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| “ | That's right, c-cksucker! Go back to New Jersey! | „ |
| ~ Phil taunting Tony and Carmine. |
| “ | You want compromise, how's this? Twenty years in the can, I wanted manicott', but I compromised. I ate grilled cheese off the radiator instead. I wanted to f-ck a woman, but I compromised. I jacked off into a tissue. You see where I'm goin'? | „ |
| ~ Phil Leotardo's most famous quote, displaying his stubbornness to relent to Tony Soprano. |
| “ | I gotta make a phone call - I'll meet you at the drug store. Tell the goddamn pharmacist to call Dr. Iaconis, I should get a 60-day supply of the Plavix. | „ |
| ~ Phil Leotardo's last words to his wife before he gets killed after being shot in the head by Walden Belfiore. |
Phil Leotardo is one of the main antagonists of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
A capricious and ruthless mobster, he was the Capo of the Lupertazzi Crime Family who later became their new leader following the death of his former boss Johnny Sack. It was then Phil sought to eliminate his competitive rival Tony Soprano and the latter's organization at all costs.
He was portrayed by the late Frank Vincent, who also played Billy Batts in Goodfellas, Frank Marino in Casino, Salvatore Leone in the Grand Theft Auto video game series, one of the Sharks in Shark Tale and Jon Gabagoolie in Mr. Pickles.
Personality[]
Phil Leotardo was a violent and relentlessly no-nonsence mobster from beginning to end, displaying temperamental and anti-social traits over the course of his appearances within the show's last two seasons. If he feels he has been insulted, he will never let it go and will never rest until he is satisfied.
Excluding his two grandchildren along with his own younger brother Billy, whom he deeply cared about prior to latter's demise, Phil seems to have no regard or empathy for anyone. He had no problem killing Angelo Garepe when he collaborated with Tony Blundetto, even though Phil and Angelo were in prison together. When he discovered his cousin's husband Vito was gay, he was outraged by this revelation and sought to murder him for supposedly betraying his family values - thereby showcasing just how petty and bitter Phil was to the core. And when he eventually ambushed Vito and got him killed, Phil appeared to exhibit sadism when watching Vito getting clubbed to death with no emotion apart from satisfaction.
If anything, Phil was such a foul-tempered and cruel monster that not even his own family are safe from him should they ever provoke him in any sort of manner he deems to be an insult to him personally. As such he was constantly unfaithful to his marriage, and even implied to be somewhat misogynistic as well.
Because of the situation with Vito and how it escalated as time went on, Phil showed that he was unapologetically racist and shamelessly homophobic to the point of extending those harsh values with extreme anti-Semitic prejudice as well. However, it was later theorized that Phil himself was closeted homosexual, which therefore made him a complete hypocrite if that were generally the case.
Additionally, Phil proved to be a rather power-hungry figure. So much so that he appeared to display little to no loyalty to even his own boss Johnny Sack when the latter was imprisoned, going as far as to display fury at seeing Johnny cry at his daughter's wedding and mocking him over it. This meant that Phil was not only ambitious and disrespectful, but somewhat egotistical and narcissistic as well. Not even his own subordinates are safe from his wrathful temper whenever he feels they have displeased him over something.
Overall Phil seemed to embody the toxicity of the mob mentality: being a malevolently abusive and dangerously ruthless man, even by Mafia standards. This was shown by all of the DiMeo Crime family being disturbed by what Phil did to Vito, including Christopher and Paulie. He started out as Tony Soprano's acquaintance before later becoming his most hated adversary as the series went on.
By the series' climax Phil Leotardo is regarded as the most evil and despicable villain in on the series - even worse than both Richie Aprile and even Ralph Cifaretto in terms of cruelty and impact.
Biography[]
As a prominent capo of the Lupertazzi crime family, Phil Leotardo served 20 years in prison and often mentions this as a testament to his loyalty to Costra Nostra.
When Phil got out of prison he rejoined the Lupertazzi family which was now under the leadership of Johnny Sack himself. Soon enough Phil crosser paths with DiMeo boss Tony Soprano, and they ended up having a financial dispute; at one point Phil tried to duck Tony in his car, but was forced off the road and ended up crashing into a truck, consequently injuring his neck enough to need a brace. Tony later compensated Phil by having his car fixed free of charge at Angie Bonpenseiro's (the wife of the late Salvatore Bonpensiero) body shop. Phil took advantage of this and tried to wring as much work possible out of the deal.
Phil took Johnny's side in the power struggle against Little Carmine Lupertazzi following his father's death. At one stage Phil authorised his younger brother Billy and their subordinate Joey Peeps to murder Carmine's ex and loan shark Lorraine Calluzzo when she refuses to redirect her payments from Carmine to John. It is then Little Carmine then has a hit put out on Peeps which is carried out by Soprano's cousin Tony Blundetto. In retaliation Phil and Billy murder Carmine's supporter Angelo Garepe. Blundetto is outraged as he and Angelo are close friends and kills Billy in retribution.
