Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (not to be confused with a fellow New Jersey mobster, "Little Pussy" Malanga) is a fictional mobster played by Vincent Pastore on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos. Usually addressed as Pussy, albeit in an affectionate way (though his wife addressed him as Sal), Big Pussy was one of the men who worked for series lead, mobster Tony Soprano. Image File history File links Bigpussy. ... The Sopranos is the first episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. ... Funhouse is the 26th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... Vincent Pastore (b. ... David Chase (born David DeCesare—although some sources list his birth name as David Del Cesare—August 22, 1945 in Mount Vernon, New York) is an American television writer, director and producer. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... Alice, a fictional character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Mobster is a slang term for a person who participates in organized crime, which is known as belonging to the Mob. In western stories and movies, cowboys as mobsters are known as outlaws. ... Vincent Pastore (b. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable television network. ... For other uses, see Television (disambiguation). ... This article is about the TV series. ... Antonio John Soprano, Sr. ...

Biography

The son of Lino Bonpensiero ^[1], Salvatore Bonpensiero started out as a cat burglar (a job from which he got his nickname) and also ran an auto body shop with his brother Edward "Duke" Bonpensiero. Sal was affectionately known as "Big Pussy" because of his early career. He married his wife, Angie in 1976. He was an associate of "Johnny Boy" Soprano, whom he supported during the unrest of 1983. Bonpensiero was made some time after this and acted as a soldier in the Soprano crew from then onwards. He remained loyal to the Soprano family and backed Johnny Boy's wishes to have his son, Tony Soprano, become capo of the crew following Johnny Boy's death in 1986. Bonpensiero worked alongside other longtime Soprano associates Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri and Silvio Dante throughout his career in the Mafia. Bonpensiero also took on Johnny Boy's tradition of dressing as Santa Claus and giving out presents to local children at Satriale's meat market at Christmas time. Burglary is a crime related to United States burglary is a felony and involves trespassing, or entering a building with intent to commit any crime, not necessarily a felony or theft. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the 2006 computer game, see Made Man (computer game). ... A caporegime (sometimes shortened to capo) is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking member of a crime family who heads a crew (or group) of soldiers. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Paulie Walnuts, played by Tony Sirico Peter Paul Gualtieri (or Paulie Walnuts), played by Tony Sirico, is Tony Sopranos Underboss in the fictional HBO TV series, The Sopranos. ... Silvio Manfred Dante (often just Sil), played by Steven Van Zandt, is Tony Sopranos consigliere on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos. ... The Mafia (also referred to as Cosa Nostra or the Mob), is a criminal secret society which first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily. ... A typical depiction of Santa Claus. ...

Bonpensiero was a kind-hearted man who doted on his wife Angie and their three sons, and was a long-time friend of Tony's. However, the money he made from the mob was not enough to raise his three children and put them through college and he began trafficking in heroin on the side. Soprano, his capo, and Jackie Aprile Sr., then acting boss of the family, were aware of his sideline and urged him to stop dealing. Trafficking is a term to describe a transnational illegal activity, involving transporting, usually smuggling drugs, transporting small arms or people. ... Heroin ((INN) Diacetylmorphine, (BAN) diamorphine) is a semi-synthetic opioid. ...

It was around this time that he was caught by the FBI and given the choice of either working for them as an informant against Tony Soprano and his mob family or facing the possibility of life in prison. He agreed and was assigned FBI Agent Skip Lipari as a handler — he was revealed as an informant in the episode "Do Not Resuscitate." The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos. ... Do Not Resuscitate is the 15th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ...

