Tony Blundetto
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| Tony Blundetto | |
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| First appearance | "Rat Pack" (episode 5.02) |
| Last appearance | "All Due Respect" (episode 5.13) (death) "Mayham" (episode 6.03) (dream sequence) |
| Cause/reason | Murdered by Tony Soprano |
| Created by | David Chase |
| Portrayed by | Steve Buscemi |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Tony B,Tony Uncle-Al |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 47 (Deceased) |
| Date of death | 2004 |
| Occupation | Laundry Truck Driver, Illegal casino manager/operator |
| Title | Associate in the Gervasi crew in the DiMeo Crime Family / proposed Dimeo Family member |
| Family | Al Blundetto (father) Quintina Blundetto (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Blundetto (divorced) |
| Children | Kelly Blundetto (daughter) Justin & Jason Blundetto (twin sons) |
| Relatives | Tony Soprano (cousin) Christopher Moltisanti (cousin) Janice Soprano (cousin) Barbara Soprano Giglione (cousin) Joanne Blundetto Moltisanti (aunt) Pat Blundetto (uncle) Louise Blundetto (cousin) |
Anthony "Tony" Blundetto, played by Steve Buscemi, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He is Tony Soprano's cousin who is released from prison at the beginning of the show's fifth season. Tony Blundetto first appears as a calm, composed, and reformed criminal ready to pursue a straight, non-criminal, civilian life. However, it doesn't take him very long to realize that civilian life isn't for him and to turn back to crime spectacularly, dragging the DiMeo Crime Family into the Lupertazzi Crime Family's power struggle.
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[edit] Character overview
Anthony "Tony" Blundetto is introduced in the second episode of season 5 "Rat Pack". He is cousin to Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti. To distinguish the two, they were called "Tony Uncle Johnny" (Soprano) and "Tony Uncle Al" (Blundetto) when they were kids after their fathers' first names. Blundetto, Soprano, and Moltisanti all grew up and played on a farm owned by their uncle, Pat Blundetto. Soprano and Blundetto would often bully Moltisanti. He is the father of daughter Kelly and identical twin boys Justin and Jason, whom he fathered by smuggling his semen out of prison while incarcerated. Tony B. is notably the smartest character to ever appear on the show. In the season 5 episode 9 episode "Unidentified Black Males", it is revealed that he has an I.Q. of 158.
In 1986, Tony B. was incarcerated for 17 years for hijacking a truck. Tony Soprano was supposed to go along with his cousin that night but was not able to show up due to a panic attack he had, caused by his mother. Although Tony B. doesn't know that's the reason Tony never showed, Tony tells him he was mugged by some guys the night the hijacking went down. Tony strongly believes Tony B. holds some ill will towards him because he went away that night, yet Tony B denies this.
In 2004, Blundetto is released from prison along with a string of other well-known mobsters, and the media labels them "The Class of '04" These other mobsters include: Former caporegime Feech La Manna, Lupertazzi Crime Family caporegime Phil Leotardo, and former Lupertazzi family consigliere Angelo Garepe who returns semi-retired. After Blundetto's parole, he decides not to return to a life of crime and has the incentive to stay straight and clean. Instead, he initially decides to go into massage therapy. Tony is seemingly disappointed that Tony B. has decided to pursue a legitimate career after Tony B. declines Tony's offer to get back started working with the DiMeo Crime Family with an airbag scheme Tony had lined up for him but respects his cousin's decision regardless. Tony gets his cousin a job working for a trucking company owned by a Korean man named Kim. Kim doesn't trust Blundetto at all and shows his overt prejudice against him since he is an ex-con. When Kim, however, finds out about Tony B.'s aspiration to become a professional massage therapist, he begins to take a liking to him and even says he will go in on the business with him fifty/fifty. With the help of Gwen, a girlfriend he met via the Internet while in prison, Tony B. passes his state massage board exam and is hopeful to open his own massage facility. Kim sets up Tony B. with his empty store in West Caldwell to establish the massage parlor. In the episode "Sentimental Education", Tony B. comes across $12,000 in the street, and everything appears to be going his way. He manages to start fixing the storefront up, but then goes on a self-destructive tear, staying out nights and blowing much of the remainder of the money on gambling and expensive clothes. After fighting on the phone with Gwen, he takes his anger and frustration out in a beating he gives Kim, ostensibly because he has been doing all of the work. Tony B. then meets his cousin, Tony Soprano, at Vesuvio for a meal. After hinting that he has screwed up, Tony B. asks if he still needs someone to cover the airbag scheme. Tony B. then begins working with Tony's crew.
