Tony: Worst Mob Boss ever depicted?

Yes, as a character and the main protagonist of The Sopranos, Tony is utterly compelling, cool, awesome, etc. But from a Mafia standpoint, the guy was really probably the worst Mafia Boss ever depicted on the screen (big screen or small). He inherited from Jackie Aprile,Sr a large (for NJ standards) and prosperous family with six fully functional crews, a great partnership with NY, great rackets, etc.

Within 7 years:
He almost started a war three times (Over Tony B., over Vito, over blowing up Phil's wireroom)
Killed off the family's best earner (Ralphie)
Mistreated and underpaid valuable soldiers to the point that they turned to other sources of income, which resulted in them getting nabbed by the Feds (Pussy, Carlo Gervasi, Eugene, possibly Ray Curto)
Mishandled every respected and feared Family veteran who got out of prison to the point where they were insubordinate and ultimately had to be either put down or sent away (Richie Aprile, Feech, Tony B.)
Allowed a drug addict to live and even reach the upper echelons of his Family, despite said drug addict threatening to kill him publicly and having a rat girlfriend (Chris). After Chris gives up Adriana, he's promoted to Capo.
Tried to boss around New York even though he was just an NJ Don.
Sparked a war with NY which resulted in the death of his Underboss and the mortal wounding of his longtime, wise Consigliere.
Protected Tony B., even to the point where his own soldiers were considering mutiny, out of sentimentality, despite knowing that Tony B. had to die. And not letting Phil handle the murder.
Protected Vito, even to the point where it nearly started a war.
Alienated Hesh, his second best advisor, most low key and intelligent guy and a well respected loan shark.
Lost Barone Sanitation, his Family's main source of legit income.

Under Tony's regime, the Family Lost:
Pussy (competent and longtime loyal soldier, resorted to selling H due to being underpaid and as such was caught and became a rat).
Richie (alienated Richie to the point that Richie wanted him dead, ruled against Richie at every turn, lost an old school, tough, feared Capo)
Feech (Due to paranoia, lost a totally old school, feared and RESPECTED Capo)
Ralphie (The best earner the Family ever had)
Bobby Bacala Sr (Wasted a great, albeit sickly hitman, on a hit that could've been done by anyone else)
Gigi Cestone (Had he not been made Capo, he wouldn't have died from stress)
Silvio (Had Tony not pushed NY to war, Silvio would still be walking)

Yes, Vito and Michael Corleone made mistakes, but they never ran their families into the ground. Paul Castellano was killed, but he died with the Gambino Crime Family as the most powerful in the country. The only other Bosses I can think of who were as bad as Tony are John Gotti and Al Capone.

I mean, even compared to the other Bosses on The Sopranos (Carmine, Sr, who served as Boss for over 30 years and died of natural causes; Jackie, who was loved, respected and served for four years before dying of natural causes; Johnny Sack, who was feared and died of natural cause), Tony sucked as a Don.

I loved the sopranos but hated Tony. He wasn't a good boss, I mean he made decisions on what/who he liked.

All due respect, you got no fuckin' idea what it's like to be Number One. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other fuckin' thing. It's too much to deal with almost. And in the end you're completely alone with it all.

Well that wasn't respectful Ivy lol. First of all as an italian american im pretty proud that i dont have any family in the mafia since I dont respect who care if they are Number one. However when it comes to the Sopranos i just gave my opinion from watching the show that he wasn't a great boss. You have your own opinion which is fine just try and calm down next time lol

That was a quote from The Sopranos. Tony to Silvio when they were talking about being boss.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_BsfBKjaBY

Oh yeah I remember that monologue. Sorry about that I thought you meant me

yes he was a terrible boss. one only thing might earn him that title which was killing the highest earning capo in the family for no good reason and then enticing most of the family's force into the apparent "revenge".

What he did to Feech was fucked up. The man did his time, kept his mouth shut only to be sent back to prison by a paranoid boss for no good reason. If ever there was a reason to turn informant....

Sad thing was, there probably wasn't much Feech could give the Feds.

