The Sopranos – more than a TV series!

The Sopranos are definitely an integral part of American pop culture since the series premiered in 1999. Through the characters of this series many things were explained to the people of America - Al Qaeda terrorist attack on America, presidential elections, the new bosses in the White House...

Several days after the terrorist attack on World Trade Center in 2001, New York Times wrote that nothing would ever be the same in America – not even Tony Soprano’s ride home to his house in North Caldwell, New Jersey. That is how they tried to describe the state of the American nation.

Al Qaeda's terrorist attack and its victims are described in hundreds of texts and hours of documentary television programs, but New York Times’ depiction of tragedy and post-terrorist paranoia through the opening title sequence of “The Sopranos” is probably the most picturesque.

Of course, they were referring to the particular frame from the opening sequence in which, in the side rear-view mirror of Tony Soprano’s car, twin towers of the World Trade Center are shown. Shortly after the attack, the creator of the series, David Chase, removed the sequence with "deceased" twins.

New York Times’ depiction of apocalyptic date was not the only case in which the series "The Sopranos" were used for picturesque display of American society’s pulse. There are hundreds of examples where these famous TV mobsters served as first aid in a quicker understanding of social conditions in United States. 

One of the most famous citations of Sopranos took place during the elections in United States, in 2004. In the last presidential debate between George Bush and John Kerry, the Democratic candidate compared George W. Bush with Tony Soprano: “Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.”

In the mid nineties, creator of the series, David Chase, offered the pilot episode of "The Sopranos" to all prestigious American TV stations, including the famous company "Fox". They rejected the offered material because they were scared of its content - previously unseen combination of violence, explicit sex, and a completely new TV language spiced with curses, which the characters of the series often used. Fortunately, the most powerful U.S. cable network, HBO, recognized a golden goose in Chase’s mobster saga and from January 10, 1999, started broadcasting “The Sopranos”.

From the pilot episode and on, an army of sociologists, psychologists and various other theorists was provoked with the life of waste management king and mobster capo who, despite of dozens of treatments in Dr. Melfi’s psychiatric clinic and hundreds of grams of Prozac, is more and more struggling to balance his private and mob life.

From the very first episode of this gangster TV hit, there was literally not a single week without an analytical article by some well-known media, or news about “The Sopranos”, whether it was about the shocking registration of first mobster gay fellatio seen on some gangster movie or series, or an announcement that this series increased the number of Americans who visit  psychiatrists (under the influence of Tony Soprano’s sessions) and all the way to the disturbing news that the real crime family DeCavalcante (according to some, an inspiration for “The Sopranos”) recruited new members thanks to the popularity of the series.

From the beginning of the series, “The Sopranos” encountered resistance from the Italian community in America, which believed that the series harmed the image of Italians. On Columbus Day, Italian-American holyday, the community had strongly protested against the presence of actors of this series in their celebration. A popular former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a big fan of “The Sopranos”, had to personally intervene and protect the actors. One of the most famous members of the Italian community in America that has publicly criticized the depiction of Italians by “The Sopranos” was Victoria Gotti, daughter of the last great don from the Gambino crime family, John Gotti.

On the other hand, New York Times proclaimed “The Sopranos” as the most important piece of the American pop-culture in the second half of the 20th century. Also, on many lists of key events at the turn of the nineties, “The Sopranos” are highlighted. The most bizarre were the theories that connected the mythology of “The Sopranos” with Greek mythology, justifying this by the fact that the series integrated several archetypes: Zeus, Hera, and even Zeus’ seduction of mortal women.

Fiction and real life have constantly changed roles, like in the case of an actor in this series Lillo Brancato Junior, who was accused of robbery and armed assault on a police officer. But the key episode related to this series occurred on March 3, 1999, approximately two months after the series premiered. On that day, a black Pontiac was rolling the same rode Tony Soprano is taking in the opening sequence of the series, going from New York to New Jersey and approaching the headquarters of the DeCavalcante crime family. In the Pontiac were Mafia capo Anthony Rotondo, a "soldier" of DeCavalcante crime family, Joseph Sclafani, and two family members, which the FBI labeled as Ralph and Bill.

Sitting comfortably in the padded seats of the Pontiac, these travelers started a conversation about “The Sopranos” while enjoying their own dramatic alter egos. Their conversation completely depicted Quentin Tarantino’s image of mafia world, more accurately, something like the beginning of his movie Reservoir Dogs where an obscure group of gangsters is discussing about Madonna and her song "Like a Virgin".

The whole story of the clan DeCavalcante soon found herself on the table of FBI agents and it was recorded with a hidden microphone by Ralphie Guarino, who was later proclaimed as an "intruder" in the New Jersey mafia family. The recorded conversation of the DeCavalcante clan members regarding “The Sopranos” were used in the courtroom during the trial against the mafia family where capo Anthony Rotondo admitted that he was delighted with “The Sopranos”, especially because he identified himself with many details of the series.

Mobsters in college and the Lady Gaga’s first job

* In 2004, at the University of Toronto, Professor Maurice Yakovar began a series of lectures on "The Sopranos".

* In April 2005, the Supreme Court of Orange County, California sentenced twenty-two year old Jason Bautista on 25 years of imprisonment for first-degree murder. In 2003, Bautista killed his mother Jane with a knife because she reminded him of Tony Soprano’s mother Livia. At the court, Bautista said that he chopped the head and the hands of his mother because he learned how to hide the identity of a victim from one of the episodes of “The Sopranos”.

* In 2002, the British magazine Uncut proclaimed “The Sopranos” as best drama series in television history.

* In 2001, Lady Gaga appeared in the episode "The Telltale Moozadell". She was a teenager at the time.

