Dickie visiting his uncle Sally Moltisanti and looking to accomplish a "good deed", New Jersey c. 1967
Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti, was a Soldier and later Capo in the DiMeo Crime Family, and the main character of The Many Saints of Newark. He married Joanne Moltisanti (née Blundetto) and they had a son, Christopher. Dickie was also a cousin of Carmela Soprano (née DeAngelis). After a brief time during which he acted as a mentor to young Tony Soprano, Dickie was murdered in 1972.
Quick Answers
Who was responsible for the murder of Dickie Moltisanti?
How did Dickie Moltisanti's death impact the DiMeo Crime Family?
What role did Dickie Moltisanti play in mentoring Tony Soprano?
Who are the members of the Moltisanti family tree in The Sopranos?
How is Christopher Moltisanti related to Dickie Moltisanti?
Backstory[]
Dickie was born to Aldo "Hollywood Dick" Moltisanti, and Lena Moltisanti. Dickie had one brother. Hollywood Dick was abusive to his mother, he'd beat her in front of him, and sometimes pushed her down the stairs, something he would resent his father for, but still maintained a good relationship with him. Growing up, Dickie was good friends with Harold McBrayer, a local African-American boy, whom he played baseball with, he also became familiar with Harold's Cousin Cyril. Hollywood Dick and his twin brother Salvatore were members of the DiMeo Crime Family in Newark. Hollywood Dick was an associate but he was one of the top earners of the family, running a Pumping Supply store and a Cadillac Dealership. when grown up, Dickie joined his father's business, eventually becoming a made man in the DiMeo family, he would later marry Joanne Blundetto, he joined the navy, and fought in the Vietnam war. He also spent a few years in prison, where he had a feud with a gangster named Jilly Ruffalo, who murdered Dickie's cellmate. After being released, Dickie would then retaliate by tracking down Ruffalo and gouging Ruffalo's eye out. The damage was so severe that Ruffalo couldn't fit a glass eye. Dickie would become close with fellow mobster Johnny Boy Soprano's son Tony. He looked at Tony as a nephew figure, largely because he and his wife were having a hard time conceiving children, and partially because Johnny was largely an absent father, and Tony's toxic mother Livia. Dickie also dealt with an alcohol addiction, frequently drinking from a bottle of vodka.
The Many Saints of Newark
In 1967, Dickie and Tony met Hollywood Dick and his new wife Giuseppina Moltisanti as they get off the boat from Italy. Dickie seems infatuated by his new stepmother, and they bond over dinner.
For a time, Dickie worked with Harold, who would make collections for him. When a gangbanger called Leon Overall robs their operation for $600, Dickie orders Harold to kill him. This hit forces their working relationship into an unceremonious end. Harold then has a Police Warrant against him and appeals to Dickie for a $1,000 loan to help him skip town. Dickie fronts Harold $500, but says that this is a gift, not a loan.
The elder Moltisanti gets in an argument with Guiseppina, which escalates into a yelling match and Guiseppina getting kicked down the stairs. This is noticed by Dickie, who confronts his father over the issue during the Newark Riots, saying that as a little boy he had seen the same actions taken towards his true mother. When his father denies hitting Giuseppina and insults both her and Lena, Dickie beats him to death in a rage. Tony Soprano, who had been playing ball nearby, comes close to see Dickie disposing of the corpse and asks what he is doing in the garage so late at night. Dickie lies that he is fixing the car, then angrily orders Tony to leave. Dickie then drives through the riot zone to arrive at a plumbing supply store owned by his father. Dickie then takes Hollywood Dick's body inside the building and sets fire to it.
At Hollywood Dick's funeral, Junior Soprano takes Dickie aside and confides in him that he considers them brothers. He promises to grant Dickie any favors he requires. Dickie visits his uncle Sally in prison. Dickie informs him that his father is dead, and promises to visit him more. With his father gone, Dickie began seeing Giuseppina as his comare.
