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TV wisegay ('Sopranos' fella hits the other way)
NY Daily News ^
| May 3, 2004
| MICHELE McPHEE
Posted on 05/03/2004 7:40:46 AM PDT by presidio9
It's a first for "The Sopranos" - a gay mobster. On last night's episode, capo Vito Spatafore was caught in a compromising position with a male security guard - definitely not the kind of behavior that would go over well with the oglers at the Bada-Bing.
"It adds a lot of depth to the character," actor Joseph Gannascoli, who plays the newly outed mobster, told the Daily News.
In the real mob, being gay can add real depth - about 6 feet underground.
Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo, former boss of New Jersey's DeCalvacante family, said to be the model for "The Sopranos," testified last week there is one way to handle gay gangsters: Kill them.
"What's the rule ... about this?" federal prosecutor John Hillebrecht asked the mob turncoat on Wednesday.
"You die," Palermo replied.
That was the punishment meted out to DeCalvacante wiseguy John D'Amato in 1992, whom Palermo ordered whacked after being told his underling had rendezvoused with another man at a swingers club.
Over lunch at a Brooklyn restaurant, Gannascoli took pains to point out he is not gay - adding just as quickly, "Not that there is anything wrong with it."
"My problem is, I love women," he said.
Gannascoli did say he relished the challenge of playing a homosexual. "It was my idea many years ago to have my character be gay, having read and known about gay wiseguys," he said. "I want to be effeminate but knockaround."
Still, Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie Walnuts on the show, grabbed Gannascoli by the arm last week and asked: "You okay with this? You want me to have a talk with [the show's creator] David Chase?"
Gannascoli knows he's in for a little ribbing or worse.
"I'm going to have to deal with a lot of grief in the neighborhood. I'm a little worried about how my family is going to react," Gannascoli said, just as his elderly father walked by a window of Paneantico, a bistro on Bay Ridge's bustling Third Ave.
"But I wanted to really act," he added. "I don't want to just play mob guys for the rest of my career."
Gannascoli refused to reveal whether Vito will face repercussions, saying only, "In the mob, it's about money."
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: gaymobsters; homosexualagenda; johndamato; jumpedtheshark; mafia; paneantico; roadhead; sopranos; vitospatafore
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
The term, properly used, is "who pissed in you're Post Toasties". It rhymes and gives the same effect. Just trying to help.
121
posted on
05/03/2004 9:07:00 PM PDT
by
timydnuc
("Give me Liberty, or give me death"!)
To: timydnuc
Just trying to help. Thanks. 'Preciate it.
122
posted on
05/03/2004 9:08:58 PM PDT
by
Bloody Sam Roberts
(ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,Election '04...It's going to be a bumpy ride,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø)
To: longtermmemmory
Did anybody notice that Frankie Valli was the underboss on Carmine's side? I saw the face, I heard the voice. It took me two episodes to do the connect. Go figure! I'm gettin' old. If he could break into "Big Girls Don't Cry" just once before the end, I'll be happy.
123
posted on
05/03/2004 9:13:42 PM PDT
by
timydnuc
("Give me Liberty, or give me death"!)
To: timydnuc
They do stuff wild casting stuff like that. Course David Lee Roth was at a poker game a few weeks ago. And they were making "in" jokes about Dick Wolf, producer of Law and Order. And not to brag, but my ex-boss directs 3 or 4 episodes of The Sopranos every year - his name is John Patterson. His episodes this year have been among the best imo.
124
posted on
05/04/2004 5:59:12 AM PDT
by
veronica
("Kicking butt is mandatory - taking names is optional." - US Navy)
To: Bloody Sam Roberts
I don't think going to the game with Vito would have solved this problem but actually have made it worse. Remember he told Meadow that Vito made a pass at him. And if he persisted and was rebuffed the danger grows. Even if nothing else happened his knowledge of Vito's other side continued to pose a tremendous danger. Of course, he wouldn't have killed him at Yankee Stadium but may have at other point. He probably could even have it done at the job and make it look like an accident.
