Nobody Knows Anything

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“Nobody Knows Anything”
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 11
Written by Frank Renzulli
Directed by Henry J. Bronchtein
Guest stars see below
Production no. 111
Original airdate March 21, 1999
Episode chronology
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"A Hit Is a Hit" "Isabella"
Episode chronology

"Nobody Knows Anything" is the eleventh episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. It was written by Frank Renzulli, directed by Henry J. Bronchtein and originally aired on Sunday March 21, 1999.

Contents

[edit] Guest starring roles

[edit] Episode recap

Big Pussy and Jimmy Altieri are arrested at a pool hall belonging to Jimmy. Pussy tries to escape by running out of an exit but, as he is out of shape, he is caught as he reaches the corner of the block. The FBI discovers that a pool table conceals a stash of guns. Pussy later claims his back, injured previously in the episode in the below-mentioned bordello, has been worsened as a result of the chase and arrest.

Vin Makazian, a police detective who provides Tony inside information, meets Tony near a harbor and tells him that he has an informant in his crew. Vin thinks it is Big Pussy. Tony later learns that Makazian, a gambler, owes Big Pussy $30,000 which may bring his objectivity into question. Tony asks Makazian to provide a copy of the police report naming the informant. However, before the detective can provide the report he is arrested at a brothel, alongside Soprano family capo Raymond Curto. Upon his release, Makazian drives to a bridge and abruptly jumps off to his death.

Big Pussy is bailed out of jail by his wife and then stays at home, nurses his back, and stops making his collections. When Pussy complains to Tony about the hardship of putting his children through college, Tony tells Pussy that he has friends and options. Tony is unsure if Pussy is the informant.

Tony assigns Paulie Walnuts to investigate Pussy, but Paulie is not to act unless he sees a wire on Pussy. Paulie takes Pussy to a steam bath facility but Pussy refuses to undress, stating his doctor told him that heat was bad for his blood pressure and his heart. When Tony questions Dr. Melfi about Pussy's physical problems, she tells Tony that Pussy's issues may be psychosomatic.

Jimmy Altieri is released from FBI custody and surprises Tony at his home, asking Tony a lot of questions. This prompts Tony to suspect Jimmy as the informant, rather than Pussy. Tony tells Paulie and Silvio Dante that Jimmy, and not Big Pussy, is the informant. Paulie confirms to Tony that he has not harmed Pussy, and that Pussy has disappeared.

Junior Soprano meets with Livia, who tells him that Tony and other capos have placed their mothers in Green Grove and have held meetings there. Furious, Junior concludes that a plot against him is forming and decides to organize a hit on Tony. Junior is also still angry about Tony's disrespect toward him over his relationship with his now former girlfriend Bobbi Sanfillipo, as well being agitated about the continuing animosity Tony displays toward him since the death of Jackie Aprile. Junior colludes with Mikey Palmice and Chucky Signore to organize Tony's assassination.

[edit] First appearances

[edit] Deceased

[edit] Title reference

  • Tony discovers hidden truths about two of his close friends, Vin Makazian and Big Pussy Bonpensiero. During a discussion between Tony and Paulie regarding the certainty of the diagnoses of Pussy's back problems, Paulie says, "When it comes to backs, nobody knows anything." Tony later says, "Nobody knows anything," with respect to who may or may not be the rat. Tony determines in this episode that Jimmy is "the" rat. At the end of the second season, it is revealed that Pussy had been in with the feds since the events of this episode, chronologically speaking. Therefore, Tony had not considered the possibility of there being more than one rat. In this episode he says that Makazian's source must have gotten his facts crossed, confusing "one black-haired fat fuck" for the other. Moreover, Tony sums up Makazian's character with the phrase "degenerate gambler with a badge," to which the latter takes offense. Tony later discovers from Vin's "madam" that there was much more to his life than what this phrase supposes to characterize.

[edit] References to other media

[edit] Music

  • The song played over the end credits is "Manifold de Amour" by the Latin Playboys.
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