Adriana La Cerva
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| Adriana La Cerva | |
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| First appearance | "Pilot" (episode 1.01) |
| Last appearance | "Cold Stones" (episode 6.11) |
| Created by | David Chase |
| Portrayed by | Drea de Matteo |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Manager of Club Crazy Horse |
| Family | Liz La Cerva (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Christopher Moltisanti (fiancé) |
| Relatives | Richie Aprile (uncle) Jackie Aprile, Sr. (uncle) Jackie Aprile, Jr. (cousin) Vito Spatafore (cousin) Bryan Spatafore (cousin) |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Adriana La Cerva played by Drea de Matteo, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the long-time girlfriend and, later, fiancée of Tony Soprano's protégé, Christopher Moltisanti.
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[edit] Character history
Adriana is known as a mobster's dream girl, having grown up around wiseguys all her life by virtue of being the niece of Jackie and Richie Aprile. Growing up she saw and heard plenty, and wasn't at all repulsed by the Mafia lifestyle. Adriana is initially portrayed as shallow and materialistic, interested in the things that Christopher's money could buy: expensive cars, shoes, jewelry, drugs, designer clothing and furs. However, as the couple grow closer, she always seems to have Christopher's best interests (as well as hers) in mind. She is very ambitious and wants to have a business of her own; she is eventually set up as the manager of Christopher's Crazy Horse club in Long Branch, New Jersey, which becomes quite successful.
[edit] The mole
The FBI targets Adriana as a potential weakness in the family's organization. Upon the death of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, the FBI looks to Adriana as a close relation to a rising star in the crime family and sent Special Agent Deborah Ciccerone to befriend her. Ciccerone succeeds at befriending Adriana, but they have to cut the mission short earlier than planned after Christopher makes a pass at Ciccerone. Nonetheless, the FBI learns of Christopher's heroin addiction, which they knew would enrage Tony Soprano, and turns Adriana into an informant by threatening her with jail time for cocaine distribution at the nightclub she manages.
Out of loyalty to Christopher, Adriana avoids giving up any serious information on the family and does her best to avoid the Soprano family house in order to have nothing to give back to the feds. Her deception catches up with her after the FBI learns of her involvement in covering up a murder at her club and threatens to press charges of being an accessory to murder against her unless she offers full cooperation. She reveals the truth to Christopher, hoping they can run away together and start new lives. An enraged Christopher beats and almost strangles her, before breaking down crying. His loyalty to his crime family turns out to be greater than his love for Adriana, and he reveals her status as an informant to Tony. Tony telephones Adriana, falsely informs her that Christopher had attempted suicide and is hospitalized, and that Silvio Dante will take her to him; Sil then kills her.
[edit] Post-mortem
There was initial speculation Adriana may not have been killed — the primary reasoning for this was her death was not seen, which was unusual in the course of the series; the camera tilted upward, away from Silvio and the crawling Adriana, before two gunshots are heard. De Matteo was also under contract to appear in the sixth season. However, in her audio commentary on the fifth season DVD, de Matteo confirmed Adriana is indeed deceased, and the show's frequent use of dream imagery instead provided for her return; she appeared in a dream of Carmela's in the sixth season premiere on March 12, 2006, "Members Only". Also in that episode, Carmela asks Tony about Adriana (he quickly changes the subject).
In the Season 6 episode "The Ride", Carmela Soprano runs into Adriana's mother, Liz La Cerva, who tells Carmela that she believes Christopher killed Adriana, and that the FBI came to her with questions about her. When Carmela tells Tony about their conversation, he explains there was no body, and reminds her that if the FBI really thought Christopher had killed her, they would have arrested him.
While in Paris, Carmela dreams of seeing Adriana in a park, but a policeman tells her Adriana is dead. Carmela is intent on finding her, especially after Liz La Cerva lands in the hospital following an attempted suicide. However, Tony and Silvio pull some strings and Carmela is able to continue construction on her spec house, and the distraction keeps her from investigating the matter further.
