Jackie Aprile, Sr.

What do you think of him fom what we see of him as Boss? We don't see much, but from what we do see, what do you think of him?

Consider:

-He was the leader of the youthful crew which consisted of himself, Tony Soprano, Silvio Dante and Ralphie Cifaretto.

- He had the idea, along with Tony, to rob Feech LaManna's card game. Feech was a hugely respected and feared Capo at the time, probably one of the top guys in the Family. And Jackie had the balls to suggest it'd be a good idea to rob his Executive Card Game. He and Tony were the primary robbers, with Silvio as the likely wheel man.

-He was appointed Boss at a pretty young age, being only 40 when Old Man DiMeo (the founder and original Boss of the family) went to prison.

Old Man DiMeo picked Jackie ahead of Tony (a Capo of the same age), Junior (a Capo who'd been in the family since it's beginnings), Ray Curto (again another Capo who was old and respected and had been around since the beginning), Larry Boy (Capo of the biggest crew in the Family), Jimmy Altieri, and anybody else.

I think it says something when the original Boss picks a guy who is very young in Mob terms to be Boss over guys who have been Capos for decades.

-He commanded respect and authority from pretty much everybody, even from Tony Soprano, who had a problem with authority. He commanded respect from Junior, who at one time he was a mere piss boy for.

-Despite being very sickly with cancer, he still got out of his hospital bed to mete out the sit down between Tony and Junior.

-Reigned for four years and apparently those were prosperous, peaceful years, and Jackie was considered to be a great leader. Even Chris Moltisanti, who had no real respect for his superiors, referred to Jackie as being like "a fucking God, great leader."

Ya i think they wanted to show the difference between jackie and tony. Jackie ruled the right way and it was peaceful. Tony there was always chaos mostly because of his ego

I always thought it would have been interesting to get a few more episodes out of the Jackie Sr. character. And while i get that his death is what sets the plot of season one in motion (Tony vs Uncle Jun.), i still think he would have been a strong character to contrast with Tony (as JCrusher points out).
While i do think the series is perfect the way it is, and i wouldn't/couldn't do a better job, i wonder if it would have been interesting to have season one's story like spread over the first two seasons. You get one season of Jackie's rule/cancer, ending with his death and Tony and Uncle Jun. being at odds. You follow that up with season two where Tony lets Uncle Jun take over to be the lightening rod. The same events from season one can still happen, just spread out a bit more!

Totally agree with everyone here. I would have liked to have seen him rule the entire first season, and end season one with him having found out he has cancer. Then he can die midway through season 2. his character had so much potential.

I'd have liked to have seen Jackie as boss till the NY-NJ war where he gets whacked then Tony spends a whole season fighting New York, have Junior in the Front Boss position from Season 1-5 after they hear about indictments and Jackie get's whacked for harboring Tony after he beats up Coco

That would be a nice scenario Philip Lombardo. I wish we could have at least one more season with Jackie, then it would be interesting to see what would happen with Richie.

i love michael rispoli. shame they couldn't have took the series back a few years and showed jackie snr in action

I love when they show "Johnny Boy Soprano" in the series. They really should do a prequel to the Sopranos, everyone would sign on to that.

yes can you know any actor that could be great as a young tony

though I believe the young Jackie Aprile character would be on the who steals the show in a prequel

I've gotta think about that one...to be cont'd

K I found the kid who should play young Tony. His name is Pierce Gagnon here's his bio
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3163952/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

Have you ever wondered why Junior didn't make a move for the top spot when Jackie Snr was bumped up to boss?

If memory serves me correctly, Jackie Aprile was only acting boss while Eckley DiMeo was "a guest of the government." That's a plot hole that was never resolved. DiMeo is mentioned early on in the series, but then just vanishes.

The only plausible thing I can think of was that Jackie was a stronger earner -- he had the plumbing business, plus what he looted from the union pensions. The Feech card game heist helped his reputation as well.

Junior probably respected and deferred to DiMeo's wishes, but this was never really fleshed out in Season 1.

Would have been definitely interesting to Jackie Sr in action, but from what we saw is that he was a calm and powerful leader that made Junior and Tony stay in line, which says quite a bit. Based on what we see know of Tony and Junior, both were probably deemed too cowboyish by DiMeo's point of view and may draw heat from the Feds, local bulls, or other rivals.

Jackie seemed to be even keeled which is what you want from a leader.

You know, I wish that Season 1 had been all about the family under Jackie, and then early in S2 he's in the hospital with cancer and dies; it could have really tied in to the Richie storyline too, like maybe Richie got out of prison just after Jackie died, to keep his storyline going in roughly the same direction with Junior becoming "boss", Richie backing Junior and that part ending the same way.

I don't think it would have really impacted much of the series.

while Jackie Sr was a good character, the series is called The Sopranos, not The Apriles. Keeping Jackie around longer than he was would have changed the dynamic of the series, IMO. Tony was obviously the central figure and the series was about him and his daily life.

If Jackie, Sr. were kept alive longer, it would have muddled the storyline for Season 1. Jackie's death dovetailed with Junior's feud with Tony over Comley Trucking, and Junior's dangerous reactions (killing Brendan Filone, mock executing Christopher, threatening Tony).

The death of Jackie and the resulting power vacuum helped amplify the tension between Tony and Junior. For only being the third and fourth episodes of the series, I think it was a good way to keep up the suspense for a new viewer.

I agree. However, I'd have loved to see more than one flashback with Jackie Sr. The only time we get to see him is 1995 with Pussy and that's only like 2 minutes long. It would have been nice to see a flashback to their younger days or Jackie actually giving orders and running his family his way.

More flashbacks would have been good. However, I'm thinking of that '95 flashback...shouldn't Tony's hairpiece been given its own credit?

I liked that flashback episode as well. Great job showing them 5 years ago (Paulie with no wings, Tony's extra hair, etc.)..Watching Pussy walk in with his son, dressed as Santa completely hammered was hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQnWFg5s6g

Ah, yes. Pussy stumbling into the back room of Satriale's and grabbing the bottle of Johnnie Walker.

Note the irony in Sil's Michael Corleone reference at 0:20...

I agree with everyone here and I really like the prequel idea. That way it's all new characters. I think it would be impossible to pull a sequel off without James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano - can't be done.

And the poor actor who were picked as Tony would get never ending comparisons to James Gandolfini.

Exactly; nobody can compare. That's why a prequel set in the days of Johnny Boy would have to be the best way to do it.

I suppose they could try to find someone who looked like a younger James Gandolfini if they wanted to set it early on like when Tony first came into the mob, but even that likely wouldn't work.

Jackie died way too early in the series.