I dont want to bring up the ending of the show because god knows it has been debated enough times. I just wanted to know if anybody wanted there to be justice for the crimes of Tony. I'm not saying him being dead I mean him going to jail. Since Carlo has flipped and he is a capo it seems like Tony going to jail is a real possiblitiy. I actually rather Tony go to jail for the rest of his life because that would be far worse for him since he hasn't done any jail time and I'm not sure if he could handle it. Tony has gotten away with some horrible things which is understandable since he is the main character. I'm Italian and I loved this show and other mob topics but i still want them to pay for what they do. Anybody else feel the same

The morale of the Jersey crew was nearly destroyed in the Leotardo war. Rewatch the scene with Paulie outside Satriales. Benny after Chris' death.

Tony has built up years of experience as a boss. He stepped over his own uncle, winning the infighting and converting all the soldiers from Junior's crew into Aprile/Barese/Soprano crew soldiers. As a boss, he's survived minor wars with Carmine Sr, a major one with Phil Leotardo, and the tension between his family and the ruthless Johnny Sack we see in Season 5. As a boss I would say his "approval ratings" have been overwhelmingly positive. Even if in anger, Tony let's his rage cloud his judgement (Ralphie, Coco getting curbstomped), he's always kept the respect of his captains, and will always know how. If there is a threat to the organization, Tony knows it, like a sixth sense.

So for the family's own good, Tony staying out of the can would be ideal. Within his elder years, there would be plenty of competent replacements. But for now, we have only two candidates. Paulie and Larry. Larry is one of the smartest, low-profile mobsters on the entire show. He's everything a mobster should be, with years of experience, always keeping the peace. He even cleared the case of Willie Overall by lying to the FBI, no easy task by any means. Paulie has always been higher up in the ranks, but is incredibly neurotic, to the point of being entirely insane. Paulie's superstition and greediness would hold him back severely, in a similar manner to when Junior held back from the captains and started taxing Hesh. Patsy is an excellent mobster, low-profile, level-headed, and most likely the most knowledgeable with intimidation. His only negative quality is a lack of experience as a captain, and opportunistic behavior.

Assuming Tony ends up in the can SOON. Our PRIME CANDIDATE for acting boss is clearly Larry. However, Paulie has always been within Tony's inner circle of friends. If there is enough time before Tony's jailing to mend his relationship with Paulie, he will name Paulie as his acting boss. In this situation, Patsy would become a high level captain, as he has always worked as Paulie's right hand man. Little Paulie would get his button as well, since Paulie will have the influence to do so. Jason Molinaro, who is Little Paulie's new partner in crime, would become a rising star in the family, since Little Paulie would continue working with him. So, here is the future of the family, within 5 years or so.

IF TONY STAYS BOSS
-Paulie remains/becomes Underboss (an underboss can run a crew)
-If Donny K is still around, he becomes a captain
-Benny Fazio, Tony's new favorite, will continue rising
-Walden Belfiore will be rewarded for killing Phil
-Tony will remain a good friend of Little Carmine
-Tony will again turn to Artie as a friend
-Anthony Maffei, Bobby's right hand man and soldier in Bobby/Junior's crew, will take over as captain
-Tony's new driver, Dante Greco, may rise through the family, just as Benny did before him
-Tony doesn't seem to like Anthony Maffei, so he may not take over Bobby's old crew
-Tony will go back to his old philosophy of "every day is a gift" because he realizes he is truely lucky to survive


IF LARRY BECOMES BOSS
-Albert Barese becomes a captain
-Artie may act erratically, Tony is his only true friend
-This situation would also benefit Benny, he is Larry's godson
-It's safe to assume Larry's close friends are made men from before Tony took over, since he is a very long term captain. Larry would pick them as captains
-Anthony Maffei, Bobby's right hand man and soldier in Bobby/Junior's crew, will take over as captain

IF PAULIE BECOMES BOSS
-Patsy becomes a high level captain
-Little Paulie gets his button
-Many will get whacked, as Paulie is incredibly neurotic and brutal
-Paulie's jealousy will cloud his judgement on many occasions
-However, he will get respect from Lupertazzi, as he is old school, and they seem to be familiar with him
-He will also get respect from anyone who respects the old generation
-Paulie will become depressed over Tony's disappearance, and visit him frequently
-Paulie may become incarcerated himself for never having legitimate business to feed the IRS
-Paulie will hold grudges on anyone who underpays him, and they will stop advancing through the ranks
-Paulie can pretty much hate anybody, but he loves Chris and Tony and Sil. He will remain loyal and kind to his closest friends.

Well that was a very detailed answer. But i guess my real question was if you want Tony to get what is coming to him.

It would have been sad beyond words if Tony had ended up in prison.

Oh sorry, thought you were asking what would happen if Tony went to prison, I go all out with Sopranos discussions. Anyways this is why Tony Soprano has become a pop culture icon, because he has done so many bad things, killed his blood relatives, lied, ruined lives, driven some to suicide. And yet we ask this question, and some people would feel saddened if it were so.

I would have to say the same. I am like a lot of people, don't want to see it happen. But there is no correct answer, and that was Chase' intention. Obviously he uses Tony's love for animals and his family as his redeeming qualities. And the reason Phil is also a compelling character is because he is almost a mirror image of Tony. His redeeming quality is an undying love for his brother Billy. Ironically, the reason they butt heads is because of the same qualities they share. Phil holds a grudge against Tony because he was associated with Billy's murder, Billy being who he cares for. When Phil is associated with Coco threatening Meadow, Tony curbstomps him because Meadow is who he cares for. Great storytelling by Chase.

