| “ | I'll tell you, Dick, it's paradise over there. On the one hand, you can't believe the beauty. On the other hand, they don't even have toilets.
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„ |
| ― Hollywood Dick Moltisanti |
Aldo "Hollywood Dick" Moltisanti is a secondary character in The Many Saints of Newark. He is an associate in the Soprano Crew and the father of Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti and grandfather of Christopher Moltisanti. He is portrayed by Ray Liotta.
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Biography[]
Background[]
At some point, Hollywood Dick got involved with the New Jersey based DiMeo crime family, becoming an associate. While he never became a made man, his earning abilities were considerable for him to be considered important, whereby he acquired a Cadillac dealership for the family and a plumbing supply store where the deed was in his own name.[2] He also formed a family with Lena DeAngelis, with whom he conceived two sons. The only named one being Richard. Hollywood Dick spoke fluent, if somewhat broken, Italian; however, he appeared to be mostly reticent to translate for his second wife. During the 1930s, he and Vito Genovese had praised Benito Mussolini for the programs he had done to revitalize Italy. However, this changed in time, arguably because Mussolini had made life hard for Sicilians and Sardinians, where many of the DiMeo family members traced their bloodlines; and had also declared war on the United States along with Nazi Germany, when Mussolini's Japanese allies attacked Pearl Harbor. By the 1960s, Moltisanti's views on Il Duce had soured, and he now he regarded the long-dead despot with contempt. At some point leading up to 1967, Aldo's first marriage have ended. He had been widowered with Lena's death, the causes of which were never revealed.
The Many Saints of Newark[]
Hollywood Dick with Buddha Bonpensiero and a Bishop at Janice Soprano's confirmation party.
In 1967, Hollywood Dick came back by boat from a trip to Italy, where he had married his second wife Giuseppina. Aldo's views of his ancestral homeland were mixed; while he praised the country for its natural beauty, he thought Italian society was inferior to the United States economically and in most other regards. When DiMeo associates asked about the "old country", Aldo answered that half the houses in Italy lack indoor toilets, a remark he seemed to express surprise at finding out as recently as the 1960s. At a dinner at the house of his son Dickie and daughter in-law Joanne, Hollywood Dick announced his intention to treat Giuseppina to the life of "a proud American lady,"[2] and his desire to father a second set of children with her. Later that night, Dickie hears the newlyweds consummating their marriage through the walls of his bedroom.
Hollywood Dick is next seen at Janice Soprano's confirmation party, where he tells the Bishop presiding over the confirmation that he has remarried. Aldo apologizes for not inviting her to the party, claiming that she lacks confidence to speak decent English. He shows her picture to two young men named Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero and Silvio "Sil" Dante, as well as the Bishop, who seems somewhat perturbed by that, either due to the age difference or that Aldo sought a trophy wife. When an associate named Carmine Cotuso made a lewd comment on Giuseppina's picture, calling her "Sophia Lotsa-Pizz'", Hollywood Dick lashed out, calling him a "fucking mutt"; he then apologized to the Bishop.[2] He says that he tried bringing Giuseppina to the confirmation, but she was too self-conscious about her English, though she was making progress.
Privately, however, Hollywood Dick was dissatisfied by the scarce progress his wife was making. Giuseppina was then seen at night school, where the English teacher taught some basic phrases. While it may have been possible that she was in the early stages of her English classes, Aldo was not impressed. He failed to comprehend his wife's recitation of one of the sentences that she had learned after class was dismissed; and remarked that the program was a "waste of money."[2] While hanging out at Satriale's with the rest of the boys, he told a story about Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin releasing a donkey full of laxatives in a party on the Upper East Side, resulting in the animal "kicking and shitting over everybody."[2] He was enjoying some capuzzelle from Pinto the Butcher when his son burst into the room and brought news of the Newark riots.
Hollywood Dick's corpse.
On the morning of July 14, he started a heated discussion with Giuseppina over her douche-bag being left in the shower. She claimed that it is all a part of marriage and a man and woman living under one roof. Enraged by her insubordination, Aldo chased her around the house and kicked her down the stairs. Later that night, Hollywood Dick was about to drive to Rexell Pharmacy to pick up his new blood thinner medication. Dickie joined him in the car to talk about his abuse of Giuseppina. Dickie remarked that as a little boy, he noticed his true mother having been kicked down the stairs in a similar manner by his father. Aldo defends himself by saying that "some women like the rough stuff", while insinuating that his son was doing this to "get into [Giuseppina's] fucking pants", and, during the heated discussion, called both of his wives "sluts."[2] This triggered Dickie into beating Hollywood Dick, who pressed on the accelerator pedal and crashed his car. Dickie then smashed his father's head onto the steering wheel repeatedly, inadvertently killing him. He then brought the corpse to Atta Boy Drainage Supply, a plumbing supply business owned by his father. Dickie then committed arson, burning his father's corpse beyond recognition in an attempt to destroy evidence that his father died from his own hand. While most people accepted that Atta Boy Drainage Supply had been a target of the riots for being a white-owned business, Salvatore Moltisanti had questions about his brother's demise. He did not seem to accept his nephew's side of the story that Aldo had gone to the store to board it up, only to be trapped in the conflagration, remarking how his brother was not a blue-collar man.
Personality[]
Hollywood Dick had a boisterous personality and a short temper. According to Dickie, he used to beat him as a kid everyday. Aldo also had a record of being a horrible husband, as he became physical with his second wife during an argument which resulted in her being kicked down the stairs. According to Dickie, Aldo had committed an identical abuse to his first wife years earlier. Giuseppina says that she loved him in Ariano, but that once he was back in America he became "nu' strunz'" (an asshole).[2]
A comment by Livia Soprano suggests that "Hollywood Dick" referred to his good looks. His brother Salvatore "Sally" Moltisanti described his brother's hands as soft as "a baby's pishadeel", saying that his brother was obsessed with manicures and "never touched a hammer or a board in his life."[2]
Relationships[]
Family[]
Dickie Moltisanti[]
Hollywood Dick's relationship with his son was generally cordial, though Dickie evidently harbored anger over the physical abuse that was inflicted by Hollywood Dick on him and his mother. When Dickie's stepmother complains of suffering similar abuse, anger over this, as well as his father's snarky dismissal of his despicable actions, leads Dickie to inadvertently kill Hollywood Dick in a fit of rage.
Giuseppina Moltisanti[]
Giuseppina and Hollywood Dick seem to genuinely love each other, but after their arrival in the US, the constant verbal and physical abuse takes a toll on the way in which they interact.
Lena DeAngelis[]
Not much is known about Hollywood Dick's relationship to his wife, though from Dickie's accounts it is safe to say that her relationship with her husband was abusive.
Sally Moltisanti[]
Very little is known about Hollywood Dick's relationship with his brother, though it can be inferred that it was not a close one. As Sal was not allowed to see his brother while imprisoned, it was implied the two had not been close at least since Salvatore began his sentence.
DiMeo crime family[]
Despite being a mere associate, Hollywood Dick appeared to be well accepted in the family. His loss was referred from Junior as "a blow", which is generally reflected in the heavy mob attendance at the funeral, though other associates were more taken from the television in the other room, much to Dickie's dismay.