gloria and Tony had an intense affair, but Gloria became jealous and threatened to call Carmela. This infuriated Tony, who nearly strangled his girlfriend while she spat on him and begged him to follow through. Several months after they broke up, Gloria hanged herself from a chandelier. She did not leave a suicide note.

Richie Aprile, played by David Proval

Richie seemed relatively mild-mannered considering his criminal lifestyle, but he was a ruthless mobster. He had been in prison for 10 years and was unhappy with the changes in the family, especially Tony's rise to the top, during his time served. Richie wanted to whack Tony and told Uncle Junior, who in turn tipped off Tony. Tony had intended to kill Richie Aprile but Tony's sister Janice beat him to it. Richie and Janice were engaged and one night an argument escalated into Richie hitting his fiancée in the face. Janice retaliated by shooting Richie dead.

Key Members of "The Sopranos"

Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini

The center of the show, Tony heads the DiMeo family, the most powerful crime organization in New Jersey. He was born in 1959 and grew up in North Jersey. Violence was prevalent in Tony's childhood; he witnessed his father, Johnny Boy, brutalizing victims, while his mother, Livia, was emotionally abusive. Johnny Boy brought Tony into the family crime business.

As the acting head of the "family," Tony has been responsible for many deaths, including his close associate Big Pussy, his cousin Tony B. and his associate Ralph Cifaretto. Meanwhile, his personal life has had its share of complications, with his marriage almost breaking up because of his infidelity, tension with his children and his own struggle with anxiety.

Dr. Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco

Dr. Melfi, Tony Soprano's psychiatrist, arguably knows the mob boss better than anyone else. She is a respected doctor in private practice to whom Tony was referred by a neighbor.

Dr. Melfi hasn't had an easy time with Tony as a patient. She has self-medicated her stress with alcohol, and her own therapist prescribed medication for Melfi's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Tony has made multiple attempts to woo Dr. Melfi, but she has always refused his advances.

Carmela Soprano, played by Edie Falco

Carmela DeAngelis met Tony Soprano in high school and eventually quit her studies at Montclair State University to marry him. While she enjoys the material perks of being married to a mobster, she finds it harder to deal with the constant threat of losing her husband to business.

Tony and Carmela separated once because of his infidelity. While Tony has had numerous extramarital affairs over the years, Carmela also had a flirtation with Tony's business associate Furio Giunta and, during their separation, an affair with their son's guidance counselor. Ultimately, however, Carmela and Tony reunited.

Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli

Christopher is Carmela's first cousin but as Tony's protégé, Tony adopts him as his own nephew. Christopher was a baby when his father was killed and Tony became a father figure to him.

Christopher has an impulsive and sometimes violent nature, which has made for obstacles as the heroin addict has risen in the ranks of the family business. His flirtations with Hollywood have been a constant annoyance to Tony, and he also was not always sure it was the life for him. He did, however, prove his devotion to the Sopranos when he informed on his fiancée, Adriana, who was killed after she tried to convince Christopher to help the Feds.

Uncle Junior, played by Dominic Chianese

Carrado Soprano, Jr., better known as Uncle Junior, is Tony Soprano's paternal uncle.

Junior briefly headed the New Jersey crime family, but because his leadership was perceived as selfish and overbearing, Tony took over. Capitalizing on Junior's vulnerability, Tony's mother, Livia, manipulated Junior into ordering an unsuccessful hit on her son. Junior was also placed under house arrest on federal racketeering charges but his case ended in a mistrial. He has been diagnosed with cancer and has suffered a series of strokes. While awaiting his re-trial, he mistook Tony for an old acquaintance and shot him, nearly to death. He now lives in a mental health facility.

Silvio Dante, played by Steven Van Zandt

Silvio, one of Tony Soprano's associates, owns the Bada Bing club, the topless club where they do business.

Silvio has been around mobsters his entire life. While he is even-tempered and reasonable, he is no stranger to violence. He has recommended Tony to eliminate rivals by having them killed and he personally took part in the murder of Big Pussy. Silvio ran the crew while Tony was in a coma, but he found the stress of being the boss more than he could handle.

Paulie Walnuts, played by Tony Sirico

Peter Paul Gualtieri, aka Paulie Walnuts, has been a part of the business since age 17, under Johnny Boy Soprano, Tony's father.

