‘The Sopranos’ Turns 25: 8 Most Shocking Deaths, Ranked

Dan Clarendon January 10, 2024, 9:00 am

The Sopranos - Drea de Matteo - Season 5 — HBO/Everett Collection

During The Sopranos’ six-season run, it seemed like the HBO show’s award tally would outpace even its body count. For as violent the mob drama got, critics and Emmy voters still lavished it with praise and trophies… and viewers still tuned in on Sunday nights to see who’d be whacked next.

(At least, they did until one particularly torturous Season 3 death, covered below, which reportedly had viewers canceling their HBO subscriptions.)

The Sopranos turns 25 on January 10, and we’re naming our picks for the show’s most shocking demises — deaths that viewers probably haven’t forgotten, even a quarter-century later.

8. Vito Spatafore (Joseph R. Gannascoli)

Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore in 'The Sopranos'

HBO/Courtesy: Everett Collection

After being lured back to mob life in New Jersey, Vito was viciously beaten to death in Season 6’s “Cold Stones” by Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) and two of his soldiers, who did an unspeakable thing with a pool cue, presumably because the onetime DiMeo soldier was gay.

7. Richie Aprile (David Proval)

When this DiMeo capo punched fiancée Janice (Aida Turturro) for defending their ballroom-dancing son in Season 2’s “The Knight in White Satin Armor,” she returned to the dinner table with a gun in hand. And when he taunted her, not believing she would pull the trigger, he found he was dead wrong.

6. Tracee (Ariel Kiley)

HBO/Courtesy: Everett Collection

This Bada Bing dancer suffered one of the grisliest deaths on the series after running afoul of boyfriend Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) in Season 3’s “University.” After learning that she was pregnant with is baby, Ralph bashed her head against a guardrail in the strip club’s parking lot.

5. Bobby Baccalieri (Steve Schirripa)

In Season 6’s “The Blue Comet,” Bobby was shopping for a model train when he reached the end of the line, so to speak. Two of Phil Leotardo’s hit men found him in the hobby store and shot him to death — and he might have known to take cover if he hadn’t left his cell phone in the car.

4. Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent)

That this Lupertazzi crime boss was killed in the series finale, “Made in America,” wasn’t as surprising as how. A DiMeo family soldier shot Phil point-blank at a gas station, and then Phil’s head was crushed under the tire of his driverless SUV, with his two infant grandchildren still inside the car.

3. Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi)

Steve Buscemi as Tony Blundetto in 'The Sopranos'

HBO/Courtesy: Everett Collection

After the Leotardos kill a prison buddy of his, Tony Blundetto gets revenge by shooting at Phil and his brother Billy (Chris Caldovino), wounding the former and killing the latter. To smooth things over in the Season 5 finale, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) tracks his cousin to a family farm upstate and ambushes him with a shotgun on the front porch.

2. Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli)

Tony Soprano reaches his breaking point with Christopher in Season 6’s “Kennedy and Heidi.” After Christopher’s reckless driving gets him and Tony into a wreck — which destroys the car seat that could have been holding Christopher’s newborn — Tony makes that accident a fatal one for his “nephew.”

1. Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo)

After Adriana confesses to Chris that she’s been working with the FBI in Season 5’s “Long Term Parking,” Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) drives her into the woods. She soon gleans her fate and pleads for her life, but Silvio shoots her anyway as she scrambles away.