How Machiavellian was Phil Leotardo? Machiavellian Monday

hey sopranos fans welcome to another machiavellian monday here on soprano street and we are here today to take a look at phil leotardo now phil leotardo is fierce in reputation stern in negotiations and you do not want to have dinner with him if he's mad at you i jacked off but does that necessarily mean that he was machiavellian for those viewers who are new to this series machiavellianism is much more specific than a ruthless pursuit of one's own goals and some general notion that the ends justify the means it's essentially a how to rule manual for current or aspiring leaders detailing the most effective ways to deal with specific circumstances and different types of people based on machiavelli's historical observations so how machiavellian was phil leotardo in evaluating this we will take a look not only at his demeanor but also at his time as a right-hand man compared to how machiavelli said a number two should act as well as his time as a boss especially his second go-round where things get really interesting with doc santoro as a comparison before that please take a moment to like comment subscribe and share and we will get this show on the road as always we will need to take a second to address his level of boldness before moving on to the more specific criteria for machiavelli expressed that with a few exceptions good fortune is a woman a lover of men with the audacity to command her and phil leotardo was an exceptionally bold character it's a trait that he demonstrates consistently through his part in the series and it's a trait that we get a glimpse of very quickly during his early dispute with tony addressing him in a manner that you really shouldn't address a boss you got some balls kid i'll give you that much i've got huge cajones what do you think i wear these baggy shorts don doesn't wear shorts we also see another machiavellian principle possibly related to boldness start to show itself and fill during this interaction which is that a prince is more respected when he is either a true friend or an outright enemy and phil like tony makes it very clear where people stand with him perhaps to an extent that proves detrimental with those general observations out of the way we can begin to evaluate him more specifically and we will start by comparing his behavior as a number two with how machiavelli said a number two should act for the most part phil acted as a decent number two under johnny sack and was used very effectively in that capacity the prince states that a leader should install a stern governor when trying to control an unruly area which phil was and they were this is seen almost immediately after carmine senior's death with lorraine caluso after the death of his brother however we begin to see fairly unmachiavellian behavior take place according to the prince he who ignores what is done for what should be done sooner affects his ruin than his preservation and despite his showing overwhelming concern with following the rules like when it came to giving carmelo the full amount he very boldly violates them when he goes after christopher's mother family is off limits you don't go after people's families and phil did that's not to say he should have done it but it does go to show that when it comes to following the rules sometimes he will sometimes he won't and that's a trend we'll see throughout the series but even still for the most part he remained a fairly machiavellian number two he was willing to join his fortunes with johnny sax and is clearly willing to put johnny's interest above his own as shown in regards to his brother's death so along with tony day-to-day asked me to bury the hatchet john i'm doing it out of respect to you am i still grieving up my brother bill it'll never go away i appreciate it the fact that he's willing to move past his brother's death becomes funny and that it goes to show a machiavellian principle later on when phil has doc taken out but we'll get to that in a bit it's when johnny sack cries at his daughter's wedding that phil really begins to lose respect for and start to separate from johnny after that the wheels were set in motion as phil begins leaving johnny out of deals and once jon pleads guilty we can start to evaluate phil as a boss now shortly after becoming boss vito a member of tony's crew returned home after being outed and it's with veto that we see phil going both ways in regards to the rules again since vito was a member of tony's crew tony should have been the one to handle it but phil did instead not surprisingly this breaking of the rule kicks off a fight between new york and new jersey and when butch proposes a possible solution phil decides to switch back to following the rules again far as i'm concerned this is like 9 11. tony wanted our attention fine he got our attention now we wipe them off the planet you're right a whack-a-boss i won't do that it's been done before and it was wrong then this never comes to fruition as phil steps back due to health problems for the time being it's during phil's second stint as boss that we can really begin to evaluate him but before we get into that i want to take a second to circle back around to how he was able to move past the death of his brother under johnny sack according to machiavelli a man will forget the death of