i was watching the first season again after awhile, and in the first episode hesh was talking about uncle junior being mad at tonys father juniors brother, being mad at tony, and being mad at his other younger brother cuz he was made before him, but in another season uncle junior said his other brother was retarded. so how was he made? and i know for a fact there was only three brothers.

Take a deep breath and relax......

I think you're getting a little mixed up here. Uncle Junior may have been mad that Johnny Boy (Tony's dad) was made before him, but the middle brother (Ercoli) was the one who was retarded. Ercoli was never made, and he died shortly before Johnny Boy did, but Tony was never aware that Ercoli ever existed. Here's the dialogue from the Season Two episode explaining it:

J: They don't make 'em like Johnny. And keep in mind that he paid the freight for your Uncle Eckley. That was a major fucking nut.

T: Who? Who the fuck is Eckle?

J: Forget it. Keep thinking you know everything. Some people are so far behind in the race that they actually believe they're leading.

T: Yeah, that's cute. Who the fuck is Eckle?

J: Eckley, Eckley. Let's talk about something else.

T: No, you opened this clam, my friend. Who is he?

J: You don't know him. It's water under the bridge. Just know that me and your father looked out for him. He wanted for nothing.

T: Fuck you, fuck Eckle. I don't got time for this shit.

J: He was my younger brother. He was between me and your father in age. His name was Eckley. Actually, Ercoli, Hercules. Named after my grandfather.

T: What are you saying? I got another uncle?

J: Sharp as a fucking cue ball. Yeah, I'm saying your father and me had a brother you didn't know about. 'Cause he was... he was different in those days. Mother and father didn't even speak the language. They couldn't take care of a kid like that. God bless your grandmother. She went to every charity home in this fucking state till she found one that she felt would take good care of him.

T: What are you saying, he was retarded?

J: Why don't you go fuck yourself. He was slow. He was strong as a fucking bull, handsome like George Raft. If it was today, they might have trained him to be a... whatever or something. Get him a job. They didn't understand these things back then. Jesus. What were we thinking?

T: Unfucking believable. I remember my mother and my father arguing about-- something, I don't know. And, uh... she kept talking about my father's feeble minded brother, but I always thought she meant you. What a kick in the balls. When did he die?

J: Not long before your father.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SC:


I remember my mother and my father arguing about-- something, I don't know. And, uh... she kept talking about my father's feeble minded brother, but I always thought she meant you.


Ha ha...That cracked me up!!!


TIS

no in the first episode hesh says he was mad at johnny boy AND his little brother for being made before him.

"no in the first episode hesh says he was mad at johnny boy AND his little brother for being made before him."

Ah yes, I recall that conversation between Tony and Hesh during the pilot episode. Hesh and Tony are discussing the problems with Junior. Hesh says Junior is "driven in total by his insecurities".

I'm gonna watch that episode with the captions on. Maybe you misunderstood.

I watched Season One, Episode One this afternoon during my lunch break.

Hesh was talking about Junior, saying "He's had a hard-on his whole life. His younger brother, your father, was made before him."

When Hesh said "your father" and "his younger brother", he was referring to the same person: Johnny Boy Soprano.
Johnny was both Tony's father and Junior's younger brother.

i see, thanks for clearing that up

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is in season two, when that hot nurse comes to hook up that machine to help Junior's snoring problems, Junior says to the nurse, "she was freinds with my OLDER brother," I just found this weird because I thought Junior was the oldest of the three. I just assume he was just telling a white lie and that statement has no meaning.

Yeah, in that scene in the episode "House Arrest", Junior told the nurse that Catherine Romano was "a neighbor lady, went to school with my older brother" in a futile attempt to look younger to the cute nurse.

Hope I'm not hopelessly muddying the waters here, but here goes.

In a S1 episode Tony's at the Bing when over the tv comes news of Jackie's death. In the broadcast piece the newswoman, in an attempt to provide background on Jackie, notes that he was the reputed acting boss while Ercoli "Eckley" Somebody or other, the real boss, is cooling his heels in jail. And a couple of times in those early episodes Tony mentions "the old man" in jail. "This wouldn't be happening if the old man were here."

There doesn't seem to be a lot of follow up on this. Is it a case of an early plotline being abandoned? Likewise a case of David Chase really loving a name (Ercoli "Eckley") that he resurrects it later, with mention of Junior and Johnny Boy's brother?

Sorry if this has been addressed before.

Grazie.

The "Eckley" you're referring to is Eckley DeMeo (sometimes referred to as "Dominic" DeMeo). He was the boss of the Family before Jackie Aprile took over. DeMeo is serving a life sentence. Its just coincidental he has the same first name as Tony's uncle.

Here's a link to an old Family tree by professional association - SOPRANOS FAMILY TREE