Paulie has a violent temper, but perhaps what sets him apart from Tony's other associates are his issues with women. He has never been married, but has a strong bond with his "mother," Nucci, whom he discovered was actually his aunt; his real mother was a nun. Paulie considered leaving Tony's organization to become part of a New York crime operation after some of Tony's decisions led to a decreased income for Paulie. But when the leader of the New York organization did not recognize him, Paulie returned to Tony - with a wad of cash for the mob boss.

Anthony Soprano Jr., played by Robert Iler

Tony Soprano's younger child, Anthony Jr., or A.J., is a troubled teenager whose rap sheet includes crashing his mother's car while driving without a license and getting caught smoking marijuana at his confirmation party. He was expelled from high school for cheating on a test.

After his expulsion, A.J. was sent to a tough-as-nails military school, but his enrollment was cancelled when it was discovered he, like his father and grandfather, suffered from anxiety attacks. A.J. set out to kill Uncle Junior for shooting Tony but found himself incapable when he came face to face with his great-uncle. A.J. has been changing his aimless ways since becoming involved with Blanca Selgada, a single mother.

Meadow Soprano, played by Jamie-Lynn Sigler

Meadow Mariangela Soprano is the older of Tony and Carmela's two children.

She excelled in high school and at Columbia University, but her relationship with her parents has been rocky through the years. Her parents disapproved of her boyfriend Tony, who was of mixed race, and her next boyfriend, Jackie Aprile, Jr., whose father was Tony's late boss and friend. And even though Jackie cheated on Meadow and failed out of college, she was devastated when he was found shot to death, and she blamed her father and the mob lifestyle. She is now engaged to Finn DeTriolio and living in California. She seems to have distanced herself from the family's criminal connections.

Janice Soprano, played by Aida Turturro

Tony Soprano's older sister Janice disappeared from family interaction from high school graduation until her mother, Livia's, stroke -- and the promised inheritance -- prompted her return to New Jersey. Back home, she got engaged to her old boyfriend, Richie Aprile, whom she shot to death after he hit her in the mouth. Tony sent her to Seattle, Washington, but she returned home for good after Livia's death.

Janice's trouble with her Russian housekeeper landed her in the hospital, where she found religion. She had an intense affair with Ralph Cifaretto, but that ended in favor of a relationship with widower Bobby Baccilieri. She became a soccer mom, and after being arrested for assaulting the mother of a peewee soccer player, she enrolled in counseling.

Johnny Sack, played by Vince Curatola

Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni is the head of the New York operation and an ally of Tony Soprano.

Johnny is known for his cool, calm and collected demeanor. However, a disparaging remark about his wife can trigger rage, as was the case when Ralph Cifaretto repeated a comment about her backside and Johnny ordered a hit on Ralph (which was eventually called off). The Feds busted Johnny, but while imprisoned he received permission to attend to his daughter's wedding. He openly cried there, losing the respect of many of his associates and essentially control of the family.

Phil Leotardo, played by Frank Vincent

Tony Soprano's rival, Phil Leotardo, is the head of the New York crime family.

Hostility brewed between Tony and Phil when Tony Soprano took out Tony B. before Phil could get his hands on Tony B. for torturing and killing Phil's brother in front of Phil. The animosity continued with Phil's disrespect toward Tony until Phil suffered a heart attack and Tony made a bedside appeal for reconciliation.

Season by Season Guide to "The Sopranos"

HBO's Emmy-winning TV series "The Sopranos" pushed the envelope in its frank depiction of organized crime by inviting viewers into the world of Tony Soprano, his family -- wife Carmela and their children Meadow and Anthony Jr. -- and his "Family." Millions of loyal followers have been tuning in since 1999, and beginning Sunday, April 8th, the show will premiere the first of its final nine episodes.

