Would Tony Soprano Flip? | The Sopranos Explained

[Laughter] the sopranos follows the trials and tribulations of new jersey mob boss tony soprano as he navigates through life trying to find success as the head of a criminal organization and as the head of a family tony is perhaps one of the most complex characters ever to grace the small screen and we gain further insight into his psyche than the average character through his therapy sessions with dr melfi in spite of his complexity you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who calls tony a good guy he has killed at least seven people personally and arranged for the murders of dozens more he is selfish and narcissistic he is without sincere principles and these traits only become more amplified as the show goes on with tony at his most degenerate state in the final season committing numerous sickening acts like the murder of his protege christopher even within his own mob world tony practically breaks every rule imaginable from hitting a made guy to killing the same made guy over a horse and attending therapy sessions his actions are mainly ruled by his own impulses and selfish desires with all that being said there is one creature in la cosa nostra and even among these circles of the womenfolk the wives and girlfriends one creature which is more detestable despised and hated with pure venom than any other the rat any member of the mafia or connected with the mafia who becomes a rat that is to say cooperate with the authorities often by giving and recording clandestine information in exchange for reduced prison sentences or going into the witness protection program anyone who walks down such a path is immediately turned upon often murdered instantaneously with their families more often than not being ostracized salvator bompensero one of tony's closest and dearest friends is murdered after it is discovered he's talking to the fed adriana is mercilessly taken out by the men she has spent her entire life surrounded by there's jimmy altieri even associates like the construction company owner jack macerone who it is never confirmed was speaking to the fed but the mere suspicion is enough for the mob to remove all doubt given the damage a rat can do the sopranos contains a huge roast of characters who either ratted or thought to have done so like febby the dude who tony killed in the episode college carlo eugene jimmy perriel one of the new york guys and raymond who dies with his secret intact and accounts of the real life costa nostra paints a similar image with it being very common for guys to rat on each other under the right circumstances like when facing decades in prison with all that being said an interesting question emerges what if tony soprano was approached by the feds who nabbed him on a ricoh case they sat him down and told him listen you're looking at 20 years in the can looking at life behind bars your son aj will be alone in the world your lawyer daughter will be disgraced and she'll be bringing your grandkids to a slimy dirty prison to visit you instead why not turn government witness and get that 20 years reduced to just a handful or better yet seeing as though it will be well known your rats and your life will be in danger join the witness protection program it's something to ponder would tony become a rat would he with all of his talk about the ethos of the old days the strong silent type gary cooper would tony succumb to the fed's pressure and flip he's never been in the can not really so he's never actually been tested it is an interesting question however it isn't simply a yes and no case i don't think because there's many different factors and variables to consider for example what is actually offered from the fed shaving off a few years in prison is a lot different to immediately going into the witness protection so what sentence would be over him would his kids be in any kind of danger like tony may be worrying about his son's mental and suicidal state if he were to go to prison what period over the course of the show are we talking about because tony is quite different in season one to how he is in season six and quite importantly what could tony actually offer the feds he's the big fish he's been chased by the feds for about eight years why would they even offer him a deal who is there for tony to rat on and give up well to argue the case the feds might see it as a big victory and a morale killer for the mob to flip a boss so they might put a deal on the table and from tony's side though there isn't much of the sopranos family he could give up seeing as though he is the boss he could talk to the feds about new york about slava about zellman about corrupt cops and politicians the authorities may be interested in what tony can give up about italy and he has decades of mob knowledge and knows the inner workings of the mafia but that being said so did the likes of johnny sack and with the fed's efforts in taking down tony to such an extent they offered a de facto boss junior a deal to take tony down it is difficult to see the feds actually giving tony a deal but let's say they did let's say the gun charged from season two stuck or carlo testified after season six with tony rat to save his own skin if he was in a position where he was able to and the feds offered him something i can see him taking it there's a lot of evidence that points to the suggestion that tony would rather avoid doing a long stretch in the can a big factor is his kids he does love his children and if it came to be that his children's lives were possibly