Anyways I went off on another tangent on Phil. Like I said, I will always hope Tony got off free. I also don't see Phil as an irredeemable villain, since like Tony, he is infinitely loyal to his family. I guess the quality just struck a chord with me.

Tony has always looked out for number one - no matter what. If he is indicted, which is likely with Carlo's flip, I can see his defense team setting up a "Silvio was the real boss" scenario. With Silvio in the coma or dead, what a perfect defense to exonorate Tony Soprano thus he "gets away with it" yet again! Remember,the burden of proof is on the Feds. Nobody is alive to back up Carlo's testimony, all the other informants are "gone"...Big Pussy, Adriana, Jack Mazzarone, etc..Reasonable doubt can be easily created by a good defense team.

I mean I am a big fan of mob movies/Shows. I think the reason why the mob culture is so interesting is because it is a reality its not made up. I was never a big Tony fan I just didn't find his character interesting. I thought Paulie, Chris,Silvio were more entertaining. However, I still believe all these guys should go to jail. Maybe I'm being old-fashioned but I dont believe in killing, stealing from hard working class people

You have to hand it to him. Tony didn't have the pure hatred for turncoats that Silvio did. But he knew how to sniff them out. In my honest opinion, Chris was a rat too. And Mark, that's really interesting, never even crossed my mind. You're right that the boss is like a lightning rod for all the heat. The feds know the truth, but there are no more living witnesses.

I disagree Chris was no rat. He had a big oppurtunity to be a rat but he declined and didn't betray omerta. Chris was the kid of guy who would complain to his girl like Adiannna or his friend JT about what he could do to the family if he wanted to but he never did it. He was drunk when he went on those rants but he would realize that he loved being in the life too much. I'm surprised how many people think Chris was rat despite his flaws he turned out to be one of the most loyal mobsters on the show

Regarding "was Christopher a rat?" I think we've discussed this in length in another thread. But I don't believe he was a rat either.

As to the future of the Soprano Family, and at the risk of opening a big can of worms that has also been discussed at length, I believe wholeheartedly that Tony was killed in the last scene. I believe that Paulie may have been assassinated shortly thereafter (but only based on the orange cat omen, which is weak) and that Patsy Parisi probably took the top seat. (Larry B. is still in jail the last we knew. Not enough to keep him from the title maybe, but something to keep in mind.)
Just my two cents.

Here is the link to the discussion on Christopher being a rat:
http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=528764&page=1

tony is def dead imo

I think you make a good point about reasonable doubt however i disagree because the FBI has Carlo who is a high ranking captain in the family. Throughout the show the FBI never had a witness like Carlo would be. Sure they had Pussy but he wasn't given them much and plus the feds were more concerned with Junior at that point. they had Ray Curto and were very close to having a good case until Ray died. Carlo is given order directly from tony so he would bury him

wow thats a very good defense stratergy. Job well done mark

if tony was jailed he would hav bumped patsy up to acting boss

I never believed Tony died in that final scene. For sure I think he was about to be indicted on a massive RICO on account of Carlo's testimony. The question is would Tony of flipped??

no tony wouldnt flip hes a stand up guy

I don't either. Not really. But Chase basically confirmed it. I mean, first Chase was saying there's no answer. Then he admitted it was a 'fuck you' to the fans who wanted to see Tony die for being a jerk in the last season. He honestly admitted that. The fans who pay his bills by supporting his show. But in at least one interview, he explained that Tony died because the screen faded to black, and that was supposed to be the tipoff.

Still. That's so many different answers. Who could know. I think the point was, whether it was Rico, New York, or his own guys in Jersey, his demise was going to happen someday. That being said. It's a useless point to make. What a terrible ending.

The thing is no one is coming after Tony at that point right? Everything has been sorted with NY and Leotardo is dead. I think in a way it was quite a clever ending, we were all expecting some hollywood ending, with a shoot out etc. Life goes on. Tony will probably get life and someone else will step up to run things. It was like the Wire, they didn't tie it all up and say it was over, Marlo was done, but someone else would step up to run the drug trade.

Exactly, Nicky. I actually just wrote about this for a genre studies assignment.

Part of why I believe "The Soprano's" and "The Wire" were so great was that they denied the patriarchal ideology inherent in most crime drama's; that is, rather then every episode or season being wrapped up nicely and returned to the status quo by the "good guys", things were often more fucked up to finish with then they were at the start. There's a moral ambiguity which means the line between "good guys" and "bad guys" was not so clearly defined.

yeah thats what's so great about HBO shows, the freedom the writers have. You can bet if CBS or something made those two shows things would have had a predictable ending. The wire would of ended with Every drug crew in Bmore taken down by the police, while on the Sopranos, tony would have shot his way through the whole of NY LOL.

And its almost a complement to us that enjoyed the Wire that the viewing ratings were so low...let the minions watch their CSI's etc LOL

I would have loved to see tony go to jail. From the series we know that Tony has issues and is weak mentally. I canno't imagine him surviving in jail. Somebody mentioned him flipping to save his own skin and that sounds like tony lol. Gravano was known to be one of the toughest guys on the street but once he got to jail he turned pussy.

i think tony would have flipped as well.