Season 1

# Tony Soprano begins visiting psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi after anxiety attacks; eventually he hires a detective to investigate her
# Tony moves his mother into a retirement home against her wishes
# Jackie Aprile dies, Uncle Junior Soprano becomes the new boss of the New Jersey family
# Meadow Soprano reveals to her brother Anthony Jr. their father's true line of work
# Tony's mother Livia persuades Uncle Junior to put a hit out on Tony, which fails
# The crew kills Jimmy Altieri for being an FBI informant
# The FBI arrests Uncle Junior

Season 2

# With Uncle Junior locked up, Tony is the new mob boss
# Tony's long-lost sister, Janice, returns to tend to Livia
# Former boss Jackie Aprile's brother, Richie, gets out of jail, challenges Tony's leadership
# Tony resumes therapy with Dr. Melfi after she refuses to see him; she resorts to drinking vodka before their sessions
# Christopher Moltisanto, Tony's "nephew" but really Carmela's cousin -- survives being shot
# Janice kills Richie Aprile after he hits her
# Tony discovers "Big Pussy" is a federal informant, so consigliere Silvio Dante and capo Paulie Walnuts whack him

Season 3

# Tony's mother, Livia, dies
# Janice steals the prosthetic leg of her Russian housekeeper, Svetlana; Russian thugs retaliate by breaking three of Janice's ribs
# Dr. Melfi is raped
# New York crime boss Johnny Sack moves to New Jersey
# Uncle Junior undergoes chemotherapy for stomach cancer
# Tony dates Gloria Trillo, whom he met in Dr. Melfi's office
# Meadow's ex-boyfriend Jackie Aprile Jr. is shot to death because of a card game robbery

Season 4

# Christopher's fiance Adriana La Cerva unwittingly befriends an undercover agent; she is faced with an ultimatum of getting arrested or informing
# Janice and Ralph Cifaretto develop a relationship; she breaks it off by shoving him down stairs
# A distraught Tony learns his ex-girlfriend Gloria committed suicide
# Tony grows fond of the racehorse Pie-O-My; when the horse dies in a suspicious fire, Tony suspects Ralph and kills him. Christopher helps Tony dismember the body
# The family stages an intervention for heroin addict Christopher
# Carmela and Furio Giunta -- recruited from an Italian gang -- become attracted to one another, leading to Furio's return to Italy
# The judge declares a mistrial in Uncle Junior's case
# With Tony and Carmela's marriage strained, Tony moves into a hotel

Season 5

# Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto, is released after 15 years behind bars; he tries and fails to work legitimately
# Uncle Junior's behavior seems odd; it develops he suffered several small strokes
# Tony B. takes things into his own hands to revenge a friend's killing by New York's Leotardos. He kills the New York operation's Billy
Leotardo, little brother of the powerful capo Phil. Johnny Sack wants Tony B. dead
# Tony and Carmela reconcile on the condition that Tony funds her spec house project
# Adriana, threatened by the FBI with jail, tries to get Christopher to escape with her; Christopher rats on her; Silvio kills Adriana in the woods
# With a heavy heart, Tony kills Tony B. -- saving him from a torturous murder by Phil Leotardo

Season 6

# A paranoid and unbalanced Uncle Junior shoots Tony, leaving him in a coma
# Tony recovers and is released from the hospital
# Johnny Sack, arrested by the Feds, is sentenced to 15 years
# Johnny, in prison, petitions to attend his daughter's wedding; he openly cries there and loses the respect of his crew
# A.J. (Anthony Jr.) vows revenge on Junior for shooting Tony but cannot go through with it
# Christopher, once again abusing drugs, marries his pregnant girlfriend Kelli
# Word gets out that Vito Spatafore, one of Tony's associates, is gay. Vito's wife is related to Phil -- who's furious and goes behind Tony's back to have Vito whacked
# Phil has a heart attack; Tony visits him in the hospital and pleads for peace

Thanks to CNN.

Sopranos Ready for Final Whacks

Friends of ours: Soprano Crime Family

They're all gone now.
Big Pussy: Gone. Richie Aprile: Gone. Ralph Cifaretto: Gone.
Gloria, Adriana, Vito, Tony Blundetto: Gone, gone, brutally gone.

But not, in the mixed-up mob-family world of "The Sopranos," forgotten. Like Shakespearean ghosts, the departed haunt the living, a reminder of the thin line between their desperate, shifty lives and a place six feet under -- or 60 feet under water, or buried in the woods, or decapitated and inserted in a bowling bag.

