Matush Zhia, portrayed by Nick E. Tarabay, was a supporting character in The Sopranos.
History[]
Matush is a drug dealer in New Jersey. He was a friend of Carlo Renzi and later becomes associated with Giacomo "Jackie" Aprile Jr. after being introduced to him via Carlo. When Adriana La Cerva was given management of the Crazy Horse night club, Matush was beaten and given a warning to stay out of the club after Benito "Benny" Fazio Jr. and Furio Giunta discover him selling ecstasy in the mens' bathroom. He then appealed to Jackie Jr., who in turn appealed to Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, who was the owner of the Crazy Horse in title. Christopher stated that he did not want ecstasy in his club due to heavy DEA activity in New Jersey, but Jackie spins the story to say Matush must deal "outside" of the club. Furio later grabs Matush and leads him away when he is found selling drugs in the vicinity of the club, and he is next seen hospitalized with a broken jaw and arm while Jackie visits him.
Later in the season, Matush is shown acting as a getaway driver as part of Jackie's unsuccessful plan to rob Eugene "Gene" Pontecorvo's private poker game. He is firmly told by Jackie to remain in his position outside the poker game venue, but makes a hasty escape, driving away after being startled by the sound of gunshots heard inside, leaving Jackie, Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi behind to find another means of escaping the scene of the crime.
His final appearance occurs in Season 5, where he is seen once more in a flashback scene -- recounted by Adriana during an FBI interrogation where she is pressed for information -- providing Adriana with a small quantity of ecstasy at the Crazy Horse night club as he asks to use the photocopier in her office. After entering the office of the club, he is confronted by a hostile man. Gilbert Nieves who spots him and follows him into the office. He confronts Matush over a drug deal in which he claims to have been ripped off, claiming that he had been sold cocaine that had been heavily adulterated with baby laxative powder. He threatens Matush with a knife and demands that the money he paid is returned, at which point an accompanying associate of Matush's surprises Gilbert with a sudden strike to the head. Matush and his associate Kamal overpower Gilbert, wrestling him to the floor; Matush proceeds to disarm and stab him multiple times in the torso, killing Gilbert. Adriana abruptly walks into the room moments later and the two commit to disposing Gilbert's body as Adriana assists in cleaning up the scene of the crime. The body is later discovered by the FBI and used to implicate Adriana as an accessory to the murder. The FBI's interest is further piqued when Adriana tries to defend Matush's actions, saying he had "buckled down" in his criminal activity after going through a renewed spiritual phase, due to which he began regularly observing prayer and quit his personal use of drugs, as well as sending money to his family back once a month, specifically to fund a "prep school" operated by Matush's brother. It’s mostly likely he and Kamal were later arrested for killing Gilbert.
Matush was unseen for the rest of the series, but he mentioned in the sixth season when Agent Dwight Harris shares his suspicions that he funnels his drug-dealing earnings to finance radical Islamist training activities in Pakistan and queries Christopher on his loose involvement with him through the Crazy Horse,
Trivia[]
- Throughout the series, Matush was consistently described as simply "Middle-Eastern", similar to Ahmed and Muhammad. with only Adriana suggesting the possibility that he might be from Pakistan to the FBI. Although the FBI does not explicitly verify this later on, it is supported by the subsequent flashback to the murder of Gilbert Nieves, in which Matush speaks a line of Urdu to Kamal. It should be noted that the outline of Matush's passport can be very faintly be seen in the scene, but not well enough to be identified.
- Related to this, his name is not typically Arabic or Urdu. "Matush", although similar to the Czech "Matouš", is not a real name, but appears to also be a cognate of "Matthew", seemingly derived from the variant "Matthias". A direct transliteration of Matthias into Urdu ("میتھیاس") would be pronounced similarly to Matush. His last name is only ever mentioned by Agent Harris in "Join the Club" and while he pronounces it as "Gia" ("gee-ah"), which isn't a Pakistani surname, it's more likely "Zia" ("ضیاء", "zee-ah"). Some subtitled versions, both original and international, render the name in this scene as "Matoush Zhia". Apparently this has been misheard as "Giamona", which is an Italian surname.