Little Carmine's crew simultaneously begins courting Tony B. through his old prison buddy, Angelo Garepe. In an earlier season episode "Where's Johnny?", Phil Leotardo had performed a mock execution on loan shark Lorraine Calluzzo for siding with Little Carmine during the Lupertazzi power struggle between Carmine and Johnny Sack. When Lorraine fails to give her money to Sack upfront, Phil gets his Brother, Billy, and his friend Joey Peeps to assassinate Lorraine along with her boyfriend and partner in her shylock business, Jason Evanina. In retaliation, Little Carmine associates Rusty Millio and Angelo Garepe offer a contract to Blundetto to assassinate Joey Peeps ("Marco Polo"). Although he is reluctant at first, he later accepts the contract after he decided that he isn't moving up fast enough in Tony's crew. Blundetto shoots Joey and a prostitute dead inside the former's car, but the vehicle rolls over his foot. Blundetto limps away from the scene and leaves quickly in his car. In "Unidentified Black Males", Soprano discovers Blundetto has a limp. Blundetto lies and says he was jumped by gang members. Soprano learns from Sack that a witness got a look at the man who killed Joe Peeps and that the witness said he had a limp. Soprano instantly puts the puzzle together and has a panic attack. He confronts Blundetto who calmly pleads his innocence. Although Soprano knows the truth, he tells Sack that Blundetto did not kill Peeps; he knows there would be dire consequences if the truth were known.
In "The Test Dream", Phil and Billy Leotardo assassinate Angelo savegely in revenge for Peeps' death. This drives Blundetto into a rage, and he tracks down the Leotardo brothers, wounds Phil and kills Billy. By the end of season 5, Tony Soprano is under heavy pressure to deliver his cousin to Johnny Sack, explicitly so he can be tortured to death by Phil Leotardo. With his entire crime family now targeted in revenge, Tony Soprano confronts his capos, telling them he is giving Tony B the protection he would give to any of them. But after much prevarication, Tony S realises that he has to make a painful choice. He uses a contact at a phone company to track down Tony B at their Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm and shoots him dead himself with a 12-gauge shotgun. He then tells Johnny Sack where Tony B is. When Phil arrives later to avenge his brother he finds the body and is furious to be deprived of his vengeance. Tony Soprano orders Christopher Moltisanti to bury his cousin Tony secretly.
When Soprano is shot and falls into a coma the following season, his dreams include an encounter with Blundetto. In the dream, occurring in the season 6 episode 3 "Mayham", his cousin (named in the credits merely as "Man") is stuck as a doorman in purgatory, urging Soprano to let go of his life as a mobster and spend the rest of eternity with his dead loved ones. Specifically, Soprano arrives outside a house where a fancy dinner party is being held. He wants to go in and is invited inside by Blundetto, but is told that he will have to leave his briefcase outside. Soprano is reluctant to let go of the briefcase, since he says his "whole life is in there." The implication is that he is on the verge of crossing over into the afterlife and must leave the briefcase, symbolizing his mortal life, behind. The presence of Blundetto, a man he murdered, and his dead mother adds further credence to this idea. Soprano is torn and confused, but he had heard his daughter Meadow calling out to him, so he holds onto the briefcase and walks away from the house. He awakens from his coma seconds later.
[edit] Episode Appearances
- Appears in the following episodes: "Rat Pack", "All Happy Families...", "Irregular Around the Margins", "Sentimental Education", "In Camelot", "Marco Polo", "Unidentified Black Males", "Cold Cuts", "The Test Dream", "Long Term Parking", "All Due Respect", "Mayham".
[edit] Murders committed by Blundetto
- Joe Peeps: Contracted by Rusty Millio and Angelo Garepe in retaliation for Lorraine Calluzzo's shooting (2004)
- Heather: Shot by Blundetto alongside with Joe. (2004)
- Billy Leotardo: Shot by Blundetto in retaliation for the murder of Angelo Garepe (2004)
[edit] External links
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