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Brazil's crusade for Olympics

When Brazil won the organization of Football World Cup and Rio the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian statesmen were thankful to FIFA and IOC. These two organizations closed their eyes to the fact that Rio is the city with the highest murder rate in the world, and the authorities have no control over favelas, which are run by local gangs and almost represent a country in the country.

In efforts to change that, the Brazilians have hired Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, as a consultant. Known for being able to calm things even in Harlem, Giuliani’s job is to use his know-how in Brazil.  Giuliani is known for his strategy of "zero tolerance", according to which everyone who breaks the system must be punished, from the Mafia to the sellers of hot dogs on the street.

There is just one catch – New York is not Rio and Harlem is not Brazilian favelas. Police actions there are not just fight against crime, they are literally war against crime. Police entry into favelas is referred in local media as "liberation of territory".

The operation of the police and the army against gangs in November 2010, on the territory of Complexo do Alemão, the complex of 15 favelas, was the biggest operation in the history of liberation of favelas. Unfortunately, this operation showed that even Giuliani’s "zero tolerance" will not that easily set things right in the favelas . This historic operation was named “reconquista”(reconquest), because the Brazilians are doing exactly that, reconquesting their occupied territory. 

Complexo do Alemão is one of the most famous favelas. Until the operation in November 2010, it was controlled by the Red Command, a gang of over a thousand drug dealers and arms merchants. However, Giuliani’s "zero tolerance" is now only functioning if the military and the police constantly keep favelas under siege. But even that is not easy to do because of the "philosophy of favelas”. Favelas are not just some hovels framed in the squatter settlements – they have become a way of life.

After five day of heavy fire, the Governor of Rio triumphantly announced the liberation of Complexo do Alemão territory. What remained in the shadow of that triumph was the fact that more than 40 people, some of whom were civilians, were accidentally caught in the crossfire, and were killed. The Brazilian media were fascinated with the fact that the police and army, for the first time, acted as one.

This attack forced the opposing gangs to unite, for the first time in history. This means that real fights are yet to come. The bandits have already started to burn cars and city buses.  The criminals are using this tried recipe for years.  Whenever the police tries to enter one of their favela, they start with the riots.

The Mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, says that, in this way, they are trying to create a picture for the public that will suggest that the authorities have no control.  "We do not want peace with criminals and terrorists. This time we will not retreat”, harshly says Paes.

A large number of criminals fled to the favelas on the hills above Rio, carrying heavy weapons. The picture of them fleeing was like a withdrawal of an army. Heavily armed police forces are now patrolling the streets of liberated favelas . On the other hand, heavily armed drug traffickers and their troops are now patrolling gang-controlled favelas, in expectation of more attacks.

The Brazilian police have trained a special unit, just for fights in the favelas. The operation from November 2010 is considered their best performance so far.  However, there are very few of those who believe that this country can keep fighting these criminals to the end.

Antonio Carlos Costa, director of Rio de Paz, anti-violence NGO, said that Rio needs more police officers that are better trained and better paid. "There is no way they can pacify all the communities. If you push the traffickers out of one area, they naturally just flow to another" – he said.

A growing number of people believe that Brazil needs to try a strategy of total isolation of favelas before the Olympic Games, rather than bring them in line. For example, in Alemao favela about 120,000 people live in ramshackle hovels, often with no electricity and no water, and they do not know of a different kind of life. Kids who are growing up there know that they have only two choices in life - to play football or to be criminals. If they don’t start playing for Barcelona, they will be playing with cocaine. And this cannot be corrected in 5 or less years.

In 2009, just two weeks after the announcement that Rio won the organization of Olympic Games, gangs knocked down a police helicopter. This caused a series of police raids in which about thirty people were killed. In August 2010, thirty-five people were imprisoned in a hotel with five stars – criminals from favela did this, while fleeing from the police. About sixty "to the teeth" armed criminals were returning from some party in the early hours. They were headed towards their ”base”, Rocinha, which is the biggest favela in Rio. The police spotted them and intercepted. Fifty of them managed to escape, but ten couldn’t so they rushed into an exclusive hotel and took hostages.

Jenson Button, famous Formula 1 driver experienced the spirit of favela on his own skin. When he was in Brazil for a race at Interlagos, he was attacked on the streets by armed bandits. He barely escaped alive.

Elza Santiago, a member of women’s cooperative that sells handcrafted goods to raise funds for education programs offered to women and children, thinks that everything will return the way it was when the Olympic Games are over. “Our people don’t have water. We’re walking up the hill to our favelas with water because we don’t have any. No one is talking about the Olympics, that is our Olympics.”

City of God

Favelas emerged in the late 19th century when the first black slaves were winning their freedom. Later, the favelas spread in several waves, especially as people from rural areas came to the city in search of a better life, and found only the misery of favelas. And once you enter a favela, it is hard to leave. Today, only in Rio there are more than a thousand favelas. There are mostly along the perimeter of the city, and in the case of Rio, that means surrounding hills.

Brazilian authorities have several times tried to implement some kind of slum urbanization (that is why some of favelas have stronger walls), but the spirit of favelas has proven to be indestructible. Drugs, crime and life on the street is the only thing the people who live there know. Some studies show that only 15 percent of the population in Rio’s favelas has expressed a desire to leave them.

Favelas, though not in a construction sense, follow the trends, so today 97 percent of homes have a television, 94 percent a refrigerator, and about 48 percent have a washing machine. About half of the people there have a mobile phone and 12 percent of homes have a computer.

Most accurate impression of favela is shown in the famous Brazilian film "City of God", about life in the favela of the same name - "Cidade de Deus". That film was often compared to Scorsese’s “GoodFellas”, but Scorsese’s movie begins with “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" and characters from the "City of God" had no choice.

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