Over the next 5 years, Dickie is promoted to the position of Capo, starting his own crew that consisted of Silvio Dante, Paulie Walnuts, and Pussy Bonpensiero, with Uncle Sally serving an almost Consigliere role for him behind bars. Running the family's numbers rackets using The Vulcan Vending Machine Company as a front. Eventually Dickie and Joanne have a son named Christopher, who they both love dearly, though he continues to act as a father figure to Tony while Johnny is serving 5 years in prison. He also becomes a well beloved figure amongst the public, coaching a little league team of blind children, with parents regarding him as a saint. Dickie gives Sally gifts from the outside during his visits, but these are often seen as hard attempts to please his uncle. Dickie once took on a whole crew from New England and brought the war home to their turf, singlehandedly defeating them.
In 1972, Dickie attended Johnny's welcome home party after his release from prison. Lately Tony has been doing his own criminal activities with his friends Jackie Aprile and Artie Bucco. Harold has since returned to Newark and begins taking over Newark's numbers racket with the help of his own gang, beginning a war with the Moltisanti Crew. Dickie, along with Silvio, Paulie, and Pussy broke into Harold's car shop, and tortured his cousin cyril for information about the murder of Julie DeRogatis. When he broke free, Silvio repeatedly shot him to death, before they left. Later on, while exiting the Silhouette Club with Johnny and Pussy's father Buddha, Dickie starts punching Buddha after he makes a lewd comment about Giuseppina. Suddenly, Harold and his men drive up and shoot Buddha in the head. Dickie shoots the driver, causing the car to crash. Johnny then kills another one of Harold's men. when Frankie the Guitarist from the club tries to run away, he is shot. When Dickie went to open fire, he accidentally shot the driver of a hippie van, causing it to crash and set on fire. He then went back into the club, took a shotgun and went into the other room. Harold entered through the front door, wielding a shotgun. Dickie shoots a hole through the wall, which doesn't hit Harold, he then stares intensely at Dickie through the hole. Suddenly police sirens are heard, and Harold flees. Dickie attends Buddha's funeral. While there, Tony asks Dickie to get Elavil for his mother, to which he begrudgingly agrees, then Junior Soprano slips down the stairs of the mortuary and breaks his hip. Dickie breaks into hysterical laughter at Junior's plight, mocking him as he struggles to get back onto his feet. Dickie fails to realize his attitude would come back to haunt him in the worst way. One day, Tony visited Dickie at his office. There he tells Tony to stop his criminal aspirations, with him then gifting tony a pair of high quality speakers as a gift. With Harold on the run with his family, Dickie has his crew on the lookout for him, though he would never get his payback.
Giuseppina has aspirations of opening a beauty parlor, but this puts her into conflict with Dickie, who sees creeping costs with taxation and renovation after renovation. After leading her on, Dickie eventually agrees to go into business with her as a partner, allowing her complete control over the business. Shortly after, during a beach date with her, while walking on the beach together, Giuseppina confesses to have been seeing Harold behind Dickie's back, as Harold also expressed interest in bankrolling the beauty parlor. Enraged, Dickie viciously attacks her and chases after her until she is dead from having been drowned in the waves. (Ironically, this had been the same misdeed against her that led to Hollywood Dick's death). Dickie then lets Giuseppina's corpse drift out to sea.
Dickie then returns to prison to visit his uncle. Sally recommends that he should stay out of Tony's life. Dickie does so all the way to the Christmas season. One day, Dickie is informed by Silvio that Carmine spotted Harold with his son at the Rockhaven motel, Dickie tells him they'll do it tomorrow. Silvio then informs him that tony was outside wanting to see him. Later while loading up his car, Silvio tells dickie he should talk to tony. citing his troubled childhood with his "looney tune of a mother", and his father being "in line for a personality transplant". He expresses praise for Tony, and predicts that he will "go places" in "this thing of ours". Dickie agrees to meet Tony at Holsten's Diner the next day. There, he will tell Tony to abandon his criminal aspirations for good. When he arrived home however, as he was unloading TV trays in his driveway, he is shot in the head from behind by an assassin sent by Junior Soprano, possibly being Bobby Baccalieri. At his funeral, Livia converses with others how Dickie was found with the Elavil pills in his pocket, thus spreading the belief that he was a drug addict. Junior stares coldly at his corpse, content that Dickie's death will never come back to him. Tony then goes up and stares at Dickie's corpse, imagining them doing their pinky promise, this being the tragedy that will lead to his future as the boss of New Jersey.
