he was pretty inept. I started rewatching the first season a couple of weeks ago (i've seen the whole show 2 or 3 times, although after seeing it the first time i would skip over the non-mob stuff so episodes would take like 15 minutes).

The thing about tony is that he's smart enough to think, but not smart enough to reason through it. He basically explains this the first few times he see's melfi when he's trying to convince her that he knows psychiatry but he really doesn't. He understands what it is, but he doesn't understand it completely.

It's like this in every thing he does throughout the show. He understands just enough to not be a total block head, but doesn't understand enough to be smart. He got to where he got because he happened to be johnny's kid and he can't ration things beyond his emotional state at that time. He does so many things that are unquestionably against lcn protocal that it's frustrating. Yes we understand these rules aren't written in stone and a guy like tony would get more leeway to break the rules than a less connected guy, even someone like paulie ever could, but after a while it becomes to much.

I blame this more on the show's writing than what the character is supposed to be within the world. But tony's not good and I can't imagine he would have lasted nearly as long as he did if it wasn't necessary for the show because the show is about his life.