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| “ | If there's one thing my father taught me, it's this: A pint of blood costs more than a gallon of gold. | „ |
| ~ Little Carmine reciting his late father's words during a meeting. |
| “ | Your brother Billy, whatever happened there. | „ |
| ~ Little Carmine to Phil about his brother's murder, unintentionally escalating the conflict between New York and New Jersey. |
"Little" Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. is a major character in the HBO Television Series The Sopranos.
He is the son of longtime boss of the Lupertazzi Crime Family, Carmine Lupertazzi and a Caporegime in the syndicate. Despite being the son of an infamous and feared crime boss, Little Carmine is heavily disrespected and seen as an incompetent idiot by his fellow mobsters. He also seeks the help of New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano to help him take over the business after his father's death.
He was portrayed by Ray Abruzzo.
Biography[]
Background[]
Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. was born on August 18, 1957 to Violet and Carmine Lupertazzi, Sr. in New York City, New York and was the brother to an unknown son. Due to his upbringing of being 100% Italian and his father being a crime lord, Little Carmine decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a mobster, however, unlike his father, he lacked the social awareness and intelligence to do so. Eventually he became a Caporegime in the family and gained his own crew in Miami. He also gained a wife named Nicole and had two children named Violet and Carmine III.
Season 4[]
Little Carmine is first seen in the episode "Calling All Cars", in which Tony Soprano, the head of the DiMeo Crime Family, heads down to Miami in order to ask Carmine for help due to his conflict with Carmine Sr. By the first time we see him, we can already see his incompetence and his low intellect and the fact that he uses big and smart words to compensate for that. However, despite this, we also see Carmine's strange proficiency at manipulation when he settles things with Carmine Sr.
Season 5[]
Two years later, Carmine Sr. suffers a massive stroke and is brought to a hospital, to which when Little Carmine hears the news, he immediately rushes back to New York to see his father. Later, Carmine Sr. dies and Little Carmine, along with family underboss John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni battle over the throne of becoming boss, which is mostly happening due to Little Carmine believing that he should take over due to him being the son of the deceased boss. While Little Carmine is known for being an idiot (which is even pointed out by Tony himself), the family is split in half of who should be boss, to which Little Carmine orders family consigliere Angelo Garepe (who had just been released from prison), caporegime Rusty Millio and Rusty's bodyguard, Eddie Pietro take care of operations and pull the strings during the war. Things soon turn sour when Johnny Sack sends Billy Leotardo and Joey Peeps to murder Lorraine Calluzzo, Carmine's second cousin and former lover, after she refused to pay Johnny. In retaliation, Little Carmine has Rusty and Angelo to coerce Tony Blundetto, the cousin of Tony Soprano, to murder Joey Peeps, to which he does. After this, Johnny Sack sends Phil and Billy Leotardo to murder Angelo and after Tony B murders Billy in retaliation, Little Carmine gives up his wishes of becoming boss and gives it to Johnny, ending the war. However, soon enough Johnny Sack is arrested by the FBI after being betrayed by Jimmy Petrille, to which Phil takes over as acting boss.
Season 6[]
In 2006, Christopher Moltisanti, a captain in the DiMeo Family and Tony Soprano's protégé, is looking to turn his horror crime screenplay, "Cleaver" into a theatrical release. After just moving to New York and becoming a mediator for the two families, Little Carmine decides to help act as an executive producer for the film. Little Carmine also has Christopher meet up with Sir Ben Kingsley to ask him if wishes to be involved, to which he ultimately declines. Around this time, Little Carmine decides to further distance himself from the family as he is not considered a threat by anybody, along with his former close friend Rusty and his bodyguard Eddie getting murdered on Johnny Sack's orders. Soon Johnny Sack is diagnosed with lung cancer and his health begins to decrease rapidly while in prison. In response to this, Tony approaches him and asks him if he wants to take up the position of being boss. Little Carmine rejects this, as know he realizes that no matter how powerful or high-ranking he is, due to the intense pressure that someone like Tony has to deal with, he is fine in staying in his position and living life happily and to it's fullest. Little Carmine also tells Tony of a dream he's been having of his father being disappointed in him. While this furthers Carmine's psychical and mental well-being, Tony still becomes jealous of his philosophy.
During the near end of the DiMeo and Lupertazzi War during the end of the series, Tony meets up with Little Carmine, Paulie Gualtieri, Albie Cianflone, Butch DeConcini and neutral party George Paglieri, the head of his own New York crime family. Due to the unnecessary bloodshed and murders that have happened due to the war against the callous and violent Phil, Little Carmine and Butch decide to allow Tony to put a hit on Phil, but refuse to give him his location. Eventually, Phil is murdered by the DiMeos and the war is settled, with it being implied that Butch soon took over the family.
Quotes[]
| “ | It wasn't about being boss. It was about being happy. | „ |
| ~ ~ Little Carmine to Tony Soprano about his realization that even if he becomes boss, he won't be happy. |
| “ | Very observant, the sacred and the propane. | „ |
| ~ one of Little Carmine's many malapropisms, discussing symbolism in Christopher Moltisanti's movie "Cleaver" |
Trivia[]
- Little Carmine is perhaps based on John A. Gotti, as both were the sons of highly famous and respected Mafia bosses who out shown them, with the son ultimately having to follow in that life despite lacking the intelligence, strength and bravery to do so.
- Little Carmine's actor Ray Abruzzo revealed that his character was heavily based on George W. Bush. Both men being the sons of powerful leaders and soon taking their respective throne themselves, but both are instead perceived by others as incompetent and the cause of further conflict.
- Several of Little Carmine's lines are even direct quotes from George's famous "bushisms"
- While Carmine is constantly shown as having zero social awareness and having low intellect, his action of not taking up the role of boss in order to stay happy stands out due to it being one of, if not, the smartest decision a character has done in the entire series.
External Links[]
- Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. on The Sopranos Wiki
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 Villains
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DiMeo Crime Family Lupertazzi Crime Family Vittorio/Zucca Camorra family Philadelphia Crime Family/Buscetta Crime Family Other | ||