Tony Blundetto

Infobox character | name = Tony Blundetto


real_name = Anthony Blundetto
portrayer = Steve Buscemi
creator = David Chase
species =
gender = Male
first = "Two Tonys" "(episode 5.01)"
last = "All Due Respect" "(episode 5.13)"
(death)
"Mayham" "(episode 6.03)"
(dream sequence)
cause = Murdered by Tony Soprano
age = 45 (Deceased)
occupation = Associate in the Gervasi crew in the DiMeo Crime Family / proposed Dimeo Family member
title =
alias = Tony B.
family = Al Blundetto (father)
Quintina Blundetto (mother)
spouse = 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)
footnotes =

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 .

Character overview

Anthony "Tony" Blundetto is introduced in the episode "Two Tonys". 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.

The episode establishes that, in 1986, Blundetto was arrested and charged with hi-jacking a truck and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Soprano was supposed to be with him the night of the hijacking, but had a panic attack and backed out at the last minute. He has since indicated Blundetto is angry because he was sent to prison and Soprano wasn't; however, Blundetto stated "you're the one who keeps bringin' that up; I'm fine with it."

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: Feech La Mana, Phil Leotardo, and Angelo Garepe. After Blundetto's parole, he decides not to return to a life of crime. Instead, he initially decides to go into massage therapy; however, he eventually joins Little Carmine in his power struggle with Johnny Sack. Rusty Millio and Angelo Garepe are also on Little Carmine's side. Rusty and Angelo are thought to be the actual power behind Carmine's empire. Lorraine Calluzzo, a shylock and Little Carmine's former comare, is also on their side. Lorraine also has a brief affair with Tony Soprano. Phil Leotardo performs a mock execution on Lorraine in a bar as warning to stop giving her cut to Little Carmine, and to give it to Sack instead. When Lorraine fails to give her money to Sack upfront, Phil gets his Brother, Billy, and his friend Joey Peeps to assassinate Lorraine in her home along with her boyfriend and partner in her shylock business, Jason Evanina.

In "Marco Polo", Rusty Millio and Angelo Garepe offer a contract to Blundetto to assassinate Joey Peeps. Although he is reluctant at first, he later accepts the contract in order to produce a better income after his twin boys talk about how wonderful everything is at the Soprano home. One night while Joey and his prostitute Heather are leaving a brothel, Blundetto begins to approach the two. Joey and Heather are both inside the former's car when Blundetto taps on the window. Blundetto then fires four times, scoring three headshots and a bodyshot as the car 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. Soprano confronts Blundetto that he knows he did it. Blundetto 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 go after Angelo in revenge for Peeps' death; they follow Angelo one night while he is taking a toy to his grandson. They pull out in front of him causing him to wreck into them. When Angelo gets out, they inform him Sack wants to see him. Angelo tries to stall, but they strong-arm him into going along. As he turns to walk back to his car, Billy catches him around the throat with a garrote and drags him back to their car, throwing him in the trunk. They place a plastic bag over his head. Angelo begs for his life, but Phil kills him anyway. Angelo's death drives Blundetto into a rage, and he tracks down the Leotardo brothers, and then wounds Phil and kills Billy. In "All Due Respect", Johnny Sack's crew threatens revenge; in particular, Phil Leotardo demands a bloody and extremely painful revenge. Tony refuses to give them Tony B's location openly saying "Fuck it. he's my cousin".

With Tony B in hiding Tony confronts his capos, telling them he is giving Tony B the protection he would give to any of them. Later Tony gets a phone call from Tony B where Tony tells him to skip town and not come back and finally explains to him what really happend the night of the hijacking when Tony B went to jail.

When Tony goes to visit Paulie he sees the painting of him with Pie O My that Paulie had edited to show Tony as a General. Tony throws the painting out but not before realizing the symbolism that he needs to act like a general.

Tony, knowing Phil Leotardo would make him suffer, tracks Tony B down to their Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm. As Blundetto is walking up on the porch with a bag of groceries, Tony Soprano comes around the corner and shoots him in the head with a 12-gauge. He then lays the gun down beside him and stands there a while before making a phone call to Johny Sak to tell him where Tony B is. When Phil arrives later to avenge his brother he finds the body and is furious. It was mentioned in the last episode of season 5, that Tony Soprano ordered Christopher to bury his cousin Tony.

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 episode "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.

The War of 2007

It is speculated that Tony Blundetto's killing of Billy Leotardo was the key issue that spawned the war between the families in 2007, along with Vito Spatafore's homosexuality. The actions taken by Blundetto may have inadvertently caused the death of Bobby Baccalieri and the shooting of Silvio Dante, as well as the retaliatory murder of Phil Leotardo.

Murders Committed By Blundetto

* Joe Peeps: Contracted by Rusty Millio 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)

External links

* [http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/character/tony_blundetto.shtml HBO Profile: Tony Blundetto]