Re: Re:

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1st. He didn't RAT... he set him up to get rid of him. A Rat is someone who spills to the Feds/police to save his own ass. Even Sil thought that was the best way to handle it... Wait ans see- nothing will come of that...

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Re: Great episode 4.5/5

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<blockquote>Quote:<hr>1. Tony never cared for Ralph in the first place, to whack him over a horse, the only thing Tony actually loved, is easy to understand.<hr></blockquote>

WRONG. You DON'T whack your best earner over a bloody horse. Ralph's earning potential, remember, was a large part of the reason Tony felt compelled to reconcile with Ralph over the stripper/punching thing in Season 3.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>2. Tony's delaying setting up trust funds, etc, is very believable - after all, Mobsters don't use banks. Any money he has in the bank, or easily traceable accounts, can be seized by the feds if and when he gets busted. Mobsters are worse than the little old ladies hiding money under the matress or burying it in a coffee can in the back yard. <hr></blockquote>

Again, that's not entirely accurate. Mobsters HAVE to use banks SOMETIMES, or at least some form of financial institution. You forget that organized crime can't survive without putting up the illusion of business legitimacy. To justify the material possessions they have, they have to show some type of source of income, and for that I'm sure they need bank accounts. Remember the scene in "Casino" where Joe Pesci's character, Nicky Santoro, says, "I couldn't bury all my money under my floorboards, could I?"--and so he goes to Charlie Clark, the banker, to open an investment account.

Anyway, remember that in the 4th season premiere, when Tony told Carmela "I can't declare X amount of my income", Carm wisely and rightly replied, "We file a tax return to justify the house and the cars!" How could they file a tax return if they don't use banks at all?

Trust me--to say that "mobsters don't use banks" is utterly false. They HAVE to use banks in some way and to some extent--albeit fraudulently--because if they didn't, THAT in itself would bring the IRS down on them hard.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>3. His whipping of Zellman was actually being easy on the councilman. Most mobsters would've whacked him without batting an eye.<hr></blockquote>

First of all, would they have whacked a guy who was a crucial linchpin of their money-making schemes? Second of all, would they really have whacked him for dating a goomar whom the mobster in question had already himself dumped--TWO YEARS previously? Maybe, but maybe not . . . If Tony hadn't done that stupid bulls--t he would have been able to keep making money in new ventures with Zellman, which, it appears, has been somewhaton hiatus since the whipping incident. And DON'T forget that that incident ultimately led to Irina's fateful phone call to Carmela!


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Re: Melfi's Subtle Jealousy/Assorted Details...

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A first post... Tony B's use of Tony's S's bathroom was an odd detail and I agree that DC does not waste space..there was a lot of earlier emphasis about Ade's IBS and its relation to the stress she is under; perhaps this is another high stress situation, causing Tony B. to run to the bathroom like Ade. During an earlier scene with "the boys" watching TV, he also excused himself to go to the john. Subtle clues that all is not right? Or, he could have planted something in the bathroom.

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