in danger i see him flipping to protect them like say if adria caught an attempted murder charge for bringing a knife to the home that junior was in and tony had exhausted all other options on top of the fact that he had so many enemies by that point i can see him going for it the kids are probably the biggest factor but that isn't to say tony's some kind of noble man who would sacrifice everything for his two children even putting them to a side tony is completely self-centered and narcissistic by the end of the show he has no principles and the one thing you can count on him to do is to look out for number one [ __ ] all that honor and loyalty [ __ ] as he says tony is so depraved and so far gone by the end of season six that he would probably justify it and convince himself and others that he's doing it for righteous reasons and is only passing information on evil people who need to go down who would tony even be protecting in the mob if he were to take a long sentence the likes of paulie and sylvia who is in a coma tony has no feedings for the mob guys around him he came close to killing poorly at one point and anybody in the mob who tony did love was already dead by that point what does he get out of keeping silent and doing 20 years not a peep speaking of which when [ __ ] is found out and killed one reason i think tony and sylvia may have taken it so hard in addition to the fact that they are killing their friend is because deep down they know that if they were in sal's situation they would also flip for themselves and their kids his weakness revealed their own weakness the ethos of la cosa nostra the code of romerta was dead by the time tony was boss people just didn't do long stretches in prison these days they were not stand up guys it was different mafia row was gone there would be no source with too much onions in them mob guys would be behind bars like everyone else and protection not guaranteed even john gotti got beaten up in prison the last bunch of guys who did long stretches was the class of 2004 who went away in the 80s guys like phil leotardo who went away for a vague unspecified mysterious amount of time and that's one thing you can say about phil he did his time because he believed in the mob through and through tony on the other hand does not share the same principles he's in it for the money and business much more so than the life even in season one back at a time where he could kid himself that he was a soldier and could use words like honor and family unironically he talks about coming in at the end of the thing after the glory days he becomes jaded and fantasizes on occasion about leaving the life and cares about traditions only when it suits his agenda all of these points do not add up to an individual who would be willing to go to prison for decades especially since he's in his late 40s making an oath being part of a family ancient traditions maybe once upon a time tony fell for such notions but by season six he knows it's a force and has little interest in protecting others he loves luxuries he loves food women he loves his kids and sure he might have to resort to eating egg noodle and ketchup in the program but it surely be better than prison and with tony's scheming mind and his connections he might actually try to escape the program leave for italy or something he even exhibits rat-like qualities throughout the show like for example having the authorities contacted and setting up feet and giving agent harris information about the arabs and new york i know these things are very different to flipping but it's clear he doesn't have the same philosophy as some of the older guys of straight up not having any dealings with the feds giving harris information could also be seen as tony warming the feds up so he can call in a favor down the line if he's ever caught with his pants down early on in the show tony tells melfi he needs to stick around until aj grows up and then the feds can do whatever they want with him and he does have a resigned demeanor about him in the show's final scene as if he knows it's all over with carlo's testimony taking his self-loathing personality into consideration as well and the fact that his kids are grown up and maybe tony might actually surprise us and take the 20 years but i doubt it he was panicking and flustered in season two when it appeared he might go to prison suggesting he does not fancy it at all he would not benefit by taking the gears he could care less about his mob subordinates and anyone whose opinion would mean something like that of his father or junior are out of the picture it would be admirable if tony did have some element of integrity pride or ego where he wouldn't allow himself to flip like junior a real gary cooper but i just don't see it i see him taking the deal and running taking his family with him even if it means ruining his daughter's career and law the bigger question for me is whether the feds would actually offer tony a deal to flip which is a lot less likely so what do you think do you think tony would turn state witness or do you see him standing tall let me know in the comments below and before we finish i just want to thank my patrons andre millington nicholas curtis and dirk k and also my channel members the new ongom 24 rikers and michaela watwi thanks for watching

Channel: CineRanter

Views: 102,309

Keywords: TONY SOPRANO, THE SOPRANOS, WOULD TONY SOPRANO FLIP, WOULD TONY SOPRANO BECOME A RAT, WOULD TONY DO 20 YEARS IN THE CAN

Id: YPUjMmkAYko

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 16 2022