Seems to me like Richie would play the 'Older Brother card' and it would cause problems

Agreed. He'd probably feel as if he were owed something, just like with Tony in charge. But I don't think he would have gone as far as to try to make a move against Jackie.

No fuckin way.

He was on the fast track and it was gunna b his way or u were goin away.

He wanted to and was gunna collect on his time.

i think jackie could have handled him better than tony. junior pumping richie and then deciding to play the best odds and telling tony of richie's plans was a good one. he pulled the wool over everybody's eyes. watching the show again i still wonder if junior wasn't doing a vinnie the chin gigante and pretending to be out of it.

Richie would have built a ramp up to his ass and drive a Lionel up in there.

watching season 6 and a question comes to mind. when they are talking about the vito situation paulie mentions richie disowned his son[richie jr] because he was gay. it was never proven if he was gay. janice told richie ballroom dancing wasn't gay. she also mentioned so what if he is gay to which richie punches her in the face and janice kill richie.

We don't see much of Jackie's managerial style. In season 1 he's already sick and comes off as apathetic to mob related issues. There's the flashback scene in season 3 where he barks some orders around to Puss and Tony.

Richie played a great role...I was disappointed when he got killed !!

I think for the sake of arguing had Jackie never gotten sick and Ritchie gotten out after what we can hypothetically assume was a peaceful and legally safe reign for Jackie, that Ritchie would be totally placated to.

He would be given his shylocking and extortion business and control of the Aprile Crew and have been direct with Jackie. Anything more is a fun debate but Tony would have been rooted as the #2 with Junior as well being the stongest tenured Capo.

I think he would have been given everything relatively quickly upon release from jail and would have carried the same weight of the other Capo's, besides for Tony and Junior, or those actively working with New York.

Likewise, I feel that had Jackie not died early and continued a successful tenure as boss that Tony B and Ritchie may have made for an great beef had the power struggle between Tony and Ritchie been left to develop with Jackie still alive. I personally think that if Tony would have had Tony B kill Ritchie to avoid a war to be Jackie's #2 it would have made for better content than Janice killing Ritchie.

Tony B going rogue and shooting at the Leotardo Brothers was enjoyable but had the beef been internal amongst the Soprano Family and had it been Jackie not Johnny Sac demanding Tony give up Tony B I feel the fate of Ritchie Aprile would have been worth more to the show as as well, Tony B as a character would have made more sense and been more complete rather than just a broken solider there could have been a deeper complexity to his dynamic with Tony against the Aprile Brothers in a hypothetical problem scenario between Tony and Ritchie where sides may have needed to be chosen.

Uncle Junior was banking on Albert and co siding with them but once they turned Richie down, Junior knew it was game over

Old man Profaci knew how to split his enemies...

I think he would have His problem seemed to stem that Tony, who he still regarded as an inferior, was now the Street Boss/Acting Boss and he, who had just gotten out of the prison after 10 years, wasn't being "cared for" like he expected. I also think Richie was trying to milk his association as being the late boss's brother, which is clear by him shaking down Beansie Gaeta when he had no actual right to do it, and then him going against Tony because Tony wanted him to be patient.

RE: Junior's involvement, it's clear Junior would have backed Richie if Richie had gotten any support, but the problem is that a hothead like Richie would have been more trouble than it's worth. Could you imagine him as a boss? He was even more flagrant than Tony was; he did after all beat the shit out of Beansie in his pizzeria in front of a bunch of staff and customers like it was nothing at all, so as a boss he would have easily been nabbed on something because he would never be able to keep his temper at bay.

Had Jackie still been alive I think Richie would’ve tried to use his little brother as a puppet boss.