The Jimmy situation is up to interpretation, they never confirmed it either way, but Jimmy's reaction fed towards the belief that he was a rat. I just have a differing opinion, I mean he was under pressure, and seconds away from being killed, it's possible he knew it was too late to plead his case and just prayed for his soul at that point. But who knows..


I think Richie had valid reasons for busting up Tony's card game. It's not like he intentionally went in there with that on his mind, but Davey owed him money after Richie gave him a loan to cover his previous gambling debts. Richie told him he couldn't play another game until he paid him, because he knew if he was allowed to play more card games, he'll just get deeper in the hole owing Richie and possibly others more money he couldn't actually pay. Tony wasn't aware of this until after the fact. Also, I agree that Richie didn't think very fondly of Tony since he basically watched Tony & his little brother Jackie rise from snot nosed punks to Capo & Boss of the family, but he wasn't going to let that influence his decisions and the welfare of the family. Remember, it was Janice who talked Richie into making a move against Tony in the first place, Richie was very big on the rules, and he also stated this in a few episodes. Mainly the one where he's fucking Janice with the gun to her head and she keeps calling him boss. Richie knew she was feeding into that idea that Tony wasn't a capable boss and it should've went to someone else, he then asks Janice why she's doing that and that the rules are the rules and Tony's the boss. But Janice egging him on and saying Tony was incompetent along with the drugs/garbage route beef pushed Richie into seeing if it was a possibility.

Even prior to that, when Bevliquoa and the other kid made a move on Chris and tried to use Richie's name, Richie was basically ready to kill Bevliquoa himself after he ran to him and told Richie "I did it for you". Richie knew the implications of his name being tied up in that, so he chased the kid away, he didn't want any beef with Tony. And of course, after he couldn't sell the move against Tony, he backed off, he most likely would've been hit anyway because Junior eventually told Tony, but the night Janice killed him, that argument basically began because he wanted Janice to stop talking about a move against her brother after realizing it wasn't going to happen.

So yeah, while he never really thought highly of Tony, Richie was a firm believer of the old school rules. And for that I think he and Tony could've co-existed and Richie would've even been somewhat of an asset.