Another mistake was not giving Richie Aprile his piece of his action like he deserved once he got out of prison. In all fairness, whatever was Jackie's was also Richies, but Tony was so greedy, he didn't want to give any of that up, he wanted all the power and majority share of the profits, not to share with Richie. Had he'd just given Richie what he'd asked for, it would've prevented all of Richie's animosity toward Tony, which only came about after that sitdown in which Tony ruled against him, he would've never plotted against Tony with Junior, and Richie for damn sure would've been a better captain than fucking Paulie Walnuts who couldn't keep his mouth shut for a damn.
I'll take the opposing viewpoint on this one. The biggest mistake Tony made with Richie Aprile was not nipping it in the bud. Richie was insubordinate and was asking to be clipped- he didn't back off of Beansie, he continued to sell coke on his garbage route, he wanted to dictate the time frame on when he'd get his old action back, he ruined Tony's poker game when he saw Davey Scatino playing.
I actually thought Tony was too patient with him. Richie's problem with Tony wasn't due to his decisions....it was because he thought of Tony as a kid and didn't respect him as the boss. Feech La Manna had the same issue- Tony learned from the Richie Aprile situation that he should just nip it in the bud instead of trying to make things work with an underling that will undermine him.
PS: How about when Richie presented Tony with his prized leather jacket? He thought Tony was going to frame it and hang it on his wall, when he gave it to his maid's husband instead!
