Valachi Vs. Soprano

Rivera 1

Nayda Rivera

Prof. Ruffner

ENC 1101

21 October 2002

Valachi vs. Soprano

Terms like “gonna”, “hadda”, and “hafta” all reflect the lingo commonly recognized as used by mafia mobsters. However, perhaps there are other similarities that have often gone unnoticed. In looking at the fictional character Tony Soprano and factual character Joseph

Valachi, one notices that, although their mafia status was tremendously different, parallels appear. Valachi, having been nothing but a soldier, compared to Soprano, who ran the family in the HBO sitcom The Sopranos, held similarities in traits such as family loyalty, extra-marital indulgence, and the constant stress that seems to be commonplace with mobsters.

In the episode “Amour Fou” from the HBO series The Sopranos, Tony Soprano was the lead character who represented a mobster with several issues at hand: he found that his mistress had gone askew, he sought to strategically protect his family from involvement in his issues, and he confessed the pressure that he felt as a mafia member and a prominent family leader. The fact that Soprano routinely indulged in adultery was not a facet of family disloyalty in his eyes.

However, his infidelity must be noted for the selfish act it was. Unwilling to divorce himself of his family, Tony Soprano partook in hedonistic activities that may have felt good initially, but inevitably produced only harm by putting his family unity at stake. When Gloria, his mistress, threatened Tony with exposing their affair to his wife, Tony stepped forth and shielded his family from the destructive knowledge of their affair by threatening Gloria with taking her life.

He showed the significance of his family in the actions he took to protect them. He would have Rivera 2 gone to any extreme necessary to shelter them from information of not only his extra-marital affairs, but his business affairs as well. He never told his wife or children the truth about his true livelihood in crime in an attempt to keep them innocent and safe; this was the duty as a respectable family man, who happened to deal in illegalities. The pressure he felt in his constant attempt to balance his personal family life, his private life with his lover, and his professional life in the mafia overwhelmed Tony Soprano leading him to meetings with a psychiatrist to whom he would relieve some inner chaos in his mind. He spoke with the psychiatrist of issues pertaining to Gloria, carefully divulging only that which he believed to be socially acceptable. The rest of his mafia-related dilemmas and tribulations had to be willfully suppressed, only to be accessible for his own analysis.

Joseph Valachi, during his life in the early to mid 1900’s, resembled Soprano in his participation in extra-martial affairs, his loyalty to protect his family from further involvement in his mafia life, and his exhibition of the extraordinary tension he regularly felt as a gangster.

Valachi spoke of his experiences with women outside of his marriage that occurred throughout his life. Reminiscing, he told tales of visiting some girlfriends while keeping apartments for others. All, of course, was done without affecting his relationships with his wife and son, both of whom he genuinely cherished. Valachi simply treated himself to the luxury of forbidden affairs with only the egocentric thought of pleasure. He did, however, shield his family from the corruption that engulfed him in his life with the mafia. He never led them to question his income by always providing an honest front, and in his biography he made a valiant point of leaving them out of a book based on confessions of crime, for he respectfully refused to link his family to his depravity. Valachi harbored much stress in his pursuit of their ignorance of his affairs as well as his association of the mafia. In The Valachi Papers, Valachi told of the stress and fear he Rivera 3 routinely felt while waiting on the front porch for his wife to open the door: “[I]t would be very quiet, and I would stand in front of my door sometimes, and I would hold my shoulders tight expecting a blast” (Maas 220). The constant pressure of life as a gangster haunted him, sometimes stifling decisions, and always plaguing his contentedness. In his biography, Valachi also complained of not knowing who to trust and not wanting to talk to anyone, else it might cause him trouble later. The anxiety he felt was consuming enough to be present in every moment of every day.

Thus, although the status of these two figures differed greatly, the correlation is evident in the way they beheld their families, indulged in affairs with women outside their sound marriages, and endured ultimate infection of the stress they incurred. They shared a common lifestyle as gangsters and that is what fundamentally linked their behaviors in what seems to be a prototype of most, if not all, Italian-American mafiosos. The macho womanizer enveloped in the network of a perilous business who adores the security of a wife and family is the depiction most mobsters seek to emulate. However, whether they are lucky enough to get it all is up to fate, and whether they are lucky enough to keep it all is another story. Rivera 4

Work Cited

Maas, Peter. The Valachi Papers. New York: Putnam, 1969; New York: Bantam, 1969. Rivera 5

Block Format Outline

I. Intro w/ thesis A. Hook - “gonna, hadda, hafta” B. Topic - similarities btwn Soprano & Valachi C. Comment – even though status within mafia differs, these two are comparable in lifestyles II. Tony Soprano A. Selfish by having extra marital affairs 1. has girlfriend, past history 2. not willing to give up extracurricular activities B. Shows loyalty and love of family 1. will do what it takes to protect 2. try to keep them out of it and ignorant of what could harm them: mafia C. Shows stress in life with mafia 1. talking with shrink 2. telling someone “you think I don’t have stress?” III. Joe Valachi A. Selfish by having extra marital affairs 1. visited whore-houses 2. kept girlfriends on side B. Shows loyalty and love of family 1. kept them out of book 2. kept them ignorant of mafia by business fronts C. Shows stress in life with mafia 1. epitomized by quote of standing in front of door 2. didn’t know who to talk to or trust anymore IV. These two show similarities in lifestyles that is direct result from mafia mentality A. All mafia members have this mentality B. All have same traits of: 1. macho, selfish womanizer 2. family man 3. engulfed by stressed