I wouldnt go as far as saying he was the worst boss ever. Like ivy said and i agree with him 100% nobody here has any idea what it takes to be number one, with all the descisons and stress. You also have to understand he was living two lives with his personal family life which had alot of problems and his mob family. taking into consideration a true mob boss would say fuck his personal family and devote himself to the mob but realistically its not easy to do

I think Tony, unlike other people like with Silvio, paulie, Pussy, etc.., has always had esplanade the way, he certainly, with Silvio and others have done the robbery of the gambling den Feech , and Tony has killed that man Willy Overall, but his father and uncle were the real leaders of the family, and not the old ercole DeMeo.
Then in 1986 he became the youngest capo in the the family history is 27 years old if I dont'mistake As a boss, I would compare him to Nicky Scarfo.
For various reasons: he gave the order to kill the twin brother of Patsy Parisi, for the story that he was about to kill his mother (and it was true),
he killed, Ralph Cifaretto, just because he did die, the horse, in a fire to collect insurance money to pay the money for the rehabilitation of his son Justin;
Pussy had already cooperated with the feds, before Tony became boss, but he has not even considered in order to become Capo
Feech Lamanna and Tony Blundetto, had long condann ee did not speak, but Tony not even consider the idea of appointing Feech as a Capo, and to introduce Tony B. as a made man;
Tony has promoted and protected his nephew Christopher, although he was a hopeless drug addict , and his girlfriend Adriana was a rat;
did arrive men from Naples, but he never had the idea to create a Neapolitan Faction (and maybe order the dead of Furio Gionta), the most violent and perhaps most faithful of american made man;
had inherited a great relationship with the two largest families of New York (the Teresas and Lupertazzis), ruined them down and have a war with one of the two. Tony is dead to me, and ruined in 7 years, a small but profitable family.For the fact that the power and responsibility of being Boss, is never easy, but damage in such a short time a crime family, ignoring the old school gangsters, or the most profitable, is from idiots, I was Tony I'd at least tried to expand at least the family affairs.

Feech was a threat to the throne at that point, as was Richie. He woulda either flipped or tried to kill for the top spot. If Janice didn't kill Richie, I'm sure Tony would have over him beating on his sister. Tony B. went cowboy before he had the chance to get straightened out. Tony didn't break a rule in killing his cousin first. A handover usually don't happen, but Phil present is about as much as you could expect. I think Ralph just did one more thing to make it easier for Tony to go ahead and take him out. He was living on borrowed time. He woulda got himself killed sooner or later. As Junior said, you steer the ship the best way you can. Tony was a young boss but was quite capable of doing the job, despite being younger when he took over a crew.

KC i agree, i also think having the guys in tonys family that he had were very hard to work with . they werent easy guys to deal with. Alot of people in the family envied Tony

I could never see Ritchie flipping, he was a stone wall gangster, truly old school.

Richie would never flip. I mean you may not like him but he was a stone cold gangster from the old school as was feech. Tony's problem was that he had jealousy problems amongst other things. Feech was respected by many up and comers kind of like neil Dellacroce was because they were no nonsense gangster. Tony wasn't a horrible boss but he wasnt a great boss either

One of the things that really disappointed me toward the end was that they never followed up with the mutiny idea. In real life I think even Silvo would've gotten tired of Tony's shit eventually. And being killed by his own friends would've been a pretty realistic (and logical) end for someone like Tony. For a show that made a big deal about portraying these guys as they actually are, they dropped the ball letting Tony get away with his many fuck ups. Shit, the guy even curb-stomped a made man in New York and got away with it. That's realistic?? Imagine some NJ mobster doing that to one of Gotti or Gigante's men. He would've been fertilizer the same day.

As well all know, Tony suffered from panic attacks/depression etc. And almost all of his decisions stem from allowing his judgement to be swayed by paranoia, ego and sentimentality. He wasn't stupid in any way, quite the opposite. He was able to think 2/3 steps ahead on countless occasions. But in my opinion, even when the panic attacks subsided, there remained a mental flaw that meant he wasn't ever really cut out for the top job.

Tony was really the only person for the job. The one time Sil took over, it drove him to the hospital. Everyone else lacked the mental prowess to lead. Can you imagine Paulie as top dog? Or Pussy? I know Richie might seem like the obvious choice, but let's not forget the man was a sociopath. Eventually that might lead to some serious issues. Internal issues (a coup) or external (NY vs NJ).

