Artie was one of my favorite guys. He was funny and normal. And it was good for Tony to have a normal friend. Most of Tony's wiseguy friends weren't true friends. When Artie beat the shit outta Benny, that was great. Artie took all of his self-loathing and jealous anger out on Benny in that scene. Even though he wasn't a true badass and seemed disappointed in himself for not being capable of being a gangster - Charmaine still chose him over Tony. And Charmaine has nice big tits.