Michael "Mikey Grab Bag" Palmice, Sr., played by Al Sapienza, is a soldier in Junior's Crew and later the consigliere of the DiMeo crime family.
Biography
Mikey Palmice starts out as a soldier in Junior's Crew, normally acting as Junior Soprano's driver. After Jackie Aprile dies, Junior becomes boss, and Mikey is promoted to consigliere in the episode "Pax Soprana." He is a very loyal and obsequious minion to Junior; he is very respectful and kind to those whom he deems worthy. However, he is very bitter and intolerant of those who get under his skin or undermine Junior. He dislikes Tony Soprano, and Tony often teases him with implicit, insulting jokes and one liners such as referring to him as having "fuck-face-itus"; he is one of Tony's first, close enemies on the show.
When acting boss Jackie Aprile is diagnosed with cancer and it is apparent he is going to die, Junior is quick to act to ensure that he becomes boss. Mikey wants to take care of any opposition to Junior Soprano, including Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti. He makes this goal of his clear when he states that "Junior Soprano is the new boss and he ain't respecting old arrangements."
Mikey's profile at the FBI headquarters
He works alongside his friend, Chucky Signore, another soldier in Junior's crew. Mikey advises Junior to take care of business and not allow anyone to step over him. He kills Brendan Filone on Junior's orders after Brendan and Christopher hijack trucks belonging to a firm supposedly under Junior's "protection", in the episode Denial, Anger, Acceptance Mikey hires two Russians to perform a mock execution on Christopher. Christopher is enraged and wants to kill Mikey himself, but he is warned by Tony not to, because Palmice is a made man and Christopher, at the time, was not. Tony instead beats Mikey severely using a staple gun.
Junior discovers his long-time tailor's teenage grandson has killed himself by jumping off Paterson Falls bridge after he took some ecstasy sold to him by Rusty Irish, one of Larry Barese's top earners. Mikey nonchantly remarks that the boy was found battered by the waters, causing Junior to tacitly demand Mikey shut up and show some respect for the boy's death in front of his paternal grandfather, who is obviously hurt at having to talk about such as painful family tragedy. Junior orders Mikey to have Rusty killed to prevent him from selling any more drugs to kids. Mikey and Joseph Marino respond by throwing Rusty off the same bridge the boy fell off of, which doesn't sit well with the capos, especially Larry, who remarks that while Junior as boss could have approved such an action, most bosses clear such actions with their capos before making such a move.
Subsequently, in a meeting, Larry Barese, Raymond Curto, and Jimmy Altieri complain to Tony about Junior and Mikey's behavior. After word gets out that Tony's own mother wants him dead, an associate named Donnie Paduana, organizes a hit on Tony. Tony, along with the other capos, were meeting New York underboss Johnny Sack behind Junior's back at the Green Grove Retirement Community and Junior felt they were conspiring against him. After being given the task, Donnie's contract killers fail to fulfill the job, as there are too many witnesses. At a later meeting, Mikey shoots Donnie in his car. Mikey then informs his wife about the plan to kill Tony, and tells her that it means much more money for them.
Mikey's death
Tony and other capos describe Palmice as having been "a disease" since childhood due to his violent and sociopathic personality. Junior sets the order in motion the second time around, but it doesn't work since Tony survives the assassination attempt and manages to kill one of his assailants. Tony later decides to get rid of both Chucky and Mikey in order to cut Junior's ability to attempt another hit on him. Tony catches Chucky off guard at the marina and executes him, and Mikey is killed after Chris and Paulie Gualtieri chase him down while he is jogging, leaving his dead body in the forest.
After death
- In the episode "From Where to Eternity," when Christopher is revived after being pronounced clinically dead from an assassination attempt, he tells Paulie and Tony of a trip he made to hell, where he saw Brendan Filone and Mikey in an Irish bar, as friends. They had a message for Tony and Paulie: "three o'clock".
- In the same episode, Paulie, being superstitious, visits a psychic who names people Paulie has killed, including Mikey. He then tells Paulie that Mikey wants to know if it still itches, a reference to Paulie running into a poison ivy bush when chasing Mikey through the woods.
- In "Whoever Did This," Tony and Christopher take Ralph Cifaretto's severed head to be buried in Palmice's hospitalized father's farm in Upstate New York.
- Mikey's last appearance is in the episode "The Test Dream." Tony dreams he is riding in the backseat of his late father "Johnny Boy" Soprano's 1959 Cadillac Eldorado. Other deceased DiMeo crime family members present include Mikey, "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, Ralph Cifaretto, Richie Aprile, and Gigi Cestone. When Tony looks at Mikey and tells him he knows he's dreaming, Mikey simply replies, "I got no opinion one way or another."
Appearances
- Appears in: "46 Long", "Denial, Anger, Acceptance", "Meadowlands", "Pax Soprana", "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti", "Boca", "Nobody Knows Anything", "Isabella", "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", "The Test Dream".
Murders committed by Mikey Palmice
- Brendan Filone - Shot in the eye while in his bathtub on Junior's orders for hijacking trucks under his protection. (1999)
- Rusty Irish - Thrown off the Paterson Falls pedestrian bridge for selling drugs to Old Man Capri's teenage grandson, Ralphie. (1999)
- Donnie Paduana - Shot on Junior's orders for making jokes about Tony's mother wanting him killed. (1999)
Trivia
- Mikey Palmice has a collectible trading card (#16) in "The Sopranos: Season One Ultra-Premium Trading Card" series released by Inkworks in July, 2005.
- Janice mentioned how Mikey's son, Michael Jr., was going through his teenage years on Ritalin.
- On the name card beneath his photo on the FBI board, his name was misspelled as "Micheal."