When he wasn't passing out or taking peyote in Vegas, Tony was a shrewd, smart, calculating mob boss.

Pussy, barring him being an informant, would've made a capable Boss. Paulie of course not.

Richie wouldn't have lasted five minutes as a Boss; he was barely respected even as a Capo after he got out of the can, because of his temper and lack of respect for the current status quo. He was also too old fashioned, too stuck in the old ways, to last long. He wouldn't have the intelliigence to think up complex schemes like the HMO scheme Tony thinks up, or to turn the Esplanade into a gold mine. He'd have stuck to the old things--Sanitation, drugs, extortion, trucking, etc. In the 70s, 80s, he probably made a great Capo; prison probably messed with his head, along with the fact that due to being in jail he was in essence "passed over" for Boss first by his kid brother and then by Tony. Richie'd either have been killed or would've been picked up by the Feds quickly.

Guys on the show I can see being a good Boss are:
Patsy Parisi (low key, cold, calculating, smart, got balls)
Larry Boy (If not under house arrest, seems pretty smart)
Feech (hot tempered but also very traditional, greatly feared and respected, smart)
Vito (if it never came out that he was gay; he was a very decisive, calculating, highly intelligent guy, savvy, cold blooded when need be, and an amazing earner, who also had a close tie by marriage to New York. Phil seemed to have regard for him before he was outed.)
Albert Barese (Yes he repeats himself but he also showed himself to be smart at times. He was the only one who figured out that Tony killed Ralphie over the horse)
Ralphie (If he wasn't coked up and psychotic. The guy had brains, balls, savvy, the best earner the family ever had, he just needed more self control)
Gigi (Level headed sort of guy)
Tony B. (If the hijack had gone the other way, he probably would've been Boss. He was smarter than Tony S., less of a boorish asshole but also still very street smart and respected before the Leotardo incident, he was considered a "rising star" before he went away)

What's this underpaid crap? Money goes up, not down. Pussy got greedy and got caught. That's all. Happens all the time.

He was treated like a gopher (for example going all around looking for Tony's son's teacher's stolen car) and left out of a lot of the big scores even before there was any suspicion of him being a rat. If he was being treated well enough he wouldn't have had to dabble into selling drugs to afford his kid's college tuition.

Tbf Tony should have listened to Silvio let Junior be the actual Boss for a time and appoint the right people even if he hates them

If Tony could get Junior to be happy as consigliere, I think things would have went a lot different. Thing is, Junior was too jealous and greedy for the boss spot.

The irony is, their official titles aside, Junior pretty much did end up being Tony's consigliere.

My dream ending for the Sopranos (and Tony's) would have been this:

- Tony B. was never recognized for the Leotardo hit, pushing Phil to believe that someone from the past power struggle carried it...leading the Lupertazzis into a new wave of internal instability.

- Not being chased by NYC, Tony B. continued to climb the ranks of the family...got made...and started to take advantage of NJ own issues (Vito, etc..) to raise as captain of Vito's former crew.

- Eventually...frustration with Tony's behavior (not protecting Vito enough from NY, or whatever other reason Chase's writers could have come up with) made some NJ guys looking at Tony B. as an interesting option as a leader.

- Blablabla, don't know how, but then we'll have a good old power struggle between the Soprano-faction and the Blundetto-faction.

This would have been more interesting due to the troubled relationship between Tony Uncle John and Tony Uncle Al (Tony B. being someone who could easily challenge Tony's emotions...ala Raplhie or Richie) and an even more realistic conclusion...as we've said many times the NJ-vs-NY-thing was laughable.

If that would have happened...I would have cheered for Tony B...no questions asked.

LuanKuci, that's a great scenario- would have loved to see that. I was always sorry that they killed Tony B off so fast.

NY vs NY was great. NY vs NJ, laughable. Correct. I like to pretend we're dealing with the 90's here and not the new millennium, it helps a bit. Anyways. Good call on Tony B. He was more of a plot device than an actual character. I was really looking forward to his character when I learned Steve Buscemi got the part. For the most part they used him as a tool to display Tony's 'authority problem', and to make for better Melfi scenes. He never really got to do anything in the DiMeo family.

Yeah I enjoyed the power instability in NYC, I think that it was realistic and shown to many people how most mob wars happen within families.

