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The Lupertazzi crime family is the main antagonistic faction on The Sopranos. It is one of the Five Families of New York, being led by longtime boss Carmine Lupertazzi and his underboss Johnny Sacrimoni, who serves as an emissary for the Soprano crime family. Though the two families initially maintain stable relations, over the course of the series, the succeeding New York bosses cause friction with the Soprano family and specifically Tony Soprano, who is sometimes forced to resort to aggressive action to deal with them.

The Lupertazzi’s were the largest and most powerful of the Five Families, so powerful that many referred to them the top Family in New York City. This makes them by far the most powerful Mafia family in the series.

History[]

Background[]

Carmine Lupertazzi Photo Stage 5

A portrait of longtime Lupertazzi family boss Carmine Lupertazzi.

The Lupertazzi crime family was one of the Five Families of the New York Mafia, which were solidified in 1931 after Lucky Luciano established the Commission.[2] Giovanni Lupertazzi started out as a capo in Luciano's organization, but when the commision was formed, he allowed Lupertazzi to go off on his own, due to the large numbers of his regime.

After his lung cancer diagnosis in the 1950s, Giovanni's son Carmine Lupertazzi became the new boss of the family. Carmine was known for his business-oriented mindset and pragmatism, becoming a notorious and respected leader. Controlling his criminal empire from the Averna Social Club in Brooklyn, Some of his most trusted confidants included his consigliere Angelo Garepe, underboss Johnny Sacrimoni and capo Phil Leotardo. Since the days of Carmine's time at its helm, the Lupertazzi family did business with Eckley DiMeo's North Jersey mob, and particularly the Soprano family, with whom Carmine shared peaceful relations.[3] However, and despite possessing a certain modicum of respect for his business partners, Carmine and his subordinates always considered the DiMeos second class and nothing short of a "glorified crew", due in part to their flimsier requirements to approve someone to be made and the lack of tradition in the initiation ceremony, unlike their family.[4][5] When the DiMeo family needed to nominate a new boss, the candidate would usually require the Lupertazzis' approval, as well as those of the other four families.[6] During the Mafia crackdowns of the 1980s, Carmine and many of his subordinates, such as Angelo and Phil, were arrested on racketeering charges and faced stern prison time. Though Carmine wasn't convicted after paying tremendous expenses during his trial, Angelo and Phil, among others, were sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1984, depriving the family of crucial and efficient assets.[7][8] Intending to distance himself from criminal activities, Carmine placed most family matters on Johnny Sack, who eventually tired of standing in his shadow and began plotting to take control the Lupertazzi family.[9]

Season 1[]

Tony Soprano Johnny Sacrimoni Meeting Pax Soprana

Lupertazzi family underboss Johnny Sacrimoni meeting DiMeo family capo Tony Soprano regarding Tony's associate Hesh Rabkin.

When Junior is made boss of the DiMeo family after the death of Jackie Aprile (although, unbeknownst to him, he is but a figurehead and Tony is really pulling the strings), he starts imposing his authority over every aspect of his organization, including taxing Hesh $500,000 and asking for a monthly two points of his shylocking operation. Hoping to resolve the issue without appearing to be involved himself, Tony goes to the Lupertazzi family, requesting Johnny Sack act as though he is the one vouching for Hesh. After appealing to Junior's narcissism and singing his praises, he acquiesces and requests half of the demanded money.[10] Indictments are later handed down against Junior and several other New Jersey mobsters, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Conigliaro was also looking to charge Johnny and two other New York bosses he was an emissary for.[11]