In Christmas 1995, Bonpensiero was instrumental in organizing a sit-down between Junior Soprano and Acting Boss Jackie Aprile. He traveled to Boca Raton to persuade Junior to return to New Jersey and settle a trucking dispute he had got into with Aprile. He was suspiciously late for the actual sitdown and blamed health problems with his comare's mother. He arrived to the Christmas celebrations that year already in his Santa suit and appearing drunk. He became angry when Gualtieri hugged him, quizzed Soprano about business and almost got into a fight with Christopher Moltisanti. Soprano later remembered these events and decided Bonpensiero must have turned informant shortly before this. Christmas is an annual holiday that marks the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Corrado John Soprano, Jr. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... Boca Raton is a city located in Palm Beach County, Florida. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ...

In 1999 Bonpensiero was an essential part of the Soprano crew's operation and was exposed to a number of things he could have reported. He intimidated a debtor into starting up Hesh Rabkin and Soprano's HMO insurance scam. He also helped associate Christopher Moltisanti dispose of the body of Emil Kolar — killed in a dispute over the crew's Tri Borough Towers garbage routes. As the crew's car expert he was assigned to retrieve a car stolen from Tony's son's (A.J. Soprano) teacher — he found the thieves and kidnapped them but the car had already been chopped. He came up with a novel solution — steal a car of the same model and repaint it. He was present when Soprano and the other capos discussed their problems with new figurehead acting boss, Junior. When indictments were threatened he fled and burned papers in his back garden — perhaps a sign that he was not co-operating fully. This article is about a fictional character from The Sopranos. ... HMO can mean the following: Health maintenance organization Houses in multiple occupation Home Media Option (Tivo) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character in the HBO TV series, The Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ...

Later that year he was arrested at a card game run by Soprano family capo, Jimmy Altieri. He tried to escape but threw his back out and was caught on the corner of the block. He was quickly bailed out by Angie but was confined to his house popping pain killers. Shortly afterward, dirty cop Vin Makazian told Soprano he had a rat in his organization and pointed the finger at Bonpensiero. Soprano assigned Gualtieri to see if he could feel out where Bonpensiero's loyalties lay by checking him for a wire, even authorizing him to kill his old friend if he saw one with his own eyes. Soprano was obviously distressed to have to ask Gualtieri to do this to a trusted member of the crew. Gualtieri then surprised Bonpensiero with a trip to a bath house, where he refused to undress and left — blaming high blood pressure. This served to heighten his crew's suspicions. After this unnerving experience, he disappeared. While he was away, Gualtieri took over his collections and the crew killed Altieri (believing him to be an FBI informant), taking some heat off of Bonpensiero. The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... The word bail as a legal term means: Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that persons appearance for trial. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. ...

He resurfaced at Soprano's home in 2000 claiming to have been in Puerto Rico getting treatment for his bad back from an acupuncturist. When reporting to Lipari after the meeting, Bonpensiero lied about Soprano; showing a reluctance to give anything up. He was left out of the crew's trip to Italy to discuss exporting stolen cars with a local mafia family. While meeting Lipari in a distant party goods store, he was spotted by an Elvis impersonator called Jimmy Bones. Lipari reassured him that they had handled it well. However, Bonpensiero later went to Bones' house and killed him for fear of being revealed. Acupuncture chart from Hua Shou (fl. ... Elvis Impersonators An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies Elvis Presley either as a hobby, career in entertainment or occasionally for fun. ...

Since his return, he and his wife had been having trouble and she discussed leaving him with Carmela Soprano, who dissuaded her because of their Catholicism. Angie settled for sleeping in separate bedrooms. Carmela Soprano née DeAngelis is the wife of fictional mafia boss Tony Soprano and lead female character on the HBO television series, The Sopranos, played by Edie Falco. ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1] - is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or...

Upon his return from Italy, Soprano re-organized his crew — Gualtieri would be a capo now that Tony was acting boss, Dante would become Tony's consigliere, and new addition Furio Giunta would be on an equal footing with Bonpensiero despite his years of long service. Bonpensiero was obviously distressed at the new order, openly hostile to Giunta and complained to Lipari that "this thing of ours" turned into "this thing of mine." His reservations about informing on Soprano began to dissipate. Furio Giunta, played by Federico Castelluccio, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos, one of the mobsters working for series lead Tony Soprano. ...

