| abstract
| - Eugene Pontecorvo, played by actor Robert Funaro, is a fictional character in the popular HBO television series The Sopranos. His jobs include running a low stakes poker game, a sports betting agency and a 'No Work' job at the Esplanade construction site. Eugene Pontecorvo was introduced on the show as an associate in the Soprano crime family in the episode Proshai, Livushka. Eugene subsequently becomes a made man in the following episode Fortunate Son along with Christopher Moltisanti. Like Vito Spatafore and Benny Fazio he is introduced as a small character whose role slowly increases throughout the series. His first act on the show is seen in Proshai, Livushka when he and Gigi beat up on a garbage sanitation man for threatening to rat out Ralph Cifaretto. Eugene Pontecorvo also appears in a flashback to 1995 in the episode ...To Save Us All From Satan's Power as a body guard along with Gigi Cestone of Junior. He, along with Vito Spatafore and Donny K., found Gigi Cestone dead on the toilet in the Aprile Crew hangout after suffering a constipation-induced heart attack. He ran a card game which was the target of an attempted robbery by Jackie Aprile Jr. Although mild-mannered, Eugene has a tendency to lose his temper, similar to Ralph Cifaretto. In the episode Unidentified Black Males, while he and Little Paulie Germani are trading insults with each other, Little Paulie goes too far in Eugene's mind when he suggests through innuendo that Eugene is a homosexual. Eugene responds by smashing a glass bottle over Little Paulie's head. In season 6, Gene inherited 2 million dollars from his deceased aunt. He begins developing serious stress with his home life due to his wife pushing him to talk Tony into their retiring to Florida with the money and also his son's incessant drug-use. He states to his friends that, "The only thing I ever found in the street was my first wife," showing that he has already had at least one failed marriage. Eugene has a talk with Tony about him and his family moving to Florida permanently. Tony says he'll consider it, but he states Eugene took an oath indicating it's highly unlikely he'll approve. Christopher Moltisanti assigns Eugene the task of taking out a guy named Teddy Spirodakis in Boston who owed Christopher money and failed to pay him. Eugene is reluctant, but has to follow Christopher's order due to his rank of Capo. Chris assures Eugene he will put in a good word for him to Tony as a favor for doing the hit. Eugene drives to Boston and finds Teddy eating dinner at a fast food restaurant and shoots him repeatedly in the head. Eugene then walks out calmly. It is revealed Eugene has been an informant for the F.B.I., though it is unclear for how long. After Raymond Curto dies of a massive stroke while giving potentially damaging information of Tony discussing a murder to Agent Robyn Sanseverino, the F.B.I. informs Eugene they also refuse his notion to move to Florida, as they need him in Jersey to help build a case against Tony in Curto's absence. Silvio informs Gene that Tony denied his request to move. With Tony and the Feds both hindering Eugene's chance to escape the mafia life and his stress caused by his unstable home life, Eugene sees no way out and hangs himself in his basement. Ironically with the "disappearance" of Ralph and the murder of Vito, Eugene as second in command of the Aprile crew, would have presumably made Capo after Vito's death, something that would have allowed him to infiltrate Tony's inner circle. However if he would have been discovered to be a rat he also would have met the same fate that Big Pussy and Adriana La Cerva did.
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