The Lupertazzi Family has gone through some internal friction over the years, with Boss Carmine Lupertazzi and his underboss, John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni, each reaching out to North Jersey Boss Tony Soprano to perform a hit on the other. Neither hit ended up being carried out, as the cooler heads prevailed. The Family fell into disarray after Carmine Sr.'s sudden death when his son, "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi, came up from Florida to try and take control from Johnny Sack, who had been eyeing the top position for years. Little Carmine had told Johnny that he should be the Boss, as his grandfather and father were Bosses, therefore, he should be Boss and was a good caporegime. Johnny disagreed, thinking that it was his time to be Boss. Key crews in the Family split loyalties: capos Phil Leotardo and Jimmy Petrille sided with Johnny Sack in the conflict, while capos Rusty Millio, Jerry Basile and consigliere Angelo Garepe sided with "Little" Carmine. Tony Soprano came to Johnny Sack with a compromise: there would be a power-sharing situation with Little Carmine, Johnny, and Angelo holding the title as boss and decisions being made with the consent of at least two bosses. Johnny Sack refused, insulted by the proposition.

Associates loyal to Little Carmine, Lorraine Calluzzo and Jason Evanina, were killed on the orders of Johnny Sack as punishment for kicking up to Little Carmine instead of him. As a payback, Rusty and Angelo reached out to Tony Blundetto, an associate in the DiMeo Crime Family and cousin to Tony Soprano, to kill Joey "Peeps" Peparelli, an associate close to Johnny Sack. Phil and Billy Leotardo retaliated by stuffing Angelo inside a car trunk and shooting him in the head. Tony B., a close friend of Garepe from their time in prison, then went after Phil, wounding him and killing Billy.

After the attacks on Garepe and the Leotardo brothers, Little Carmine retreated back to Florida. Johnny Sack was installed as official boss of the Lupertazzi Family. His first order of business was to take revenge on Tony B., by means of torture and murder from Phil. Tony Soprano, unwilling to allow Phil to do that to his cousin, refused to give up Blundetto, who had gone into hiding. Leotardo responded by attacking Soprano associate Benny Fazio, sending him to the hospital with a skull fracture. Facing increased pressure from his own family, Tony shot and killed Tony B. himself with a shotgun blast to the head. Phil was outraged, but Johnny Sack met with Tony to re-establish business with the North Jersey Boss. At that meeting, the F.B.I. raided Johnny Sack's home and arrested him. It was later revealed that Jimmy Petrille, prospective consigliere to Johnny Sack and a friend of his father, had given 18 years worth of information to the federal government.

With Johnny Sack in jail and awaiting trial, Phil Leotardo was named Acting Boss of the Lupertazzi Crime Family. Despite holding a grudge after the death of his brother and a minor incident involving Acting Capo Gerry Torciano and Hesh Rabkin, Phil maintained a working relationship with the Soprano Family.

Johnny Sack, fearing another uprising from Rusty Millio, reached out to Tony Soprano through Phil to whack the rebellious capo. After refusing Phil, Tony agreed to put out the hit when Johnny talked to him at his daughter Allegra's wedding (which Johnny was allowed to attend for six hours provided he pay for security costs). When the feds interrupted Allegra's wedding car to take Johnny back to prison, John burst into tears. Phil made it a point after the wedding to speak out on his diminished regard for his boss.

Tony Soprano made good on his promise to Johnny, and sent two men from Naples to whack Rusty Millio and soldier Eddie Pietro outside of his home. However, more tension arose between the two families when Phil's cousin-in-law and the captain of the top earning Aprile crew, Vito Spatafore, was outed as a homosexual.

In November of 2006, Boss John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni pleaded guilty to 47 RICO predicates, receiving a 15 year sentence. As part of the plea, he admitted that he was a member of La Cosa Nostra. When hearing this, Lupertazzi Family members denounced their boss, saying that he broke the vow of silence. This resulted in Phil removing him as a Boss, and he himself becomes the de facto Boss and stopped supporting Ginny financially and absorbing all of John's businesses, leaving Ginny no income.

Becoming virtually the Boss of the Lupertazzi Family, Phil immediately started flexing his power, renegotiating no-show jobs shared with the Soprano Family and whacking Aprile crew captain Vito Spatafore before Tony could get the chance to settle things within his own family. In retaliation, Tony planned on hurting Phil financially, but his plans were complicated when Carlo Gervasi and Silvio Dante killed Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamiello, a soldier in the Lupertazzi Family, for making jokes that implied that Carlo was a homosexual.

