What caused the decline of the Soprano crew?
07.06.2025 19:04
And then you had two important associates, Adrianna and Jack Massarone. Both of them had the access to cause some real damage to The Sopranos.
The situation with Tony Blundetto is too bad. He’s a smart, likeable guy who was trying to straighten out his life when he got out of prison. He didn’t blame Tony Soprano for him ending up in prison and worked hard, despite some of his person life being a mess and being constantly struggling for money. I don’t entirely blame him for returning to a life of crime, especially given most of his friends and family are in the life, and the money is good.
For someone being known for being so smart, Tony Blundetto definitely made some stupid decisions.
It seemed like The Sopranos, despite not being a large, had a big issue with it’s members and associates becoming informants for the FBI. Granted, historically speaking, this and RICO were a big reason why the mafia lost so much power and influence over the years, but The Sopranos just seem keeping to have this problem and not only that, many of them were high-ranking individuals, including Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (the toughest one for Tony), Raymond Curto (who is just randomly an informant early on in Season 3 without much of an explanation), Jimmy Altieri (a “fat slob with greasy hair” and technically never officially proven to be a rat), Larry Barese (although technically the information he gave the FBI was BS and actually helped Tony), Eugene Pontecorvo (again, no one ever found out before he committed suicide), and Carlo Gervasi (which may have been the dagger in Tony Soprano’s coffin had he survived).
The second factor that led to the decline of The Soprano family isn’t entirely Tony’s fault (although he did contribute to it in his own way).
The show definitely presents many of these characters in a sympathetic light, balancing trying to stay out of prison by ratting on your friends and family and hating yourself for it. We really get to see the conflict and emotion with Big Pussy, Eugene, and Adrianna. But in a life of crime, there is always the possibility of getting caught, but some people are willing to face the consequences and some are not.
And what makes it worse is that Tony was planning on eventually make him his successor and when that didn’t work out, it really put him in a bind. We saw the chaos that happened after he was shot by Junior and Silvio Dante took over. It was an unmitigated disaster and had it gone any longer, might have caused some serious damage to his crew. I’m not saying having Christopher in charge would have helped things, but if he stepped up, grew, and learned how to be the leader that Tony wanted him to, he might have at least been able to help provide some stability.
I still think he is a tragic figure to an extent. In a different situation, he may have been able to thrive. But purely from the point-of-view of Tony Soprano and his screw, continuing to give Christopher chance after chance definitely hurt his crew.
EDIT: Slight mistake in the last paragraph of the answer. Burt Gervasi (who was killed by Silvio Dante when he was approached by Burt to betray Tony for New York) was Carlo’s cousin, not brother. Apologies for the mistake.
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Tony frequently puts his family members in positions of influence an authority and even though they continue to cause his problems and weaken his position, he continues to give them chances.
However, what I do blame him for is the issues with New York in the latter seasons. Things were getting tense after Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. passed away, but him killing Joey Peeps started the tensions with Johnny Sack, and him murdering Billy Leotardo was the major catalyst for all of the conflict with Phil Leotardo. You can say Phil was stubborn, didn’t respect Tony Soprano or New Jersey, and felt entitled, but you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have been easier to deal with if Tony B. didn’t kill his brother.
There are two that come to mind with the one and the first is an obvious one.
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And not only did it cause problems with New York, but even Tony Soprano’s own crew started second guessing his decision-making and were very upset over the apparent favoritism. I have to imagine that if Tony didn’t take care of the problem himself, things would have gotten much worse and who knows how his family would have reacted. He could have very well had a mutiny on his hands, especially if New York kept messing with their money and attacking them. I completely understand how difficult of a situation that Tony Soprano was put in and I don’t blame him for trying to defend his cousin, but that decision didn’t make things easy for him.
Christopher Molitsanti may have gotten more chances than anyone else on the show and the worst part about it was that he was actually an competent individual who had potential to be a decent leader, but his selfish, impulsive nature, coupled with his addiction problems, led to his demise. This man just could not get out of his own way. And he definitely got he raw end of the stick on some occasions. Lose Adrianna La Cerva was a huge blow, regardless of how toxic their relationship was, and after he went clean he was ridiculed for trying to get better. But he also wouldn’t have been where he was if he wasn’t Tony’s “nephew” and it was pointed out as much to him on several occasions. It seemed, though, instead of trying to work to shake the nepotism tag that was attached to him, he seemed to try to use it as a shield, which caused some of his colleagues to dislike him.
I can think of two major things, one of which was Tony Soprano’s fault and the other wasn’t entirely. Let’s start with the one that is his fault:
The second one is also a problem, although less so than Tony B.
Too many family members turning on The Sopranos and becoming informants for the FBI.
Now, this definitely isn’t entirely Tony’s fault. He can’t help what other guys get caught doing or make their decisions for them. In some case, like Carlo’s, certain things Tony did may have influenced their decision (in Carlo’s case, the murder of his brother, however justified, and Tony dragging his feet on the situation with Vito Spatafore), but ultimately them turning FBI informant isn’t on Tony.