So the survivors smile over the anger and violence that lurks just beneath the surface, and cover it up with pretty suburban estates and snappy clothes and money -- always wads of money -- and try to stay one step ahead of the ghosts. But death awaits us all, and for "The Sopranos," the moment of reckoning has arrived. The HBO series about a mob boss, his family, his crew and his therapist -- widely hailed as one of the finest shows in television history -- begins its final season of nine episodes Sunday. (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.)

The stars have mixed feelings about the series' end.

"This is really hard. I've never had a job for 10 years before," Edie Falco, who plays Carmela Soprano -- wife of mob boss Tony (James Gandolfini) -- told CNN at the show's New York premiere last week. "It is really not easy."

"The Sopranos" made lots of reputations during its seven-season, nine-year run.

Creator David Chase, a TV veteran who had written for "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and "The Rockford Files" and produced "Northern Exposure," can now write his own ticket in Hollywood.

Gandolfini, a beefy character actor, became a star -- as have many of his co-stars, some with such unorthodox backgrounds as guitarist (Steve Van Zandt, the longtime Bruce Springsteen sideman who plays Tony's pal Silvio Dante) and ex-con (Tony Sirico, who served time for some stick-ups before turning to acting, and now plays mobster Paulie Walnuts).

And HBO, which had had only mild success with original programming before "The Sopranos," became the go-to place for water-cooler TV series, including "Big Love," "Six Feet Under" and "Sex and the City" (which, although it predated "The Sopranos," caught fire after the mob drama began).

The series was an unusual smash: as intricate as a novel, with flashes of fierce violence and equally uncomfortable humor. The four major broadcast networks all had their shots before Chase took the show to HBO, but all turned it down.

With the scope, the pacing, the language and the darkness of the show, the rejections were for the best, said Sirico. "It could have never happened on network," he told CNN.

Producer Brad Grey, who shopped "The Sopranos" around, agrees. "I believed that the net[work]s would be open to taking some risks at that time," he told Vanity Fair. "I was foolish. ... It was basically a waste of time, really bad judgment on my part, because even if they had taken it, it wouldn't have been 'The Sopranos.' "

The show pushed the limits of television -- and HBO's patience. It was expensive from the outset, it was full of unknown performers (probably the best known at its debut was Lorraine Bracco, who plays Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Tony's therapist) and HBO didn't like the name, believing people would think it was about opera. And nobody was safe in Chase's underworld. Characters died -- and they died suddenly, with the risk of alienating viewers. The actors who played them also walked a tightrope of emotion, knowing they could be whacked at any time. "I was really, really sad," said Steve Buscemi (Tony Blundetto) at a gathering of performers who played killed-off characters. "That's really just about missing the greatest job I've ever had."

But the show also had many moments of humor -- often directly contrasted with the violence -- and was willing to be as brutally honest in dissecting family relationships as it was in showing a mobster's corrupt world. Some of the show's most dramatic moments have come between Tony and Carmela, arguing in their kitchen.

"It really pushed the envelope. I think people were expecting it to be just a mob show, but it's really not," Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who plays Soprano daughter Meadow, told CNN. "David uses it as a vehicle to express a lot of his opinions on social issues and family issues and political issues. ... I think people were afraid to do that for awhile. 'Sopranos' sort of broke the mold with that."

Naturally, the show's performers -- adhering to the mob code of omerta -- have been tight-lipped as to what's in store for the final run. "Everything you were waiting for, you're gonna see. Everything you've been waiting to feel, you're gonna feel. Trust me. Trust me," was all Sirico would tell CNN.

The series may have peaked a few years ago; ratings, which began strongly and have stayed high for HBO, topped out at 11 million viewers per episode in the fourth season; last season the numbers were closer to 8.5 million. With Chase sometimes unsure of whether to continue, there were huge gaps between some seasons. And in recent years, "The Sopranos" has been attacked for not always measuring up to its own high standards. But, even with the show available on DVD and in (expurgated) reruns on A&E, it will haunt -- like a ghost.

"It's been such a big part of my life -- it's been almost 10 years. I was 16 when we started and I've been through so much through this whole ride," said Sigler. "I only hope to do something half as good."

Thanks to CNN

Ray Ryan Book Still Under Development

Friends of ours: Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo

It's been nearly two years ago since we first wrote in this column about a book that was to be published about Ray Ryan, one of the biggest names connected with Watertown's rich history.