Meadow just needs a real man not these pretty boys she has been hanging out with.
125
posted on
05/04/2004 7:10:40 AM PDT
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies foreign and domestic RATmedia agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
To: Rummyfan
With an HBO series, it was inevitable that a gay character would be introduced.
The sopranos isn't the most politically correct show. The fact taht the guy is gay has nothing to do with a homosexual agenda being pushed, it added a lot of tension and complexity to the episode, and the character.
126
posted on
05/04/2004 7:14:36 AM PDT
by
Conservomax
(shill: One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into part)
To: Always Right
Yeah, lots of 'depth'. If you really want to add depth, why not a John Wayne Gacy type. Rape and murder kids and put them in a crawlspace. Now that is depth.
In this instance, I think you missing the point.
127
posted on
05/04/2004 7:16:55 AM PDT
by
Conservomax
(shill: One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into part)
To: CoolPapaBoze
We have very different views on Meadow's asthetic appeal. I don't find her attractive in the least. ? hmm, I wonder if Vito found her attractive?
128
posted on
05/04/2004 7:19:54 AM PDT
by
Conservomax
(shill: One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into part)
To: longtermmemmory
A homosexual character is supposed to help raitings? I never cared for the series, now it has become the homosexual mob series, now a reason to avoid the series. This was a marketing blunder. It will kill DVD sales.
The homosexual mob series? What are you nuts? If you think this is going to be a major issue on the show, you obviously don't watch it enough to make a sweeping comment like that. Do you actually think they are going to spend time expoing the tortured life of a gay mobster?
* Sniff Sniff - He wants to blow men and kill them - what's a guy to do *
Up until Sunday most people didn't even know the gay character's name.
I guaruntee, this is a one time thing with this series to add flavor to the Finn character. If it was going to be "The Gay Mob Series" as you put it, they would have spent the last 15 minutes of the show on Vito instead of on the two liberal idiots Meadow and Finn.
The Sopranos is probably one of the more conservative dramas on TV. It shows a world in which only objectivists can survive, while "intellectual" liberals like Meadow and her boyfriend spend 4 hours arguing over the semantics of why he packed a suitcase. Did you miss all the subtext?
Anybody who has been watching this show and stops watching it because of this needs to relax. If avid viewers are so morally opposed to the one minor player being gay then they are hypocrites, the show is nothing but blood, infidelity, cursing and drug use.
129
posted on
05/04/2004 7:35:20 AM PDT
by
Conservomax
(shill: One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into part)
To: Daus
Well I am not sure it was just a technicality and seemed to have had no reason to happen unless it is indicating some change in that relation.
Haven't seen Deadwood but have heard some good things about it.
130
posted on
05/04/2004 7:40:02 AM PDT
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies foreign and domestic RATmedia agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
To: Daus
It's the best western I had ever watched. My favorite character scenes have to be between Jane and Charlie. Trixie even played the old "Madonna and Whore" question. She was angelic with the child and a dirty cruel monster with Al.
I just hope the young whore is over eighteen. She has a filthy mouth for someone younger.
131
posted on
05/04/2004 8:15:57 AM PDT
by
Shooter 2.5
(Vote a Straight Republican Ballot. Rid the country of dems.)
To: justshutupandtakeit
Remember he told Meadow that Vito made a pass at him. I think Finn was mistaken about that. Vito was trying to get a sense of what Finn was or wasn't going to say about what he saw. It seemed to me that he was going to give Finn the chance to get on Vito's good side and keep his mouth shut...or else.
