Ralph Cifaretto

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Ralph Cifaretto
First appearance	Proshai, Livushka (episode 3.02)
Last appearance	Whoever Did This (episode 4.09)
Statistics
Gender	Male
Age	40s (now deceased)
Occupation	Former Capo of the Aprile crew in the DiMeo Crime Family/Roofing Company Operater
Title	President
Spouse	Ronnie Cappoza (divorced)
Children	Justin Cifaretto (son)
Portrayed by	Joe Pantoliano
Created by	David Chase

Ralph Cifaretto, played by Joe Pantoliano, was a fictional character on the HBO series The Sopranos.

[edit] Story Arc

Ralph Cifaretto was a member of Tony Soprano's crime family. Cunning, remorseless, and violently unstable, he was in many ways a classic example of a sociopath.

Cifaretto was friends with Jackie Aprile, Silvio Dante and Tony Soprano in his youth, although he came up in the DiMeo/Soprano crime family more slowly than his peers. He spent some time away from New Jersey and returned following the death of Richie Aprile in 2001.

He once beat a girlfriend to death for insulting and slapping him. She was carrying a child she claimed was his - something which he later denied. He became flippant about her death with Tony, which led to Soprano striking him - something that one "made man" is not supposed to do to another. By way of making amends, Soprano promoted Cifaretto to captain - a promotion he had vocally coveted for some time - after the death of GiGi Cestone, his former captain and personal enemy.

A divorcee, Cifaretto had children from his marriage. He briefly pursued relationships with Rosalie Aprile, the widow of Jackie Aprile, Sr., and then with Janice Soprano; both of these relationships ended badly, possibly because of his preference for masochistic sex games over actual intercourse. A third girlfriend, Valentina La Paz, later had an affair with Tony and complained frequently to him of Cifaretto's inadequacy.

Cifaretto's mouth got him into trouble on several occasions. In the third season, his casual recounting to Rosalie's son, Jackie Jr., of a story about how his father and Tony "made their bones" inspired Jackie to make a similar move, with tragic results; to control the situation, Cifaretto ordered the boy's death. His relationship with Rosalie ended soon afterwards, even while he attempted to dodge the blame by claiming that Jackie Jr had become a drug addict and that he would look after the boy's interests. In the fourth season, his joke about Johnny Sack's wife brought on an assassination plot that was literally called off at the last minute.

The last straw was when Cifaretto purchased a race horse named "Pie-O-My" and worked with Soprano to turn her into a winner. However, he needed some money for his son's medical expenses, and Pie-O-My died in a suspicious stable fire (which Soprano accused him of having ordered to collect on the insurance policy). A very angry Soprano confronted Cifaretto, and eventually fatally beat and choked him to death. With help from Christopher Moltisanti, he then dismembered and disposed of the body, inadvertently discovering that Cifaretto was bald and wore a hairpiece.

[edit] Impact on the show

Arguably, no other character on The Sopranos has had as much of a psychological impact on its main character, with the exception of his mother, during the course of the show. His sudden appearance in the third season, and his violent demise in the fourth, marked a period of intense psychological introspection for Soprano, continuously fueled by his aversion to his unpredictable captain. Cifaretto's success within the organization motivated him to question his own involvement in the family, class issues, and moral concerns which previously had never been covered by the series.

Preceded by: Gigi Cestone

Capo of the Aprile Crew 2001 — 2002

Succeeded by: Vito Spatafore

[edit] External link

• HBO Profile: Ralph Cifaretto