Characters' ages

In the early seasons it seems like Silvio is much older than Tony/Jackie Sr./Ralphie. And Paulie is always referenced as one of Johnny Boy's soldiers (remember Barb saying "Paulie Gaultieri, is he STILL ALIVE?" And Tony refers to Silvio as "no spring chicken." But then in later seasons it seems that Silvio came up with Tony, was in the same schwag crew, etc. Tony is supposed to be what, 44, 45 at the end? Silvio looks and acts much older. But when Ralphie talks about taking down Feech's poker game, it seems like Silvio is the same age as them all.

I'm also confused about when Johnny Boy Soprano died. Sometimes it seems like he died when Tony was in his 30s, maybe 1990--but at other points it seems like he was dead by the time Tony was making his bones in his early 20s.

Junior is also a confusing age–when Tony is 8 or 9 years old, Junior seems to be in his 30s in the flashbacks—but then he has dementia when Tony is 44? So he gets dementia in his 60s? He should have been in his prime, not wearing dentures and losing his mind?

well maybe junior was 37 for instance when tony had his flashback so tony his 9
and when tony is 44 then junior is almost 70 + - which sound ok and realistic i guess

I believe Tony was 47 at the end. Jackie Aprile and Silvio seemed to be a few years older

According to The Sopranos, A Family History,Tony Soprano born in 1959 made his bones in 1982 with willie overall murder and after johnny soprano death he become the youngest capo at 27 y in 1986;Silvio Dante born in 1957; so Tony,Silvio and Big Pussy was born in the last 1950s but if the carachters had the same age not so the actors:Gandolfini was born in 1963 while steven van zandt in 1950,vincent pastore in 1946.

This is the huge difference if in he show silvio and tony should have the same age and van zandt had 16 y more to gandolfini and should be his father.

Michael Imperioli was only 5 years younger than James Gandolfini, and is only 3 years younger than Edie Falco.

I always thought it was interesting that Junior had such an old school mobster demeanor while Johnny Soprano looked more like a typical 60's street hood.

Tony was born in 1959. This is retconned to 1960 in S6 for no real reason.

Jackie Aprile was born in 1954 or 1955. The report on his death says he was 44. He dies in July '99

Silvio was probably around Jackie's age

Pussy was only a few years older than Tony. When Tony was somewhere between 7-10, Pussy was 16. He says so when he talks about his kid sister Nucci dying. He says he was 16 and Tony was the only one who would come with him every day to visit her in the hospital. He joined the family in the late 60s.

Paulie's exact age is unclear but he was born during WWII so he was born somewhere between 41-45. He was already one of Johnny Boy's guys in '59, because he says he was there when Tony was born and it as the only time time saw Johnny cry. Even by the early 60s he was Johnny's biggest enforcer.

Johnny Boy according to his tomb stone was born in 1924 and died in 1986 at the age of 62. Lucia was born in 1929 according to her headstone.

Junior was born around the mid 20s.

Chris' age is retconned. In the first 4 seasons, he and Tony are 15 years apart. He is said to be 25 in the Pilot script to Tony's 40. If Tony was born in '59, that means Chris was born in '74. In S5 he says when gen was 11, Tony was around 19. Which means he was born in 68 or 69.

Phil Leotardo was born in 1941. He says he is 66 years old in 2007.

Johnny Sack was born in 1954. He's said to be 52 in 2006. His younger brother Billy was born in 1960 as him and his family are celebrating what would've been Billy's 47th birthday in 2007.

Eugene Pontecorvo was born in 1960. He's 47 in 2007.

Even the way Junior dressed compared to Johnny. In Fortunate Son, the flashback takes place in October 1969. Junior has a fedora, a sports coat, an old scho vest with a shirt under. Johnny has a long sleeve polo and very 60s leather jacket and slicked hair. Junior almost looks like a 20s or 30s wiseguy. Or like one of the older bosses.

This could be overcompensating on his part. Junior was Johnny's older brother but constantly standing in his shadow. He was made AFTER Johnny. Lost his hair at a young age. Didn't carry nearly as much prestige or respect as Johnny (as late as 67 he's acting as his brother's driver). His brother had the wife, kids, a nice house, a glamorous mistress who slept with JFK. Perhaps by dressing th part of an older wiseguy he tried to cultivate a sophisticated image to compensate for his lesser status.

Also, while we don't see much of Johnny in action it could be summized that Johnny was more of the blue collar bread and butter, extortion, loansharking mould of wiseguy. Junior, while greedy, is clearly more into white collar crimes and might arguably have been a wiser man than Johnny. If Johnny was the popular, good looking brawn of the duo, Junior was the brains. We're told for example that Johnny was told to buy up land in Manhattan in the 70s but didn't "see it", the potential; the same properties later became Tronecca.

Hey - I even wore my suit to the phone sitdown with Carmine

That's interesting. I would have thought Imperioli was alot younger than both Gandolfini and Falco. Thanks for the info, Oak.