From then onwards Phil vowed revenge for his brother's death. Tony initially protected his cousin's location from Phil as he knew he wanted to torture him, but Phil later took action by attacking family associate Benny Fazio and putting him in hospital before later even targeting Christopher Moltisanti - due to his close connection to Tony - by threatening the latter's mother. Tony ultimately realized he can't protect him forever and personally took his life to spare him from Phil's torture. Phil was outraged he had been robbed of his opportunity for revenge but was able to make peace with Tony for the time-being.
However, problems escalated once more; when Tony's top earner Vito Spatafore, who was also the husband of Phil's cousin Marie was outed as gay and fled into hiding, he wanted to find Vito so that he could kill him as he felt Vito had personally dishonored his family. Phil visits to Marie in an effort to find out where Vito was hiding and lied saying that he only wanted to get him some therapy. Phil also harasses Tony about his efforts to find Vito, but after Tony walks out on an argument between the two rivals, he resolves to murder Vito on his own after conversation with his wife Patty.
When Vito comes back out of hiding, Phil and his men track him down at a hotel in Fort Lee. They ambush him and Phil watches as his men brutally beat Vito to death in his hotel room without Tony's permission, much to his outrage. Tony then arranged for Phil's room to be bombed. After an unsuccessful attempt by Little Carmine to make peace between the families, Phil's captain Butch Deconcini suggested he whacks Tony in retribution but Phil felt killing a boss would be wrong. Butch then suggests he kill someone close to Tony instead. When Phil suffered a heart attack he was visited by Tony who related to Phil the feelings of fear and regret that plagued him after his near-death experience and asking for peace in the interest of business. Tony's words seemed effective, even moving Phil to tears.
At first Phil wishes to step down and spend more time with his blood family, keeping with the sentiment offered to him by Tony and wanted his protégé Gerry Torciano to take over however after Torciano was killed on orders from Doc Santoro in a bid for power Phil blamed Gerry's death on his softness and fell back into his old ways, arranging Santoro's death both to avenge Gerry and fully confirm Phil's position as boss.
Later on, Phil refused Tony's offer of compromise on a removal project and was outraged when Tony attacked one of his men for harassing his daughter. Phil eventually planned ato havr Tony killed and also arranged for hits on Tony's closest friends Silvio Dante and Bobby Baccalieri Jr. as well; in the end, Tony goes into hiding whereas Bobby is killed and Silvio gets shot before being reduced into a coma.
In the series finale, Butch decides the war is unprofitable and tells Tony he will not face any retaliation if he arranges a hit on Phil himself. But Butch refuses to disclose Phil's location to Tony. Later on, Phil is shot in the head by DiMeo soldier Walden Belfiore in front of his wife and baby grandchildren. Walden shoots him a second time in the chest to ensure he remains dead. His wife got out of her vehicle to check on Phil, but accidentally locks herself out of the vehicle as well as forgetting to put it in park. This causes the vehicle to slowly roll forward over the head of Phil's corpse, crushing it and horrifying many nearby onlookers. With Phil's death, it is unknown who takes over his spot as Boss of the Lupertazzi Family.
Victims[]
Victims directly killed by Phil[]
- Angelo Garepe - Shot to death in the trunk by Phil and Billy as retaliation for the murder of Joe Peeps.
Deaths connected to Phil Leotardo[]
- Lorraine Calluzzo - Killed by Billy with Phil observing for her not kicking up to Johnny Sack.
- Jason Evanina - He was present with Lorraine at the time of the ambush so he was killed as well.
- Vito Spatafore - Ambushed and beaten to death by Gerry Torciano and Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamiello while Phil silently watches.
- Bobby Baccalieri, Jr. - Killed by Lupertazzi hitmen during the New York-New Jersey war when Phil ordered hits on him Silvio Dante and Tony Soprano.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Phil Leotardo is the main antagonist of Seasons 5 and 6 of The Sopranos.
- There is a popular fan theory that Phil Leotardo himself was secretly gay, since he never actually denied having sex with other men while he was in prison for 20 years, having an almost erotic reaction to watching Vito being beaten to death, briefly watching a body building competition filled with oiled up men, and quite literally "coming out of the closet" to reveal to Vito that he's going to be whacked.
- In a recent interview, David Chase confirmed that all of these signals were intentional and while Phil never realized it himself, he was indeed homosexual.
- Due to the character's personality and Frank Vincent's great performance, many of Phil's famous lines have become Internet memes in The Sopranos fan base. Famous memes include references to usually him complaining about him being in jail for 20 years, him seemingly transforming into a house while talking to Tony and Little Carmine, his rant about compromise, his referring to Tony Blundetto as "That Animal Blundetto" and saying his brother Billy was "just a kid" while he was 47 at time of his death.
- Another common meme is the "shine box" reference from Goodfellas, due to Phil Leotardo and Billy Batts both being played by Frank Vincent.
- Frank Vincent originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior alongside Tony Sirico, who played Paulie Gualtieri but the role ultimately went to Dominic Chianese.
External Links[]
- Phil Leotardo - The Sopranos Wiki
- Phil Leotardo on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
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 Villains
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DiMeo Crime Family Lupertazzi Crime Family Vittorio/Zucca Camorra family Russian Mafia Paglieri Crime Family Philadelphia Crime Family/Buscetta Crime Family Other | ||