That's why I lost interest in the final arch. It was too unrealistic, even for the show's universe. For 7 season we were reminded (most of the times by Tony himself) how the Lupertazzis were larger ("they have like 100 soldiers over there...") and more powerful. Yet, these Jersey Boys were able to engage in a war with them.

I mean: the entire DiMeo family fit a normal-sized safe house...with Buddha Greco counting for 2 of course.

I think Tony said they had 200 soldiers to Chris, making it even more ridiculous.

When Buddha Greco kept popping up, I was thinking, who the hell is that guy?

By that point they were just pulling new characters out of their ass instead of bringing back guys like Larry Barese or putting more development in to Agent Harris. One problem with the Sopranos is often times they refused to work with the established characters. Hell, why not bring Beansie in from Florida? Maybe it's just me. Walden was a good last minute addition but I would have liked to see more character development for guys like Patsy that we were already familiar with. In the last episode Tony mentions Patsy but he's not even on screen, while 5 minutes of screentime is given to Bobby's second in command, who we've never even heard of. Last season had so many flaws. Even in the NY side, we needed more time with Butchie and Albie to feel invested when they make the series pivotal scene happen.

Though it would be extremely unlikely, both practically and historically speaking, a smaller family like the Sopranos/DeCavalcantes could go theoretically go to war with a NY family.

I don't think the total membership thing plays into it as much as people think. A NY family like the Lupertazzi's may have 200 members. But it's not like the Army where everybody can be drafted or called into service. So it's really not a 200 vs. 40-50 thing.

And hurting the smaller family economically would probably be a more effective and practical weapon than killing guys.

Good thread. Another proof that Tony wasn't boss material is that he was easily manipulated by Johnny Sack. Remember how Johnny Sack almost talked Tony into killing Carmine Lupertazzi just so he himself could become the boss of that NY family. What could the Sopranos possibly gain from such move considering that killing Carmine would generate A LOT of heat and probably start a war? Just because Johnny promised Tony a higher percentage from those HUD scams Tony was ready to do it, lol. It was definitely not worth the risk.

I'm sure that if this hit went through Johnny (the snake as he was) would sacrifice Tony next. He'd have no problems convicing his family that Tony was responsible for the hit (given the tensions between the families at that time) and would start a war against NJ, probably get all the other families on the comission on his side in the process (because Tony had boss of the 5 families whacked without permission) and then install Paulie as his NJ puppet. I mean, even a semi-decent mob boss should sense something like this was Johnny's plan and that killing Carmine (a boss of one of the 5 families) is equal to a suicide.

And then in season 6 Johnny asked Tony to whack Rusty, a major player in the NY mob, as a "favour" and Tony agreed. He had nothing to gain by doing favours for imprisoned Johnny who was clearly losing his power and by killing Rusty (who had no beef with NJ whatsoever) he made way for Phil (his nemesis) to take over later.

Tony was insecure and always wanted to prove something to NY which ultimately led to a war.

Well to be fair, Tony obviously did sense something was up with Johnnys plan, hence why he didn't go through with taking out Carmine.

Taking out Rusty was IMO a way to keep Johnny happy so that maybe he can keep some control over Phil.

So I'm not sure Tony was the worst boss ever depicted. There are plenty of mob bosses who have been significant characters on screen worse than Tony. But despite making a few smart, calculating moves, such as making Junior a lightning rod, i think he was a pretty bad one. There are a number of questionable decisions made throughout the series. Of course hindsight is 20/20 especially for a fictional show, but I too agree there should have been more internal tension regarding the whole Tony Egg thing.

Tony called the hit off only after Carmine unexpectedly decided to compromise and meet Tony's demands. Those blacks that Chrissy knew already had clear instructions how to take out Carmine, it was a matter of days. Besides, conspiring to kill a boss is a major thing that doesn't just go away like that as if nothing ever happened, Johnny himself reminded Tony of that ("The thing is, we had those conversations. Your mouth was moving along with mine").

As for Rusty... Indeed by keeping Johnny happy Tony thought Phil would be controlled. But Johnny's power was clearly fading at that point and he was facing 15 years in jail minimum. By killing Rusty, Tony potentially made a lot of enemies in that family, if it ever came out that he was behind it, and it didn't really win him much sympathy from Johnny's/Phil's faction.