It was back in May of 2005 that Herb Marynell, a freelance writer and photographer from Newburgh, Ind., stopped by our office at the Daily Times to discuss Ryan as part of his information gathering process which is to lead up to a biography of Ryan.

Herb has been fascinated with Ryan for many years and has collected a vast amount of information about his life. Herb's fascination with this “larger than life” personality came about while he was a reporter for the Evansville Courier & Press in Evansville, Ind. It was back in October of 1977 when Ryan was killed when a bomb went off in his car in Evansville. The explosion and Ryan's death were widely speculated to have been the work of the mob, which had been intertwined in Ryan's life for a long time. (Joey the Clown Lombardo has been widely regarded as the top suspect by law enforcement authorities.)

Herb's visit to Watertown included a number of stops and interviews with people, and he said he learned a great deal.

Back when he visited two years ago, Herb had hopes the book would be in print by this time, but that hasn't been the case. A number of our readers have been asking us about the book and when it might be available, and as a result, we visited with Herb recently, and he said he continues to gather information on Ryan and that he has a fair amount of work to do before the book is published.

At the present time he has over 100,000 words in the initial draft of the book, and plans to add thousands more before it's ready for editing and final proofing. His estimate is that the book could still be a year away from publication.

Herb told us in recent days, “Last fall I visited Hot Springs, Ark., and two important oil towns of Tyler and Snyder, Texas, to get the feel of those places. Just before the end of the year we visited Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif. to learn more. I didn't think much of Las Vegas but Palm Springs is a wonderful place. If only we had the money to live there permanently - I can see why Ray Ryan loved that place.”

Herb told us one of the best parts of those trips was meeting the old-timers, the folks in their 80s and 90s with great stories about life in those communities back in the 1950s and 1960s when Ryan was around.

He said, “Through the folks I ran into in Las Vegas I got to meet Tony Montana, a Chicago guy who grew up in The Patch and knew the important guys in the Chicago Mob in the 1940s and 1950s. Tony is a hoot! He lives in Vegas and will be working in Chicago this year doing a movie about the 42 Gang from which several of The Outfit's later top mob guys started their ‘careers.'”

Herb said he's still looking for more information on when Ryan testified in 1964 against two mob guys who tried to extort money from him. That chapter will likely lead Herb to Washington, D.C., where he wants to take a peak at some U.S. Tax Court documents from when the Feds went after Ryan in the late 1960s.

Herb also appealed to me to see if anyone in Watertown could help fill in a few more blanks about his years in this community. Questions Herb raised included:

Did Ryan attend college in the area after high school and did he graduate from Watertown High School? (The indications are he did not.)

Did he play sports in high school or college?

Was he a “ladies man” as a youth?

When did he become interested in horseback riding?

He was also interested in the time when Joe Davies came to Watertown to announce his plans to form the scholarship foundation that has been so big here in Watertown. Herb believes Ryan was one of the speakers when the announcement was made and we're checking into that for him.

Herb said he still doesn't have a publisher for the book but because it's not quite ready for publication, he has not been looking for one. He said Tony Montana is affiliated with a publishing company and would help to make it happen if that becomes necessary.

Herb also said he would be e-mailing to us some sections of the book that pertain to Watertown to check on accuracy and to see if there is anything more local residents can add to the story.

He's excited about the book, and we told him there will probably be some good sales of it right here in Watertown. Old-timers remember Ryan well. He was a pretty “flashy” person and he was always dealing with huge projects, and that often kept him in the news, not only in Watertown but throughout the country. As a result, there is a lot of interest in this Watertown man who made it big and made news even in the way he died - probably at the hands of some disgruntled mob boss. But, we'll never know that for sure.

If any of our readers have more information they can share on the life of Ray Ryan, and especially his years in Watertown and his return visits here, drop a note to us here at the Daily Times. We'll be sure to pass everything along to Herb as soon as we receive it.

So, we hope this update helps our readers to know just where Herb is with publishing the biography of Ray Ryan. From what Herb told us in our recent conversation, we shouldn't get overly anxious about the book any time soon. It will likely be at least a year before it makes it in print and it's actually available for purchase. We'll keep you posted if there are any other new developments on the quest to get this book published.

Thanks to WDT