his father before the theft of his property of course billy was his brother not his dad and there were other factors at play but isn't it funny that he was willing to move past billy's death but this whole thing kicked off after doc took his food you can kill his brother but if you take food off his plate there's hell to pay anyways many machiavellian principles can be seen in the takedown of doc santoro but unfortunately for phil he didn't seem to learn many of them machiavelli states that a prince should have two fears trouble from the outside and trouble from within trouble from the outside which in this case would be new jersey is easily beaten with superior arms which new york had from within the trouble you fear is conspiracies the thing about conspiracies is that they rely on pleasing the people and doc santoro was hated which according to machiavelli is the worst thing a leader could be in addition to that he also states that taking an area with long-standing aristocracies which would be similar to a new york family is easier because it only takes one disgruntled noble to get the ball rolling this is a concept doc didn't get and that phil should have learned it's also why machiavelli specifically expresses not to drive nobles to desperation but we'll get back to that once he's in his boss for the second time we can really see phil straying from the machiavellian path rather than doing what is done and focusing on the money he allows his personal feelings to interfere with the asbestos negotiations you and your friend there stefano have been talking how much on this cowboys and indians asbestos removal building the townships like you're following all the epa regulations you get the same scam files why don't we cut you the [ __ ] how would you figure out on this i need about 350. tony is understandably upset and turns it down i ain't giving you no tree freddie your goddamn loudness monster get your own goddamn money but phil remains firm when handling negotiations which is very machiavellian the prince states that a prince should show in his private dealings that his word is irrevocable i thought about your wolf what do you say to 15 plus we forget about the balance of what you owe me on a vitamin truck first off it wasn't an offer it's my position but unfortunately for phil the tensions didn't stop there and after a few more incidents war was upon them since he intended to continue doing business with new jersey phil did the machiavellian thing and acted swiftly as injuries inflicted all at once offend less and are gotten over more quickly it also complies with the machiavellian strategy that new york had unquestionably superior arms so fast was the way to go but phil didn't learn any lessons from doc regarding internal threats doc's problem was that he had disgruntled nobles and phil had support which enabled the conspiracy to go down without anyone fearing a backlash but here's the thing machiavelli states that you'll lose friends when conquering if you do not treat them well and phil wasn't phil had disgruntled nobles and worse he drove one of them to desperation it's not that there's no word is that there's no progress nobody's taking this lightly phil he should have been done first i know you're disappointed phil i i'm gonna give it everything you say [ __ ] a i'm disappointed i don't know maybe what are you talking about reaching out we can't go back are you out of your [ __ ] mind listen kid when this is over we're gonna sit down butch knew he was in trouble and that he had to do something it also goes to show phil's lack of awareness that he would put butch of all people in that position he knows butch can take out a boss butch did it for him and not surprisingly butch was willing to have it done to him ultimately phil leotardo proves to be only semi-machiavellian and mostly so only as a number two he provided the stern presence required of the position but tried to carry that mentality into the position of boss and paid the price for it perhaps he should have spent more of his time in jail reading the prince and less time compromising thanks for watching this episode here on soprano street if there's any character that you would like to see evaluated let me know down in the comments also to all the wire fans that have posted in the comments i am in the middle of a re-watch to freshen up and i'm almost done with season three the first wire machiavelli in monday will be stringer bell but before that i will be releasing a video about frank sabatta and one character comparison i'm deciding between chris maltasanti and d'angelo barksdale or jackie jr and ziggy if there is one which you think would be better please let me know anyways thanks again for watching like subscribe and share and i'll see you at the next score

Channel: Bully Whispers

Views: 36,953

Keywords: aj sopranos, carmela soprano, christopher moltisanti, furio sopranos, gloria trillo, hesh sopranos, james gandolfini, janice soprano, livia soprano, paulie walnuts, pine barrens, ralph cifaretto, ralphie sopranos, richie aprile sopranos, sopranos d girl, sopranos ending, sopranos theories, tony soprano, hbo, butchie, doc santoro, phil leotardo, billy leotardo, johnny sack, machiavelli, machiavellian, machiavellianism

Id: H3AewRJUZiQ

Length: 10min 7sec (607 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 10 2022