Aftermath of his Death
Joanne suffered from depression after Dickie's murder, she descended into alcoholism, and became more neglectful towards Christopher. Tony would continue his endeavors of becoming a mobster, starting a crew with Silvio, Jackie, and Ralph Cifaretto, eventually becoming made after robbing DiMeo capo Feech La Manna's card game, and Murdering Bookie Willie Overall. Junior started spreading the rumor that Dickie was killed by Lt. Barry Haydu, a cop and part time hitman, who did it under orders from Ruffalo, as revenge for disfiguring him. Christopher is mentored by Tony into the family business, becoming a made man in the year 2000.
The Sopranos[]
Dickie Moltisanti with his young son Christopher.
In September 2002, Tony told Christopher that Dickie's killer was Barry Haydu, who had just retired from the force, and supposedly did it under orders from Jilly Ruffalo, as revenge for disfiguring him in prison. Tony delivered Haydu to Christopher as a part of his process of bonding Chris to him and slowly easing him up the family hierarchy. However, when confronted by Christopher, Haydu denied ever having heard of Richard Moltisanti and claimed that someone was "obviously" setting him up. Despite his repeated claims of being unfamiliar with Dickie, Chris puts an end to Haydu’s life. Unbeknownst to him, he would never find out the truth of who orchestrated the murder of his father.
Tony remembers Dickie as a "stand up guy" and describes a lot of his positive qualities to Christopher. Tony apparently never learned the full story of Dickie's demise; he believes that Dickie was killed because of a beef with Jilly Ruffalo, not knowing it was really his uncle who did it.
in 2007, Christopher brings up Dickie's alcohol addiction as well as his supposed drug addiction. Saying that he was no more than a "Fucking Junkie", though Tony knew the claims about his drug addiction were false.
Murders Committed By Dickie Moltisanti[]
- Aldo "Hollywood Dick" Moltisanti - Beaten to death in a rage for abusing his new wife Giuseppina the same way he abused Dickie's mother. (July 14, 1967)
- Unamed Gangbanger - Shot in self-defense after being ambushed by Harold McBrayer. (November 1972)
- Unnamed owner of a hippie van - Accidentally killed when a gun battle between Harold's crew and Dickie and Johnny caused a crossfire that went through the van's front window, either killing the driver immediately, or causing him to lose control of his vehicle where it crashed and the van caught fire, likely then causing the man to be immolated (November 1972)
- Giuseppina Moltisanti - Drowned in a rage for having an affair with his African-American rival, Harold McBrayer. (December 1972)
Murders Ordered by Dickie Moltisanti[]
- Leon Overall - shot with a shotgun by Harold, ordered for robbing their operation for $600. (1967)
- Cousin Cyril - Shot 4 times by Silvio while interrogating him. (1972)
Trivia[]
- When Christopher confronts Detective Barry Haydu in "For All Debts Public and Private", Haydu tries escaping while pleading “I’m sorry" for unknown reasons. Some viewers believe he is apologizing to Christopher to get in his last words of remorse, and interpret it as evidence of his role in Dickie's death. While Dickie's death was confirmed in The Many Saints of Newark, no evidence was provided that Haydu was indeed the killer.
- Dickie is the only Sopranos character to have committed patricide (killing one's father). This offense was considered so grave by the Romans and ancient Greeks it could never be atoned for.