| “ | Nothing, I agree in spirit, but I gotta counsel.
|
„ |
| ― Albie Cianflone on going to war with the DiMeo family |
Albert "Albie" Cianflone is a supporting character on The Sopranos. He is the consigliere to Phil Leotardo in the Lupertazzi crime family, and often arranges business transactions with the DiMeo crime family. He is portrayed by John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia.
Biography[]
Season 6[]
Part I[]
| “ | The balls on this prick!
|
„ |
| ― Albie on Tony's boldness |
Albie accompanies Phil to a meeting at Newark University Hospital where Tony was recovering from Junior shooting him in the stomach to discuss the Lupertazzis having poached Barone Sanitation from the DiMeo family while Tony was in his coma.[1] He later attends Johnny Sack's daughter Allegra's wedding, witnessing Johnny being taken away back to prison by U.S. Marshals before he could properly say goodbye to her and his crying as a result, also listening to Phil's degrading comments about how he considers Johnny to have softened up.[2] At a making ceremony after-party for New York and New Jersey mobsters at Nuovo Vesuvio, Albie has to calm Phil down when he begins to rant and vent about his frustrations with Vito, who was recently discovered to be homosexual.[3] During the Feast of St. Elzear in Newark, Phil has Albie call a contact to load a stolen truck of multivitamins in New York, the proceeds of which will be split 50/50 amongst the two families.[4]
Albie at a meeting with Gerry and the Lupertazzi leadership to discuss retribution against Tony.
After Johnny Sack allocutes in federal court and admits he is a member of the Mafia, Albie is watching the TV news reports about it with Phil and the others at the Averna Club, stating that at least he didn't become an informant; however, Phil is not satisfied with this, as he declares that you are not allowed to admit the existence of their organization, and Fat Dom Gamiello, a soldier in his crew, agrees and says Johnny should have gone to trial.[5] When Fat Dom goes missing in New Jersey after Vito's murder at Phil's hands (having been killed by Silvio and Carlo during an argument after he made fun of the whole Jersey family) and Phil's wire room in Sheepshead Bay is blown up, Albie sits at a meeting with Phil, Gerry and Butch to discuss payback. He admits Tony has got "balls" for doing such a move, but Butch dissents and instead gets back to their response, stating they should "wipe [Tony] off the planet"; Phil refuses since killing a boss is prohibited. Phil later suffers a severe heart attack and is rushed in critical condition to the hospital, and Albie is one of the men who goes to visit him in his predicament.[6]
Part II[]
After Phil hatches the plot of killing the entire regime of the DiMeo Crime Family, Albie first protests in shock that taking out an entire crime family is impossible, however, he later agrees to Phil's decision. Along with Butch, Albie plans the executions of Tony Soprano, Silvio Dante and Bobby Baccalieri, where Bobby is the only one who actually dies. Later, Albie meets with Tony and Paulie Gualtieri in the final episode, "Made in America", along with Carmine Lupertazzi Jr., Butch DeConcini, and George Pagilieri, the semi-retired boss of one of the New York Five Families, where the Lupertazzi officials agree to end their war with Tony and the New Jersey family, but will not disclose to Tony where their boss Phil Leotardo is hiding. They act as if they can't do so out of loyalty to Phil, but it is most likely just because they don't know where he is hiding.
Personality[]
Out of all the Lupertazzis, perhaps excluding Gerry Torciano, Albie seems to be the most level-headed and cautious one. When gathering with the other capos to discuss whether or not it was who Tony blew up the wire room and what they should do about him, Albie is the one who talks the least. Then, when Phil decides to have Tony, and the other top members of the DiMeo crime family killed, Albie says that he "agree[s] in spirit", but that he doesn't know if he's ready to put that plan into motion. Albie did seem to go along with a plan if a final verdict had been given, however, and seemed to adopt more of a mob mentality most of the time.
Like most other mobsters, Albie was a homophobe, as he demonstrated when he too was outraged at Tony "harboring a faggot", as Phil put it (referring to Vito Spatafore).
Appearances[]
Season 6[]
| Episodes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
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| Season 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Trivia[]
- John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia, who portrayed Albie, owned an Italian restaurant in Little Italy called "Cha Cha's", and also held the unofficial title of "mayor of Little Italy".
- Ciarcia was also a frequent guest on the radio program “The Wiseguy Show,” which is hosted by fellow Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore, who portrayed Salvatore Bonpensiero.
Gallery[]
