PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Phil Leotardo made his debut at the beginning of season four, having just served two decades in prison after being locked up during the "mafia crackdown" of the 1980s. Phil Leotardo was the boss of the New York City-based Lupertazzi family by the final season of the series...

Phil Leotardo was a ruthless gangster, with an alleged 27 hits to his name, but while he came across as downright sociopathic he also seemed to love his blood family (wife, brother, kids, grandkids). Phil also had very tacky tastes, as evidenced by the 1998 Lincoln Town Car that he drove for all of season five...



In a typical mobster stereotype, Phil loved Lincolns (most mobsters seem to prefer large Cadillac and Lincoln sedans); This car was six years old by the time Phil was released from prison, and my guess would be that Phil was a wee bit short on cash after spending twenty years in prison, so he settled for a used Lincoln Town Car (which he likely did pay cash for). I have no idea if the tacky continental kit came with car, or if Phil added it after buying it. In an episode where Phil whacks another gangster in the trunk of this car, it is shown that the fake spare tire flips down to allow the trunk to open; The trunk and spare can be unlocked and opened by simply pressing a button on the keyless entry...

This was car was nearly totaled in a car chase; Phil owed Tony Soprano money, and Tony chased Phil down in his Escalade. Phil was looking behind him instead of watching the road, and plowed into meat delivery truck; The resulting collision significantly damaged the front end and deployed the driver's airbag. To make amends, Tony paid to have the car fixed, which probably wasn't cheap but was still cheaper than buying another decent-condition used Town Car; Phil was said to have let his car insurance lapse while shopping for a better rate...

I honestly would have totaled it if I were the insurance adjuster!

 

It's only January; I'll probably watch it again! Any other TW mods known to be fans of The Sopranos?

 

Phil's Lincoln, after the repairs...

 

One thing that was never explored was how all of these paroled ex-cons were able to start driving almost immediately after being released from prison...

Phil Leotardo was in prison from 1984 to 2004; Twenty years! A while back, I was curious to know what old driver's licenses looked like back in the day, so I Googled it; There is one page that uses New York state driver's licenses as an example, and has pictures of NY licenses from the 1900s to the present day! In the 1980s, New York licenses even had pictures!

New York licenses were valid for four years all the through the 1990s; If Phil happened to renew his license the year he ended up going away (1984), it would have expired on his birthday in 1988. I'm assuming there would have been a grace period for renewal, but that came and went; By the time he was released from prison in 2004, unless he "knew somebody" and pulled some strings to keep his license valid during his incarceration, his license would have been expired for at least sixteen years by the time of his release! There are no restrictions on convicted felons obtaining driver's licenses as long as the crime they committed wasn't related to driving, but I highly doubt that the New York DMV would renew a license that been expired for almost two decades at a minimum without taking all of the tests over again!

Now, Phil went back to his mobster lifestyle, but if anything is to be learned from history, it's that members of the mafia rarely go to prison for violent crimes and typically end up behind bars for nonviolent crimes (like tax evasion). Phil had no qualms about murdering people who stood in his way immediately after being released from prison, but he was not stupid enough to drive without a license immediately after his release. More than likely Phil had somebody at the DMV in his pocket, or simply knew somebody; As such, he just walked right into a Brooklyn DMV office, got his picture taken, and walked out with a shiny new license...

The same is probably true for Lupertazzi family capo Angelo Garepe, who was also imprisoned for the better part of twenty years, and DiMeo capo Feech La Manna, who was also imprisoned in 1984 and released in 2004; La Manna was seen driving his 1975 Cadillac, which showed signs of having been in longterm storage, almost immediately after his release...

 

Tony Soprano's cousin, Tony Blundetto, was busted attempting to hijack a truck and spent close to twenty years in prison but was not in prison as long as Phil and Angelo; He served time with Angelo and became good friends...

Tony S. immediately tries to get Tony B. a job as a delivery driver with a laundromat/uniform supplier; Tony B. laments that he does not have a driver's license...

Tony would have been in his late twenties at the time he went away, and I find it hard to be believe that he never had a driver's license; It is obvious that his license expired in the late 1980s or early 1990s, the state of New Jersey would no longer renew it, and Tony B. would be forced to start from scratch and take all the tests...

Tony S. assures Tony B. that this will not be a problem, stated "My guy at the DMV will take care of you". Phil more than likely had "a guy" at the DMV too, and that's how he got a license so quickly. Within days, Tony B. has a valid New Jersey license and is driving the laundromat truck...

 

In one season five episode, Tony B. asks Carmela how long they've lived in their house (the famous 6,000 square foot, 4-car garage mansion atop the hill seen in the opening credits for the entire series), and guesses "six years"...

