Thanks to a few blogs out there most of us with half a brain know that Tony was clipped at the end of the last episode and from his own point of view. I was one of the ones who went through the stages of first believing the cable went out and when the credits resumed I thought that was the cable reestablishing a connection with the ending lost by a bad programming Heidi Game type fuck up or malicious action. In any event, years after the fact I know the truth and it is so blatantly obvious once you see it that you feel dumb for not seeing it sooner. Armed with this knowledge I set out to watch every episode again and once more after that even so as to look for foreshadowing and not so much the how which was obvious by this point, but the who and why. I am confident I have it nailed down even though everyone had a reason to kill Tony.
1. Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.- This is my number one candidate and I'll list the reasons.
A. Tony sided with Johnny Sack: Little Carmine thought Tony was his friend but Tony back stabbed him by siding with Johnny Sack in who should be Boss of his rightful Family as that was the tradition of succession. Fine he thought, it's business not personal.
B. Tony whacked Rusty: This was Carmines trusted friend and during a sit down to "smooth" things over between Phil and Tony he made it clear that he would find out the reason behind his friends murder which he couldn't understand. This is where Carmine becomes shrewd as they come, a real motherfucker! With a truce brokered at the same sit down he plays the "idiot son" routine and brings up Phil's brother Billy and "whatever happened there" and successfully plants the seeds of destruction to regain his family. C'mon, he knew who whacked Rusty but was just doing what an old friend referred to as the "Vinny Barbarino" by playing the idiot while his real motive was that of a chess master. It didn't matter who got killed first, Tony or Phil because Carmine had an unmade man (associate, man in Members Only jacket) who was just waiting to be "Made In America" by doing Carmines bidding by whacking whomever was left.
C. Tony killed Christopher: Little Carmine had become close to Christopher in an attempt to get closer to Tony (keep your friends close and your enemies closer) and most likely ending up being Chrissy's friend. Tony left evidence all over the place for a suspicious Carmine to investigate privately, he suffocated Chris using his index finger and thumb by closing off his nostrils which already were already filled with blood but how do we know that a private autopsy didn't reveal that he shouldn't have died from his car related injuries? Also Tony wiped off the blood on Chris' jacket which wound up in a pile in the hospital for anyone to see. In the age of CSI it's a cold bust but cops weren't looking at him for it because of the accident. "Opportunity knocks" to quote the Viper wine heist.
D. Tony and Phils second feud was costing Carmine money: It never should have gotten this far as Carmine wanted this done and over before Phil had his heart attack.
E. Tony "curb stomped" Coco in his restaurant (on a bar edge or something) who was a made man and brandished a gun to Butchs head and on New York turf. He had to go.
F. A.J. worked for Carmine during the ending sequence of Made In America so his car could have been tagged with a mobile GPS, bugged, or since he was now AJ's boss he simply could have had an innocent conversation via cell phone with AJ at any point top get where they was having dinner that night. His girlfriend Rhiannon is a mystery as is her father, she could have been a deliberate Lupertazzi plant into AJs mental ward as everyone knew Tony kid tried "offing himself" and AJ had yet to be Carmines employee.
In closing let me say that I'm not the best writer and may have forgotten a few things but I'm bored lol and this was a great series with one hell of an ending once you get it. Rewatch it again but this time with Carmine Jr in mind. Never mind he is looked at by his fathers old guard like an idiot who fixes wet t shirt contests, they are all dead now and he orchestrated it masterfully. Ask yourself, with Phil out of the way and Tony gone who would run the Lupertazzi crime family? Uh Carmine Lupertazzi Jr, that's who!
