"Rat Pack" is the 54th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and is the second of the show's fifth season. Written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Alan Taylor, it originally aired on March 14, 2004.
Carmine dies; Little Carmine and Johnny both claim to succeed him as head of the Lupertazzi family. Tony has a meeting with Jack Massarone, who presents him with a painting of the Rat Pack. Tony does not know, at first, that he is now an FBIinformant; he receives the tip from a source of Patsy’s. Tony arranges another meeting and hugs Massarone, trying to find the wire, which is hidden in his baseball cap. He does not know what to think but realizes that Massarone said one thing out of key: he complimented Tony on losing weight. Tony spends a restless night, then drives to the Pulaski Skyway and tosses Massarone's painting into the river below. Massarone is found dead in the trunk of his car the next day.
Another informant, SopranocapoRay Curto, visits FBI Headquarters to help agents correct a transcript of a meeting he recorded. A third informant, Adriana, is immensely uncomfortable leaking information from Christopher and Tony. Her handler, Agent Robyn Sanseverino, tells her about a family tragedy that compelled her to join the Bureau and says Adriana is with "the good guys now", but Adriana is not comforted. At a social gathering with Carmela and other mob wives, Adriana's guilt is inflamed when Rosalie tells her that Big Pussy Bonpensiero's widow, Angie, is not welcome in their group. A tearful Adriana nearly admits the truth but instead flees, and stumbles and hurts herself in the driveway. She refuses the women's offers of first aid and speeds away in her car. She then tells Sanseverino that her friend Tina, who has been flirting with Christopher, is embezzling money from the company where she works.
Tony greets Tony B after he is released from prison. At his welcome-home party at Nuovo Vesuvio, Tony tells the guests how important his cousin was to him when he was growing up. Tony B is disappointed that his ex-wife and twin sons are not there. There is some awkwardness when the circumstances of his arrest are raised, and when he seems to mock Tony's weight. Tony offers his cousin a place in a stolen airbag operation, but Tony B is not eager to return to the business and seeks to go legitimate by becoming a state-licensed massage therapist. A disappointed Tony tells Christopher and Silvio that his cousin is "useless." He rebukes Tony B for making jokes about him, as he is now "the boss," and for giving massages in the office. However, in a late-night phone call, he seems to soften his tone and they reconcile.
First appearances
Lorraine Calluzzo: loan shark working for the Lupertazzi crime family, also known as "Lady Shylock."
Jason Evanina: Lorraine Calluzzo's loan-sharking partner and lover.
Tony Blundetto (first physical appearance): Tony's cousin and DiMeo/Soprano crime family member who was sent to federal prison in 1986 for hijacking a tractor-trailer.
Phil Leotardo (first physical appearance): Captain in the Lupertazzi crime family, recently released from prison after serving 20 years.
Deceased
Joseph "Joey" Cogo: killed offscreen in a payment dispute. Agent Sanseverino shows photos of his corpse to Adriana, who confirms his identity and having seen him previously with certain mob members.
The three informants are all "rats." University of Ottawa professor of Italian studies Franco Ricci summarizes the symbolism: "In an episode...where informants seem to crawl out of the woodwork like rats, Tony's ideal world of Rat Pack camaraderie has been reduced to a painted dream."[1]
Junior refers to the newly released ex-cons as "the Class of 2004, old rats on a new ship."
References to other media
The wiretap recording that Ray Curto is helping the FBI transcribe is from the capos meeting in "For All Debts Public and Private."
Anthony Jr. can be seen watching the movie Scarface, in which Tony Montana opens fire on armed men in the scene.
Paulie quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, mispronouncing the author's name as "Sun-Ta-Zu," confusing Tony Blundetto until corrected by Silvio. He also mistakenly refers to Sun Tzu as "the Chinese Prince Matchabelli" instead of Niccolò Machiavelli, the author of The Prince. Prince Matchabelli is a line of perfumes. Tony Soprano also uses this Matchabelli malapropism in Season 3, Episode 8 during his therapy session.
In one scene, Tony is shown watching a tearful recollection by WWII veteran Edward Heffron in "Points," the final episode of the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers.
Artie asks Tony B "Where's Tubbs?" in regard to his outfit at his welcoming home party. It is a nod to the cop show Miami Vice which was popular during the time of Tony B's arrest.
Reference to real events
After Carmine Lupertazzi dies, Bobby mentions that he had heard Carmine invented point shaving. To this, Uncle Junior nostalgically recalls, "CCNY versus Kentucky, 1951. Nobody beat the spread, I bought a black Fleetwood." This refers to the actual CCNY Point Shaving Scandal of 1950-1951.
"Walk With Me" by Felix Da Housecat is playing in the background in the first scene between Adriana, Christopher, and Tina at the Crazy Horse. In a later scene, "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5 is playing.
"Canzona in D Minor" (BWV 588) by Johann Sebastian Bach is playing at Carmine Lupertazzi's wake.
Television Without Pity graded the episode with an A-.[2] In 2020, Nick Braccia described "Rat Pack" as "the most noir and hard-boiled episode of The Sopranos".[3]
Robert Bianco of USA Today praised the episode for introducing "an unusually strong influx of new Sopranos characters" such as Feech and Tony B.[4]