This would mean Tony and his family moved into the house one year prior to the series premiere, which makes no sense; The real-life house is located at 16 Aspen Drive in North Caldwell, New Jersey and was built in 1987. In the series, the house is located at the fictional 633 Stag Trail Road and is stated numerous times in the series to have been built by Carmela's father, who is a homebuilder by trade. The decor of the house, especially the kitchen counters (laminate or Corian counters with wood surrounds), would indicate that the house was built sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. By the beginning of the sixth season (which takes place in 2006-2007, the kitchen has been updated with new stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, but the original cabinets remain). A flashback experienced by Carmela in season five, in which a roughly 4-year old AJ careens down the steep driveway on his Big Wheel, would indicate that they have lived in the house since at least the 1980s; This is likely just another production SNAFU, like using different licenses on a vehicle in one scene and using a different plate on the vehicle in another scene/episode!

 

The very first episode was the only to use interior shots from the actual house at 16 Aspen Drive; The home's interior was recreated at Silvercup Studios in New York City...

One thing I never understood about the Soprano house is that it was shown to have the laundry room in the basement; Tony specifically mentions that the house is 6,000 square feet, and it is shown to have at least four bedrooms, plus a separate media room above one of the garages...

I find it hard to believe that the washer and dryer would be relegated to the basement of a 6,000 square foot house!

 

The house is shown on many occasions to have five separate central air-conditioners, presumably with gas furnaces; The air-conditioners are even further proof that the house was built in about 1988 at the very latest! All five air-conditioners are shown to be top-of-the-line Carrier Round Ones; Production of the "Round One" ended in a 1988 and the TECH2000 replaced it in 1989. The air-conditioners are commonly used by Tony when he has "top secret" conversations with fellow mobster in his basement, and they are shown to still be in use in 2001 when the FBI obtains a warrant to break into the house and plant a bug...

 

In 2009-2010 or so, I had a book about The Sopranos that was published in about 2000-2001 (when the series still had 3 or 4 seasons left); I read the book so much that the damn thing fell apart in about two years!

In this book, Tony Soprano's yearly annual income was estimated to be around $1.5 million a year; Adjusted for inflation, this is almost $2.3 million a year! There have certainly been mobsters, both real and fictitious, who have made a shit-ton more money (Vito Corleone, for example); However, Tony's income is nothing to scoff at!

It is never stated whether or not Tony owns his house outright, but Tony is said to have gotten made and become a capo before the house was built; My best guess is that Tony likely took out a loan initially and then paid off the mortgage early. I also have a feeling that he paid way less than a million dollars for the house in the late 1980s!

 

As i understood it, in the contemporary real Mob world, not every Mobbed up guy is making Bank, especially the comparative country bumpkin Paisanos that were based in New Jersey. They were considered outside of the Five Families, but affiliated with the New York Mob. Compared to the feast of larger outfits, they got the scraps..

 

When Johnny Sack's assets were seized upon his indictment (including his prized Wurlitzer jukebox), his massive house (which he'd paid cash for) was one of the few things he was able to keep; His wife ended up selling it at a loss to Tony's sister and her husband, and moving into a condo.

It is likely that if Tony didn't get killed at the end of the series, he got indicted when a fellow mobster turned state's evidence; The feds likely let him keep the house for his family's sake, and Carmela and AJ continued to live there for a few more years...

If Tony was killed, Carmela would have become the de facto owner and continued to live there; Once AJ moved out, regardless of whether or not Tony went to prison or got killed, it is highly likely that Carmela would have sold the mansion and moved into a smaller house or even a condo.

 

Tony still didpretty damn good! Did you ever see pictures of real-life Gambino boss Paul Catellano's house though?

 

We call 'em mini-mansions up here. Knocked up cheap, but impressive looking. Tony was just ahead of the time, in terms of housing tastes.. it really wasn't his money, for an undetermined amount of time anyway, so live large while you can.

Castellano was old Mob money, and a survivor, directly descendant from the Prohibition years.

I should watch the series again, it's been probably 10 years.

 

In America, we call 'em McMansions...

Also, that that was the genius of series; The five families have been glorified to death by Hollywood! The Sopranos follows the seldom-seen lives of Jersey mobsters who get "the scraps". It was pure genius!

 

@HackD

You're the one who showed me the video of your truck getting rear-ended in traffic by a Chevy Equinox a few years ago, correct?

 

Yup. I laughed and drove away, he cried and left on a hook.

 

The last guy who hit me was taken away in handcuffs!

 

Ah well, if malice, impairment or overt negligence was the cause, that is the result..

Mine (so far) have been lower speed rolling impact-shunts. The Equinox was just your typical commuting zombie, that lost focus in the stop and go of severe rush-hour congestion. I've had a few smaller impact shunts since, where the bumpers have definitely paid off in preventing crumpled bedsides or fenders.

 

The guy who hit my truck was hammered! I want bumpers like yours! What's your current gas mileage?

 

To be honest.. i don't know... i squeezed 585 km out of 73.5 Litres last fill (7.95km/L which translates to 18.7 MPG?).. i don't know if that's good or not. I've got the truck geared optimally for the tire size, but i'm not really driving with fuel economy, or fuel-efficiency weight savings in mind, y'know?

90% of my driving is on the highway, even mix of either low-speed stop and go, or alternately pedal to the metal at 130-140 km/h (~74-85 mph)... neither scenario ideal for fuel efficiency with a truck with lots of drag at speed.