132
posted on
05/04/2004 8:18:44 AM PDT
by
Bloody Sam Roberts
(ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,Election '04...It's going to be a bumpy ride,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø)
To: justshutupandtakeit
Remember he told Meadow that Vito made a pass at him.Remember also that Meadow got Finn the job, pulling him in (Godfather/Pacino reference intended) to what is her real world. Like father, like daughter: the way Tony masterfully coopts vulnerable individuals into the life. Meadow could not possibly get along with any guy possessing an independent thought. Finn is at a loss to decide anything for himself: he is in existential hell - nothing matters. Because Meadow with her extreme, like-mother-like-daughter, manipulative, jones-crushing, pu$$y-mongering, clinging made him finally feel something, even if it was claustrophobia, he proposes marriage. Janice tries to do that stuff, too: I guess they get it from the first Mrs. S.
I was surprised Meadow took Vito's sexual acting out in stride. And then she said Vito wouldn't hurt Finn because he was a married man (?). I guess she doesn't stop for a second to ponder what it all means, just ferally evaluates it for how she can gain from the knowledge. In this case, the time to act is immediate: Finn, at his most vulnerable with mob-fear, was ripe for the picking. By snagging a fiancee, she gets maternal approval. And like Carmella, she'll pu$$y-whip Finn into getting her stuff she wants from the underworld, while Meadow herself is taking no risks in straight world..
Great episode.
To: justshutupandtakeit
Holy crap - that is the word for word explanation I told my wife for the proposal from Finn. We didn't watch it until last night. I have to say that Vito was the last guy I expected to pop up in that scene. It was hysterical.
The bit with the tombstone was also a riot. That was the best episode of the new season, by far, though still far too much Carmella and Meadow.
134
posted on
05/04/2004 8:27:53 AM PDT
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: O6ret
Another possibility is that Vito knocks off Finn, which would be the second time that he's killed one of her boyfriends.
It might cause the big Meadow/Tony fight over the mob that's been brewing (interminably) for the last three seasons.
135
posted on
05/04/2004 8:31:13 AM PDT
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: Conservomax
Up until Sunday most people didn't even know the gay character's name.
I thought his name was The Guy Thats Even Fatter Than Baccala.
Meadow and her boyfriend spend 4 hours arguing over the semantics of why he packed a suitcase
It was actually more than nine hours. It started during the Yankee pre-game and ended at 4:30. I told my wife I would have dove out the window after two hours.
And adding this gay twist was the most interesting thing they've done this season.
136
posted on
05/04/2004 8:48:33 AM PDT
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: Bloody Sam Roberts
The only way that I could see it as a pass was because he referred to Finn p.ssing like a race horse indicating that he may have been hung like one too.
You may be correct wrt Vito's intentions.
137
posted on
05/04/2004 9:07:58 AM PDT
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies: foreign and domestic RATmedia agree Bush must be destroyed.)
To: NutCrackerBoy
She didn't refer to Vito's being married as a reason that Finn wouldn't get hurt but as a reason he couldn't be gay.
138
posted on
05/04/2004 9:10:32 AM PDT
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies: foreign and domestic RATmedia agree Bush must be destroyed.)
To: dead
Further proof that great minds think alike.
The tombstone bit was a complete scream. And it was masterful of Tony to insist that Tony B show up at the funeral.
139
posted on
05/04/2004 9:13:42 AM PDT
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies: foreign and domestic RATmedia agree Bush must be destroyed.)
To: justshutupandtakeit
Actually, Meadow did say something exactly like, "Vito would never hurt you! He's a married man!" I remember it because it was such a non-sensical statement (par for the course from her.)
I couldn't figure out why Tony S stuck his neck so far out with Johnny Sacks. He personally vouched for Tony B, when he could have just denied any knowledge. I don't know what his angle there is, but he's always got one.
At some point this season, I'm pretty confident that Tony B is going to turn into a psycho killing machine (ala Pesci in Goodfellas). His persona is a little too tightly wrapped. Buscemi is an absolutely GREAT actor, and you can see that he's just itching to go nuts with the role. They didn't add him to the cast just to be fidgity and insecure.
140
posted on
05/04/2004 9:33:34 AM PDT
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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