Tony Soprano officially responded to Vito's death by blowing up a Sheepshead Bay wire room operated by Phil Leotardo. Leotardo and his gumar (mistress/lover) were approaching the business as it exploded, but they were unharmed.

Subsequently, a sit-down was arranged by "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi between Phil and Tony Soprano. A truce was almost agreed until Lupertazzi brought up the death of Leotardo's brother Billy Leotardo. Phil was enraged and left the sit-down after insulting both Soprano and Lupertazzi.

Later, Phil Leotardo convened a war council with consigliere Albie Cianflone, and captains Butch DeConcini and Gerry Torciano. DeConcini pushed hard for Tony Soprano, or someone high up in the Soprano family, to be whacked, while Phil blanched at the thought of whacking a boss. However, Phil was hospitalized thereafter when he suffered a massive coronary. When Tony Soprano visited Phil in the hospital to make peace, he seemed receptive, but DeConcini was openly confrontational.

In August 2007, Phil returned to Brooklyn after undergoing heart surgery and several months of physical therapy. He found the family in disarray under the highly controversial leadership of Faustino "Doc" Santoro. While there was some expectation that Phil would return to his position of boss, the stress of his heart attack had caused him to lose all interest in the job. Phil was prepared to support his protégé Gerry Torciano in his bid for the position of boss, and was emphatic in stressing that being a boss, 'health-wise, is a young man's game.' However, Leotardo's and Torciano's plans were ended in failure, when Santoro had Torciano murdered by one of his men at a dinner with Soprano Family consilgiere Silvio Dante. The fact that Dante's life was imperiled prompted Tony Soprano to appeal to Little Carmine to take the reins as boss of the Lupertazzis. However, Little Carmine explained to Tony that during his war with Johnny, his wife had appealed to him to quit so that she would not lose him.

Although he had been boss only in name, the death of Johnny Sack further destabilized the Lupertazzi Family, as he left behind no clear successor. With his protégé and successor dead and Little Carmine unwilling to take over, Leotardo re-examined his motives and prepared to go to war with Santoro. After deciding to get back in the game, Phil bided his time, working under Doc Santoro until the old man's arrogance got too much to handle. Having enough, Phil ordered his soldiers to kill Santoro once and for all, and so, driven by Butch DeConcini, the hitmen murdered Santoro and an associate, who was his bodyguard, outside a massage parlor, leaving him dead on the sidewalk, which means that Phil officially became the Boss of the family.

After Phil rejects Tony's offer of compromise on an asbestos removal project he then refuses to meet with Tony after he brutally beats one of Phil's men, Coco Cogliano, for threatening and sexually harassing Meadow Soprano. Phil responds by putting a hit on Tony Soprano and two of his closest associates, Bobby Baccalieri and Silvio Dante. The hits on Bobby and Silvio go nearly as planned with Bobby killed and Silvio incapacitated. Tony and Paulie had a sitdown with Butch, Albie, and Little Carmine, brokered by NY Boss George Pagilieri, to negotiate a peace. Unhappy with Phil's leadership, they allowed Tony to have Phil executed, though Butch refused to give the exact location of where Phil was. Phil was shot in the head by DiMeo soldier Walden Belfiore while he was exiting his family sport utility vehicle at a gas station. His wife, the driver, was so distraught that she exited the SUV, while the transmission was still in drive. The vehicle rolled forward, leading to the passenger side rear wheel crushing Phil's head. His twin infant grandchildren, riding in car seats, were unharmed but experienced a slight bump. The new boss of the family is unknown, but it is most likely Butch "The Little Guy" DeConcini, since Little Carmine had no interest in the position. 

Historical Membership []

Lupchart-3

The Lupertazzi Crime Family Organization (New York City)

Boss (official and acting) []

Underboss (official and acting)[]

Consigliere (official and acting)[]

Caporegime (official and acting)[]

Known Soldiers and Associates (37)

References[]

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