Lipari persuaded Bonpensiero to wear a wire to A.J.'s confirmation, but he spent most of his time upstairs with A.J. telling him that his father would do anything for him instead of talking business. He ends the evening sobbing in the bathroom, still trapped in an impossible situation.

Following Moltisanti's shooting by associates Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte, Bonpensiero fell back into his loyal soldier role; he tracked down the escaped Bevilaqua, phoned Soprano, met him at Satriale's to tool up and took him to get the traitor. They drew out the murder, talking to the frightened upstart for a while before unloading their weapons into him. Soprano took Bonpensiero for dinner afterward, and it seemed to be just like old times. When Lipari called Bonpensiero, saying a witness to Bevilaqua's shooting identified Soprano and "a second, husky figure," he flatly denied any involvement. Lipari chose to believe him but pressured him to get a confession from Soprano on tape. The FBI's murder case fell apart when the witness withdrew his statement after realizing who he had identified. The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series The Sopranos that are associated with the DiMeo/Soprano Crime Family. ...

Bonpensiero eventually began to co-operate and gave Lipari information on Soprano's stolen airline ticket scam. Lipari said that Bonpensiero had a case of Stockholm syndrome when he suggested that he could work in law enforcement once he finished helping the FBI build their case. Bonpensiero began recording notes and tailing members of his crew. He ended up in a car accident in an unrequested "stake-out" gone wrong. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the band, see The Police. ...

Soprano eventually abandoned the blinding affection he held for Bonpensiero and realized his old friend's betrayal after a portentous dream where Bonpensiero appeared as a fish and told him that he had known all along. Soprano decided he had to be sure, so visited Bonpensiero's home to search for evidence while Silvio distracted him. Soprano found what he was looking for and had Bonpensiero meet him on the pretense of checking out a new boat. Soprano, Dante and Gualtieri confronted their former friend once they got out to sea and got him to admit that he had informed on them. Bonpensiero claimed that he had been acting as a double agent as a strategy to feed misinformation to the FBI. Soprano, Gualtieri, and Bonpensiero had some Tequila. Dante came down into the cabin and Bonpensiero realized that he would not make it off the boat alive and requested to not be shot in the face. Paulie Walnuts told Bonpensiero, "You were like a brother to me" before Soprano opened fire. Paulie and Silvio also shot at Bonpensiero. They didn't hit him above the neck. Paulie took some jewelry off of Pussy's body and the three bagged him up, weighed him down and threw him overboard. All three have since been haunted by the memory of their old friend's murder.

Bonpensiero was survived by his wife, Angie, and children, Matt, Kevin, and Terry. He is also survived by his illegitimate child, Joey LaRocca, as revealed in the videogame The Sopranos: Road to Respect. Angie assumed his share of the Body Shop and continued his involvement with the DiMeo Crime Family. The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ...

Appearances in the show after his death

• Proshai, Livushka - When Tony Soprano opens a closet at the party after his mother Livia's funeral, Big Pussy's reflection can be briefly seen in the mirror of the closet door.
• ...To Save Us All From Satan's Power - Seen in flashback sequences to 1995 and in Silvio's dream.
• The Test Dream - Appears in Tony's dream.
• Remember When (The Sopranos episode) - Appears in Paulie's dream

Proshai, Livushka is the 28th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ... Antonio John Soprano, Sr. ... Livia Soprano. ... ...To Save Us All From Satans Power is the 36th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Test Dream is the 63rd episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ... Remember When is the 80th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ...

References

• Rucker, Allen & David Chase. The Sopranos, A Family History. New York, American Library, 2003.

See also

• FBI Informants on The Sopranos

A major plotline on the HBO drama, The Sopranos, has been the FBIs ongoing pursuit of the DiMeo (NJ) and Lupertazzi (Brooklyn) crime families. ...

External link

• HBO Profile: Big Pussy Bonpensiero
• Official web site of Vincent Pastore