The Sopranos is an interesting crime drama because it never really had a conventional villain or big bad. By the end of the HBO series, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) had become so cruel that any other character looked good by comparison. His transformation is slow but inexorable, as the character who initially presents himself as a troubled family man gradually reveals himself as something much more sinister. By the final season, any notion of him bettering himself is gone, as he fully embraces his villainy and derives pleasure from the misfortune of others.
Tony may be the protagonist, but this doesn’t make him a hero. By their very nature, Tony’s enemies are going to be the worst of the worst. Throughout The Sopranos, Tony encounters a succession of rival mobsters, family members, and general thorns in his side, who threaten his power, manipulate those around them, or simply make life more dangerous for anyone in their vicinity. These villains don’t necessarily kill the most people or cause the most damage. Some are dangerous because they’re ruthless and unpredictable, while others are plain stupid.
7
Uncle Junior Soprano
Given that Corrado “Uncle Junior” Soprano (Dominic Chianese) ends The Sopranos as a confused old man in a care facility, his inclusion might seem strange. However, back in Season 1, Junior was Tony’s de facto antagonist, and the hotly contested power struggle for the top position nearly gets Tony killed. Proud, thin-skinned, and perpetually concerned with whether he’s shown enough respect, Junior repeatedly has lower-level associates killed for perceived slights. He orders Brendan Filone’s death and Christopher Moltisanti’s (Michael Imperioli) mock execution.
Junior’s greatest weakness is that he mistakes deference for loyalty. When news reaches him of Tony’s jokes about his sex life, and the covert meetings with capos at the retirement community (“pleurisy?”), he becomes so humiliated and enraged that he allows Livia to convince him that Tony is undermining his authority. As hostilities rise, Junior arranges several attempts on Tony’s life, showing just how quickly Junior’s wounded pride can put everyone in danger. As Tony put it in the season finale: “cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this.”
What makes Junior dangerous is that he isn’t incompetent. Subsequent seasons show him to be a shrewd and invaluable counsel to Tony. But he is constantly blinded by his pride, and his downfall is as much a result of his own insecurities as Tony’s scheming. He might not be a viable antagonist for very long, but the early, bloody power struggle establishes him as a credible threat.
6
Johnny Sack
There were never open hostilities between New York and New Jersey while Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) was at the helm, but he remains one of the most formidable characters in The Sopranos. While most mobsters are prone to impulsive outbursts, Johnny is usually capable of playing the long game. For most of the series, he is one of Tony’s closest confidantes; however, he is also an adept manipulator who gathers information from dissatisfied members of Tony’s crew by appealing to their vanity. He sows seeds of discord between Ralphie and Tony, all while claiming not to be “sticking his beak in.”
Fans see his more vicious, ruthless side when Johnny becomes the boss of New York. He becomes imperious and standoffish with Tony, and as the power struggle in New York escalates, he becomes even more erratic. The deaths of his protégé, Joey Peeps, and Billy Leotardo kick off a bitter feud between Johnny and Tony, and the prospect of open war between New Jersey and New York becomes an uncomfortably likely prospect. In one of The Sopranos’ most blistering tirades, Johnny threatens to wipe out Tony’s entire crew:
“You either deliver that p**** to my door, or I will rain a s***storm down on you and your family like you have never f***ing seen.”
Johnny is a dangerous enemy because he combines political acuity with a hot temper that can sometimes override his better judgment. He’s quick to anger but has a pragmatic outlook that makes him a calculating opponent. It’s a shame we never saw him as a legitimate force against Tony, because if that happened, he would have been a much more dangerous opponent than the hot-headed Phil Leotardo or the more reasonable Carmine Lupertazzi. The war between the two families would likely be over before it began.
5
Mikey Palmice
Of all the antagonists dispatched during The Sopranos Season 1, Mikey Palmice (Al Sapienza) should’ve stuck around longer. Sapienza makes Mikey an endlessly entertaining foil for Junior and Tony alike, offering loyalty and protection to the former, and trading insults with the latter with a refreshing candor. As Junior’s enforcer, Mikey is unendingly loyal to his boss, and approaches murder with an unnerving lightness of touch, even joking with his victims before killing them. Just before he sends Rusty Irish plummeting off the bridge into the ravine, he cheerfully tells Rusty:
I’ll cut you a break! When I throw you over, if you fly, I won’t shoot you down!
Mikey is one of The Sopranos’ most competent hitmen who frequently jumps to the most extreme solution to Junior’s problems. When the writing was on the wall for Junior, and Tony made the move to take out his uncle, there was no way Mikey was going to come out of it unscathed. As the only really competent member of Junior’s crew, he had to go, if only to demonstrate how defeated Junior was. His death is more than just a satisfying bit of comeuppance for Christopher; it removes Junior’s attack dog and leaves him completely neutralized, with only Bobby Bacala for an advisor. He might not have been a major player in his own right, but as a weapon in somebody else’s hands, Mikey was a formidable threat.
4
Richie Aprile
Considering he only appeared in one season of The Sopranos, Richie Aprile made a huge impact. David Proval’s unnerving presence, combined with his Manson Lamps glare, makes him a truly terrifying villain, even when he is doing something as innocuous as offering Tony a jacket as a gift, doing yoga, or helping Junior get his hand out of a drain. It’s Richie’s treatment of Beansie, though, that demonstrates just how volatile and dangerous a character he is. After Beansie fails to show him the deference he is expecting, Richie first beats him to a pulp and then runs him down with his car, breaking his legs and putting him in a wheelchair for life.
“I thought I told you to back off of Beansie.”
“I did. Then I put it in drive.”
