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Family Tree

The bloodline

graph TD
    JOHNNY["Giovanni 'Johnny Boy' Soprano<br/><i>d. 1986</i>"] --- LIVIA["<b>Livia Soprano</b><br/><i>d. 2000</i>"]
    JOHNNY -.mistress.- FRAN["Fran Felstein"]

    JOHNNY --> JANICE["<b>Janice</b><br/>b. 1957"]
    JOHNNY --> TONY["<b>Tony Soprano</b><br/>b. 1959"]
    JOHNNY --> BARB["Barbara Giglione"]

    CORRADO["<b>Corrado 'Junior' Soprano</b><br/>Johnny's brother"] -.brother.- JOHNNY

    TONY --- CARMELA["<b>Carmela DeAngelis</b>"]
    CARMELA --> MEADOW["<b>Meadow</b><br/>b. 1982"]
    CARMELA --> AJ["<b>Anthony Jr.</b><br/>b. 1986"]

    JANICE --- RICHIE["Richie Aprile<br/><i>d. 2000 — killed by Janice</i>"]
    JANICE --- BOBBY["<b>Bobby Baccalieri</b><br/><i>d. 2007</i>"]
    JANICE --> HARPO["Harpo / Hal<br/><i>son, in Seattle</i>"]

    DICKIE["Dickie Moltisanti<br/><i>d. 1972</i>"] --> CHRIS["<b>Christopher Moltisanti</b><br/>1969–2007"]
    JOANNE["Joanne Moltisanti"] --- DICKIE
    CHRIS -.engaged.- ADRIANA["<b>Adriana La Cerva</b><br/><i>d. 2004</i>"]
    CHRIS --- KELLI["Kelli Lombardo"]
    KELLI --> CAITLIN["Caitlin Moltisanti"]

    LIVIA -.cousin.- CHRISLINK[" "]
    CARMELA -.first cousin.- CHRIS

    style TONY fill:#9e2020,stroke:#17171a,color:#f4f1ec
    style LIVIA fill:#9e2020,stroke:#17171a,color:#f4f1ec
    style CARMELA fill:#e6e3de,stroke:#9e2020,color:#17171a
    style CHRIS fill:#e6e3de,stroke:#9e2020,color:#17171a
    style CHRISLINK fill:none,stroke:none,color:none

Dates are reconstructed from on-screen references and are approximate. The show is deliberately loose about ages.

Reading it

Christopher's exact relationship to Tony is the thing everyone gets wrong, including characters in the show. Christopher is Carmela's first cousin — the son of Dickie Moltisanti — which makes him Tony's cousin by marriage, not blood. Tony calls him his nephew throughout, and functionally he is: Tony took over as his father figure after Dickie's death, and that relationship is the engine of both their arcs.

Dickie Moltisanti is the subject of The Many Saints of Newark. The series treats him as a legend; the film shows the man.

Janice's marriages are a pattern. She takes up with Richie Aprile and shoots him at the dinner table when he hits her. She then marries Bobby Baccalieri, the gentlest man in the organization, and steadily makes him worse.

The DiMeo crime family

graph TD
    BOSS["<b>Boss</b><br/>Ercole DiMeo <i>(imprisoned)</i><br/>→ Jackie Aprile Sr. <i>(acting, d. 1999)</i><br/>→ Junior <i>(nominal)</i><br/>→ <b>Tony Soprano</b>"]
    CONS["<b>Consigliere</b><br/>Silvio Dante"]
    UNDER["<b>Underboss</b><br/>Junior → Tony → Christopher <i>(briefly)</i> → Bobby"]

    BOSS --- CONS
    BOSS --> UNDER

    UNDER --> C1["<b>Paulie Gualtieri</b><br/><i>capo</i>"]
    UNDER --> C2["<b>Christopher Moltisanti</b><br/><i>capo</i>"]
    UNDER --> C3["<b>Ralph Cifaretto</b><br/><i>capo, d. 2002</i>"]
    UNDER --> C4["<b>Vito Spatafore</b><br/><i>capo, d. 2006</i>"]
    UNDER --> C5["<b>Bobby Baccalieri</b><br/><i>capo, d. 2007</i>"]

    C1 --> S1["Patsy Parisi<br/>Little Paulie<br/>Big Pussy †"]
    C2 --> S2["Benny Fazio<br/>Murmur"]
    C3 --> S3["Eugene Pontecorvo †<br/>Donny K."]

    BOSS -.advisor.-> HESH["Hesh Rabkin<br/><i>unaffiliated advisor</i>"]

    style BOSS fill:#9e2020,stroke:#17171a,color:#f4f1ec

Consigliere is a counselor, outside the chain of command. Underboss is second. A caporegime runs a crew in a territory. Hesh Rabkin, being Jewish, can never be a made member and is Tony's most trusted business advisor anyway — the same structural joke the genre has been running since Tom Hagen.

Definitions: Glossary.

New York — the Lupertazzi family

Role Who Fate
Boss Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. Dies of a stroke, S5
Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. ("Little Carmine") Withdraws from the succession
Boss Johnny Sack Arrested, imprisoned, dies of lung cancer S6
Boss Phil Leotardo Killed, S6E86
Underboss Butch DeConcini Cuts a deal with Tony in the finale

The New York/New Jersey relationship is the show's long-running status wound: New York is bigger, richer, and treats Jersey as a subsidiary, and Tony spends six seasons managing that resentment. It is also the closest thing the series has to a plot engine, and it's what finally boils over in season six.

See also