Richie Aprile

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Richie Aprile
First appearance	"Toodle Fucking-Oo"
Last appearance	"The Knight in White Satin Armor"
Statistics
Gender	Male
Age	50s
Occupation	Capo of Aprile Crew in Dimeo Family (1980's-1990, 2000), 'Consultant' of Zanone Garbage hauling
Family	Jackie Aprile, Sr. (younger brother) Rosalie Aprile (sister-in-law) Jackie Aprile, Jr. (nephew) Ricky Aprile (son)
Portrayed by	David Proval
Created by	David Chase

Richard Aprile, Sr., played by David Proval, was in the DiMeo/Soprano crime family under Tony Soprano on the fictional HBO TV series, The Sopranos.

[edit] Biography

Richie Aprile, the older brother of acting DiMeo Crime Family boss Jackie Aprile, Sr., was a capo in the DiMeo crime family before being sent to prison for ten years. While in prison, Jackie died and upon release, Richie came back to a very different family with Tony Soprano in charge. Richie had known Tony since before he became a made man; Tony himself recalled having to pay for dinners for Richie and others as a newly made man. While Tony and Richie had gotten along in the old days — Richie intervened on Tony and Jackie's behalf when old-school mobster Feech La Manna wanted them killed for robbing his card game — there was no love lost between the two once Richie came back on the scene. Impetuous and irascible, Richie still saw Tony as his younger brother's friend, and subsequently had difficulty accepting orders from someone he viewed as a "youngster". Richie was arguably the most ruthless of the entire mafioso cast in the series.

Tensions between the two developed throughout Season Two. One of Richie's first actions as a free man was to confront his old partner Peter "Beansie" Gaeta and try to claim money from him. When Beansie failed to pay Richie at his welcome back party, Richie tracked him down again and threatened to shoot him. Later, Richie waited for Beansie by his car, and when he went to get in, Richie ran him over twice, paralyzing him from the waist down. Richie was later ordered by Tony to make amends by building Beansie a ramp for his wheelchair.

Richie loaned money to Tony's childhood friend Davey Scatino and eventually cut him off when Scatino started to miss payments. Scatino managed to get a seat at Tony's high stakes executive game and when Richie found him there he flew into a rage. Tony intervened because he could not lose face by allowing one of his players to be harmed and sent Richie away.

Richie disliked Tony's protegee Christopher Moltisanti because of his violent relationship with Richie's niece - Adriana La Cerva. This friction between them contributed to a failed attempt on Christopher's life by two young associates hoping to impress Richie. Richie had nothing to do with planning the hit and refused to help them afterwards because he expected a reaction from Tony.

Richie acted as a mentor to his nephew Jackie Aprile, Jr. for a short time before his death; he brought him along to meetings to discuss mafia business.

In the end Richie was preparing, with the approval of Tony's Uncle Junior, to take over the family as boss. Richie approached acting capo Albert "Ally Boy" Barese to ask for his support in his takeover bid but he declined. After weighing his options, Junior realized he was better off with Tony in charge and tipped him off about Richie's plans.

For a while, Richie and Janice Soprano, Tony's sister, used to date in high school. When Richie left prison, he and Janice resumed their old relationship and eventually became engaged. After returning home one night, Richie and Janice entered into an arguement over Richie's son's sexuality, an idea Janice dismissed, but defended regardless. As soon as she did this however, Richie hit Janice in the face before settling down for dinner. Janice left the room but quickly returned with a gun and shot Richie twice, killing him. Tony had Chris and Furio Giunta dispose of Richie's corpse by dismemberment at Satriale's Pork Store, and sent Janice off to Seattle to lay low. Apart from Tony and Janice, only Christopher and Furio know what really happened to Richie. Carmela knows of Richie's death, but doesn't know the specifics; everyone else has been told that he became an FBI informant and entered witness protection.

[edit] External link

• HBO Profile: Richie Aprile