The whole incident captures Richie’s central problem. Like Feech LaManna later on, he simply doesn’t recognize or respect Tony’s authority as boss. After spending years in prison, Richie expects everyone to accommodate his old-fashioned understanding of how the organization works and fails to accept that everything has changed. He isn’t a serious player, as shown by his lack of support when he tries to make a move against Tony, but he is unpredictable enough to cause serious damage, as when he punches his future wife Janice (Aida Turturro) when she brings up his son’s sexuality. This leads to Richie’s inevitable death, and it’s a fitting end for one of the series’ biggest scumbags.
3
Phil Leotardo
He doesn’t talk about it much, but Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) spent 20 years in the can. He never quite gets over this fact, emerging from incarceration into a world that has changed around him. Of all the class of 2004, though, Phil throws himself back into “this thing of ours” the most enthusiastically. No sooner is he out of prison than he is performing hits for Johnny Sack and consolidating his position in the New York family.
Phil is thin-skinned, petulant, and fiercely attached to the old-school rules of the mafia, which makes him incredibly dangerous. Unlike Johnny Sack, Phil struggles to see the New Jersey family as anything more than “a glorified crew.” As The Sopranos continues, the business meetings between the two begin to feel less like negotiations and more like standoffs, with Phil not giving an inch in his approach. Frank Vincent makes Phil a genuinely intimidating presence, often without needing to raise his voice or even speak a word. One of his most unsettling moments comes when he silently turns around at a bar after an outburst from Johnny Sack, and his implacable expression speaks volumes.
Also unlike Johnny, Phil seems increasingly willing to burn everything down to prove a point. His obsession with old grievances and his inability to distinguish between personal disrespect and genuine threats makes him a formidable enemy. By the time the conflict between the two families reaches its bloody conclusion, Phil’s pride has become inseparable from his appetite for revenge. As he puts it himself, “there’s no scraps in my scrapbook.” Phil doesn’t forget, doesn’t forgive, and certainly doesn’t know when to let things go.
2
Livia Soprano
Tony’s mother, Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand), isn’t a mob boss, an enforcer, or even an active participant in the family’s less legitimate activities. That being said, she is one of the most destructive people in Tony’s life, manipulating Junior, Artie, and anyone else who drifts into her sphere of negativity. Livia never outright says or does anything villainous. Instead, she manipulates Junior’s pre-existing resentment toward his nephew until Junior sees Tony as a legitimate threat and begins plotting his assassination. With Artie Buco (John Ventimiglia), she “inadvertently” lets slip that Tony firebombed his restaurant. She’s so subtle in her machinations that Tony never sees it coming, and as such, she comes closer to killing him than many of his more obviously violent enemies.
Livia only appeared in the first two seasons of The Sopranos, but her shadow looms large over the rest of the series. She returns in flashbacks and dream sequences, while Gloria Trillo (Annabella Sciorra) becomes an unsettling echo of her emotional volatility and manipulative tendencies, becoming an unsettling reminder of the traits that haunt Tony’s family life. She even repeats Livia’s trademark phrase, “poor you!,” at Tony during an argument. Livia’s appearance at the Inn At The Oaks in the final season is particularly eerie, serving as a reminder to Tony that he can never escape her malign influence.
What makes Livia so disturbing is the emotional logic behind her behaviors. She’s not plotting Tony’s murder for money or power; she is just retaliating over a perceived slight. Her cruelty also comes wrapped in self-pity, allowing her to present herself as the victim, even when she’s actively causing the damage. Mikey would kill someone; Richie would break their legs; Phil would start a war. But Livia quietly stews over a grievance, drops an apparently innocuous remark, and just lets someone else do the dirty work. She is perhaps the clearest example of how The Sopranos understands violence as something that begins long before anyone reaches for a weapon.
1
Ralph Cifaretto
It takes some doing to be the most despicable character in The Sopranos, but Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) manages it with remarkable ease. Even among the sociopaths of Tony’s crew, Ralph stands out as the most reprehensible. He’s cruel and obnoxious, with apparently no affection for his associates. Worse, he has a knack for making his behavior everyone else’s problem, whether he’s provoking a supposed ally, antagonizing Tony, or giving terrible advice to young upstarts.
There’s a reason there are so many references to Ralph being the devil — alluding to the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil,” as he introduces himself to Father Phil with the line: “Please allow me to introduce myself.” He is the most purely evil character in The Sopranos. After an argument outside the club, he taunts Tracee over her hopes of starting a family before beating her to death. The brutality is horrific enough, but Ralph’s casual cruelty makes it so much worse. Still, he isn’t entirely devoid of empathy. When his son is seriously injured, his devastation exposes a side that seems incompatible with the man who killed Tracee. This just makes him more sinister; Ralph clearly can experience genuine affection and grief, but his ability to still inflict violence on others makes him so much more disturbing.
He never challenges Tony or makes any moves against him; he just wants to be made captain and enjoy the status he believes he deserves. And yet his naturally cavalier attitude and impulsive nature make him a constant liability. Tony needs Ralphie’s earning power, but can barely tolerate the man himself. This tension is the reason “Whoever Did This” is one of The Sopranos’ best episodes. The climactic fight between Ralph and Tony is raw, ugly, and surprisingly suspenseful. Ralph is detestable, but he’s so fun to watch, mainly thanks to Joe Pantoliano’s electric performance. He makes Ralphie friendly, terrifying, and hilarious, often in the same scene. He’s not the most powerful villain, or the most strategic. He just pushes Tony’s buttons and gets under his skin in a way few other characters can.
- Release Date
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1999 – 2007-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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David Chase
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James Gandolfini
Tony Soprano
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Edie Falco
Carmela Soprano
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Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Meadow Soprano
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