Remember when at that sitdown in the last episode Tony accused the deceased Johnny Sack of creating constant tensions between the two families, but in reality it was actually him who was doing that since 4th season or so. At least, I see it this way.

All in all, it wasn't wise from Tony to get so much involved in NY problems and it ultimately backfired. Of course though, it's a show and it made the plot interesting so I have no problems with it.

Making Junior a lighting rod IMO wasn't a good decision. It's not like Chin-Salerno situation because Juniors didn't know about this arrangement and it naturally made him very angry when he found out. It sparked a war and Tony was lucky not to be killed because of it.

Tony was good at recognizing rats though and had some charisma. I don't agree that he was "the worst" boss ever depicted neither it's just that Sopranos are by far the most famous TV depiction of the modern LCN which is in decline, so it's natural we won't see a 'Michael Corleone' or something.

For TV Tony was great..based on real life Tony wasn't even a good made guy..he sees a shrink..punishable by death, he rats out feech to the cops...punishable by death, he kills the family's best earner over a horse...should be a severe punishment, allows Christopher to live after he becomes a junkie AND after his fiancee becomes an FBI informant...should be punishable by death, protects Tony b(an associate) after he kills a made guy unsanctioned, which real life rules are u gotta let Phil exact his revenge....and there's a lot more so based on real life Tony wouldn't even cut it as a soldato let alone anything higher

Yeah Tony was a terrible boss, the only one i disagree with is it wasn't just over a horse Ralph was killed that was the last straw. Killing that stripper at the bing and pissing NY off with that Ginny Sack joke were punsihable by death as you put it imo. Also him being just a genuine hothead, who could've flipped at any moment. The rest i completely agree with though.

Pussy became a rat while Jackie Aprile was running things. (Shown in flashback scene) So you can't blame Pussy selling heroin on Tony being cheap...In reality you can't blame it on anyone....except Pussy.


....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...To_Save_Us_All_from_Satan%27s_Power

I liked Tony and he was a great actor. In real life he was not Boss material. I didn't like the way he sent Feech back to prison. I would have respected Tony if he either straightened out Feech's behavior or killed him. In real life, they would have killed Feech. If the Bosses cannot control you, they kill you. Same goes for Christopher and his drug addiction. It would never have gone on that long in real life.

yea that's true camarel there def was a lil more behind the ralph killing..i guess I was just tryin to make my case a lil stronger by leavin out the rest lol

worst is a over statement,but half of it was to keep the story moving.

Ralphie killing that horse IMO was some sort of revenge against Tony who took his girlfriend Valentina. Remember how Tony beat the shit out of that senator for dating his ex-mistress but when he himself started dating Ralphie's ex he expected Ralph to just accept it and move on. Another example of him being a bad boss.

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.

the whole premise of the show wasn't the big powerful mafia don

it was about a small mob family and his weirdo crew

that's what made his acting great because he wasn't supposed to be the man

he was just the man in his goofy neighborhood

Is anyone else surprised that a fairly shrewd guy like Tony got hustled by his Father's mistress? She gets the cut from the go-cart track,money to pay her bills,(that she blew on 600 dollar shoes),and both embarrasses herself and Tony by trying to be seductive with her Marilyn Monroe impersonation.It seems like Tony wised up after the damage was done,but how did he not see through her from the get-go? Is it possible that he did know,but had a reason (known only to himself) to allow her to con him.

I have same feeling on the show. As it went from season to season, they got even weirder. Vito in gay club dancing with that hat and chains. Pauly Walnuts acting like fool when he visits psychic who mentions people who he killed was goofiest. The Pine Barrens episode, which I am got turned off by. They lose the Russian, go into total panic at being lost immediately, and turn on each other quickly, but in away that made them look like they were in a comedy instead of a drama.

Weirdo crew is right. For some reason, the annoying, overweight Janice was depicted as the hot, desirable chick on the show.

Richie lusted after and wanted to marry her. She dumped him permanently. Ralphie wanted to move in with her and was literally kicked to the curb. And then Bacala succumbed to her charm, marries her, and they have a daughter.

What did all of these high ranking mafioso see in her?

Janice was only appealing to those guys because she was the bosses sister. It was a power move every time, she knew and she was manipulating just like her mother. I really liked the richie character and she got in his head and things went sideways.

Tony was probably against his sister dating Richie. IIRC, Richie was house shopping with Janice at the same time he was looking to take out Tony as the boss. If Richie took over the family, would he have dumped her? Seems that he was dating her before Tony took over the family.

If Tony got whacked before Bobby B, would Bobby have dumped Janice? I'd say no. However, I agree that this relationship paid huge dividends for Bobby. He even beat up Anthony without any outward repercussions.

Ralphie was making a ton of money, yet wanted to move in with Janice. Was he a capo at the time or was dating Tony's sister going to make him a capo?

Janice was completely miscast. If she was going to be the irresistible milf, they could have picked an irresistible milf to play the part. For example, Sharon Stone was a great choice to play Ginger in Casino.

Richie and Janice did have a history prior to the show, but a big part of janice's attractiveness to those guys is that it gets them into tony's orbit. When you date janice you get sunday dinner's at the boss's house, get to be all family gatherings; you have direct and consistant access to tony, which a lot of the guys don't have. Richie got promoted to capo when he got out of jail but how many other capo's at that was tony talking with on a regular basis other than paulie? (unless you count junior as a capo, he was technically boss in rank but his crew consisted of just he and bobby)

I don't think janice was ever meant to be attractive and I think that's part of the psychological torment from their mother and it's effects are big theme of the show). I also think that part of the reason they had her get involved with those guys was to show her being manipulative just like her mother.

Some men love those big titties! Remember the scene when Richie was doing her from behind with a gun to her head? I have a friend who would eat that ass!

Tony felt compelled to take care of a woman that his dad took care of for so many years.

I think the thing with Janice was all political. Richie I believe used to date her in high school (so maybe she was hot then?) so he might have had an excuse to get back with her (although there's no indication if they were seriously dating or if it was just a fling), but even that was so he could get closer to Tony and demand his old stuff back since he was out of prison. Of course it's implied that Richie is bisexual or at least had some homosexual encounters while in prison (when he gets out and they give him a party at the Bing, he has the lights off while the stripper gives him a blowjob and when asked if he likes it in the dark says "Yeah, something like that", and takes major offense at the notion his son might be gay.)

Ralphie was almost certainly just doing it to get into Tony's good graces since he was still in the doghouse from beating Tracee to death and being a general scumbag. Also given the shit he was into maybe Janice was one of the only people who would do it to him.

I think Bobby might have had genuine affection (wasn't his deceased wife somewhat plump too? I can't remember) but again the relationship was more for power and to get an "in" with Tony than because Janice was some great catch. The king's ugly sister is still the king's sister, so you put up with the fact she's ugly because it gives you a political edge.

the way i see the show is this. like someone above said it wasnt about portraying all powerful, untouchable mafia family. quite the opposite, thats why the show is set in the late 90s, the time of mafia decline, and the main family is not some of the big ones from NY, but a small one from NJ. its all shown at the beginning of the show, when tonys crew are playing cards and in the background on a tv is going a conversation about how mafia isnt powerful as it used to be, and also tonys complaining to melfi how guys today flip all the time, and how its nothing like in the "old days". that said i wouldnt look at the things from "was tony a good or bad boss" stand point. just look at some of the top wiseguys. paulie is a frickin clown(loved his character nevertheless), pussy is a rat, top earners like vito and ralphie ara homosexuals and unpredictable coke addicts, bosses protege was also a hopeless drug addict. on the other hand look how old school "by the book" guys like richie and feech ended up. dead and in jail. i think all this sums up what the show is really about, portraying mafia during the difficult time and disappearance of old cosa nostra values. so i wouldnt be so harsh as to call tony a bad boss. of course he was paranoid, too proud and selfish with little regard for the rules. but he wasnt the only one, the whole mafia was like that. just look how many rats there were during the show. tony, as all others is just a product of new, modern time.

add to all this a little family drama, and u get what in the end all this is ultimately about. a great tv show.

Due to the fact that his father and uncle were reputables with strong connects to NY and his relationship with Johnny Sack, he abused his power. He always felt he was entitled to more than his share. Very dangerous when dealing with the five families.